© Modern Finishing School

Modern Finishing School

An eCourse on Elegant Living
for Modern Women

Week 8

Issues Covered
1 Life Planning

Personal Goal Setting

2 Drilling Down Goal setting is a powerful way to create your ideal future, and
to motivate yourself to turn your personal vision into reality.

3 Goal Setting Tips The process of setting goals helps you decide where you want
to go in life. By mapping out precisely what you want to
achieve, you will be able to determine where to concentrate
your efforts. You'll also be able to spot the distractions that
4 Daily Planning
would otherwise tempt you off course.

As you get into the habit of setting and achieving goals, you'll
find that your self-confidence builds quickly and soon you will
be setting even loftier goals for yourself.

Choose your own path

Do you feel as though your life is lacking purpose or
direction? This guided goal-setting exercise is just the thing
to help you get yourself back on the right track.
Week 8
Sharpen Your Focus
The most accomplished
people in every field use
simple goal-setting
techniques: top-level athletes,
successful businesswomen
and domestic goddesses. If
you decide for yourself
exactly what you want, you
will find you have both the
long-term vision and the
short-term motivation that
you need. Goals focus your
efforts and help you to
organize your time and
resources so that you can get
the most out of life.
Of course, not all goals are
created equal. If you set
© Modern Finishing School
Finding your way
Goal-setting can help you gain
clarity about what it is you truly
desire from life
sharp and clearly defined Setting Personal
goals, you will find it easier to
measure your success and
Goals
take pride in the achievement Goals can be designed to
of those goals. You will feel work on a number of different
as though you are making levels.
tangible progress rather than
continuing to exert you First, you want to paint the
efforts in vain, without seeing "big picture" of what you
the light at the end of the want your life to look like,
tunnel. and decide what large-scale
By setting goals, you will also
increase your self-confidence,
as you reinforce your faith in
your innate abilities and
demonstrate your
competence to yourself and
others as you continually
strive to become the woman
you want to be.
2
Week 8
Dare to ask yourself what you really want out of life!
goals you want to achieve.
Second, you will want to
break these larger goals down
into smaller and smaller
targets, so that achieving your
lifetime goals begins to seem
within your reach.
Finally, once you have your
plan, you take your first small
step towards achieving it.
Let’s begin then with your
Lifetime Goals, before
drilling down to the specific
actions that you can achieve
today.
Your Lifetime Goals
The first step in setting
© Modern Finishing School
Lifetime goals
Most people focus
exclusively on the short –
term because long-term goals
seem too daunting
personal goals is to really your life, you might want to
spend some time thinking use the worksheet on the next
about what it is you want to page to help shape your
achieve in your life. If your goals.
entire lifetime seems far too
long to contemplate, you can,
if you prefer, start by thinking
about the next 10 years. The
key is to ensure that you
choose a period that is long
enough to give you a strong
sense of what matters most to
you. Your long-term goals
will provide you with an
overall perspective that will
help to shape all other aspects
of the goal setting process.
Women today can
In order to give you a
‘have it all’…
balanced view of all the but maybe not all
potentially important areas in at once
3
Week 8 © Modern Finishing School

Lifetime Goal Planning Worksheet

Spend some time brainstorming within these categories, and then select one target goal in each category
that reflects your most fervent wish. Then decide which of these target goals are your top five priorities.

State of mind:

Do you lack confidence or tend towards negativity? If so, your most important goal may be to improve
your state of mind.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Career:

Are you happy with the direction of your professional career? Do you want to see any changes?
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Education:

Do you thirst for knowledge? Perhaps you want to learn a new language or play an instrument?
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Family:

Are you a parent? Do you want to start a family? If so, do you have parenting goals?
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Financial:

Do you feel that your needs (however you define them) are satisfied on your current income?
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Physical:

Do you want to enjoy good health in your old age? What steps are you going to take to achieve this?
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Pleasure:

How do you enjoy yourself? Can you ensure that you have time in your life to do the things you love?
_________________________________________________________________________________________

4
Week 8
Once you have completed
this worksheet, read through
it again to ensure that the
goals that you have chosen
for yourself are goals that you
truly want to achieve. Of
course the opinions of those
close to you, such as parents,
family, or colleagues might
matter to you a great deal, but
try to make this exercise a
true reflection of what it is
YOU want.
Drilling Down
Once you have set your
lifetime goals, begin the
process of examining each
goal individually, in order to
© Modern Finishing School
Time is your most
precious
commodity
determine what needs to be based on the list that came
achieved within the next 5 before it.
years in order for you to
You may decide to read
accomplish the long-term
books and gather additional
goal.
information about particular
Then, drill down within each goals, to ensure you know
of those goals to decide what what it will take to achieve
you would like to accomplish them.
this year, and this month if
Once you have finished the
you are to reach your lifetime
drilling down process, review
goal. By setting progressively
your goals to ensure that they
smaller goals you will turn
are achievable within the time
each seemingly impossible
period you have allocated to
task into a series of
them.
manageable items that can
slot right into your daily To Finally, ask yourself whether
Do list. your goals are consistent with
your values and lifestyle and
You can use the worksheet
whether they represent your
on the next page for this task.
most cherished desires.
Each of these lists should be
5
Week 8 © Modern Finishing School

Drilling Down Worksheet

For each of the 5 lifetime goals you chose to prioritize above, create a series of subsidiary goals that will
help you to focus your efforts on achievable steps along the way.

Lifetime Goal 1: ___________________________________________________________________

Within 5 years__________________________________________________________
This year_______________________________________________________________
This month_____________________________________________________________

Lifetime Goal 2: ____________________________________________________________________

Within 5 years__________________________________________________________
This year_______________________________________________________________
This month_____________________________________________________________

Lifetime Goal 3: ____________________________________________________________________

Within 5 years__________________________________________________________
This year_______________________________________________________________
This month_____________________________________________________________

Lifetime Goal 4: ____________________________________________________________________

Within 5 years__________________________________________________________
This year_______________________________________________________________
This month_____________________________________________________________

Lifetime Goal 5: ____________________________________________________________________

Within 5 years__________________________________________________________
This year_______________________________________________________________
This month_____________________________________________________________

6
Week 8 © Modern Finishing School

Goal Setting Tips

The following guidelines will
help you to set effective goals:

• Frame each goal in a

positive manner: Express
your goals positively –
'Train to run a marathon' is a
much better goal than 'Try to
lose 5 pounds.'
• Be precise: Make your goals
as precise as possible, using
dates, times and amounts to
help you measure
achievements. This way, you
will know exactly when you
have achieved your goal, and
can enjoy the satisfaction that
will come from having
achieved it.
• Set priorities: Assign a
priority to each of the goals
you have listed on your
worksheet. This will help
you to avoid feeling
overwhelmed and enable you
to direct your attention to the
most important things first.
• Write goals down: Actually
Celebrate the daily victories
Every day could bring you one step closer…
printing and filling out the
worksheet will help you to
crystallize your thoughts and
will give your goals added
weight.
• Keep the short-term goals
reasonable: Make sure your
monthly goals are small and
achievable. If a goal is too
large, it is easy to get
discouraged if you feel that
you are not making much
progress.
By keeping your goals small
and incremental, you will be
able to experience the
pleasure of achievement more
frequently, and have more
opportunities to treat
yourself. Again, you should
derive today's goals from
tomorrow’s goals.
• Set realistic goals: It is
vitally important to set goals
that you can achieve. You
may risk setting goals that are
too high if you are not fully
aware of potential obstacles
in your path or if you do not
fully appreciate what exactly
will be involved in achieving
a particular goal.
• Set goals that you can
control: You should always
ensure that your goals fall
within your power to achieve.
It can be terribly
disappointing if you set
yourself up to achieve a goal
that is not within your power.

7
Week 8
Dream big and set S.M.A.R.T goals
For example, it is more
helpful to say ‘I will pitch to
10 new clients this month.’
than to say ‘I will earn a
promotion this month.’
Bear in mind that there are
always some elements that
are beyond our control.
There is almost always a
healthy dose of luck involved
in everything we do in life.
It is a sign of infinite wisdom,
which usually only comes
with old age, to focus your
attention within your sphere
of influence and learn to
accept that there are things in
life beyond your control.
SMART Goals:
A useful way of making goals
more powerful is to use the
SMART mnemonic, which
stands for:
• S Specific
• M Measurable
• A Achievable
• R Relevant
• T Time-bound
For example, instead of
having “to sail around the
world” as a goal, it is more
powerful to say “To have
completed my trip around the
world by December 31,
2015.” Obviously, this will
only be attainable if a lot of
preparation has been
© Modern Finishing School
completed beforehand!
Staying on Course
Once you are comfortable
with the goals you have
created, it’s time to start
getting into the habit of
creating a daily to-do list of
things that you can do right
now to help you achieve your
lifetime goals.
It’s important to review and
update your immediate to-do
list on a daily basis. You
should also periodically
review your long-term plans,
and modify them as needed
to reflect your changing
priorities and experience.
You can use the worksheet
on the following page to get
started on your Daily List.
8
Week 8 © Modern Finishing School

Daily Planning Worksheet

Top Three Priorities Notes
1 

2 

3 

Morning

6:00 

7:00 

8:00 

9:00 

10:00 

11:00 

Afternoon

12:00 

13:00 

14:00 

15:00 

16:00 

17:00 

Evening

18:00 

19:00 

20:00 

21:00 

9
Week 8
Achieving Goals
When you achieve a goal, no
matter how small, take the
time to enjoy the satisfaction
of a job well done. Think
about the long-term
implications of your
achievement, and chart the
progress you have made
towards your overarching
goals. If the goal you have
achieved is a significant one,
make sure you reward
yourself appropriately! This
will help to keep you
motivated and build up your
self-confidence so that you
can continue on your path of
achievement!
Use the space below to make
a list of the ways in which
you will reward yourself for
achieving your next weekly,
monthly and yearly goals:
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
Remember to review your
goals periodically.
• Have your priorities
changed? Do you need to
adjust your goals
accordingly? If a goal no
longer holds an attraction for
you, then let it go.
• If you achieved your goal
very easily, make your next
goals a bit harder.
• If the goal took such a long
time to achieve that you felt
discouraged along the way,
make the next goal something
you can achieve more
quickly.
View any failure to meet a
goal as a temporary setback,
but try to learn something
© Modern Finishing School
from every mistake.
If you have not engaged in
active goal-setting previously,
you should prepare to be
amazed by the results you can
achieve using these simple
techniques.
As you make goal-setting part
of your daily life, you will
find fulfillment professionally
and personally and you may
begin to wonder how you
ever lived without it!
If you intend to commit
yourself to the practice of
goal setting, consider this
document as a contract with
yourself, and sign your name
below. Congratulations!
_________________________
10