Setting Date Specific Goals: The Must Haves, Whys, and Hows Analysis

So you have decided to make a change in your life. You may have decided to start a home-based business or you want to become more focus at your life. Setting goals is a great exercise in getting a focus and a perspective on life. Not life in general, but where a person wants to be short term and the long term. In this article, I am going show the technique I use to set my goals. I will also provide a worksheet for you to use.

Also, before I start discussing this technique, you need to realize that this is not a one-time exercise. We need to record our goals onto a document. Our thoughts and desires now become a living document. Every three months, I suggest reevaluating the document and do this exercise again. And ask these questions, “Did I meet my goals?”

“Do I have new desires?”

“Are the goals I thought to be once important, not in line with my ultimate goal now?” The technique I use to set my goals is the Must Haves, Whys, and Hows (MWH) Analysis. For the purpose of doing this exercise, download this worksheet: http://www.at-home-incomes.com/downloads/MWH_Worksheet.doc.

When the worksheet is opened, there are two sections: MWH analysis and Setting Date-Specific Goals. Lets look at the MWH analysis page.

This page has the template that we will follow to gather our thoughts, hopes, and desires. You will notice that there are multiple occurrences of these lines:

Must Have:

Why:

How:

This is where we will start the process of writing down our information. So let’s start with the Must Haves.

Must Haves: This is where you write down your desires and wants. Think about what is important. Think about those crazy items everyone dreams of owning (expensive cars, big houses, jewelry, etc). Maybe you only want to provide a better life for your family. Maybe spending more time with your family is important. Maybe you want to travel. From the Must Haves, you start to develop your goals.

Whys: Now look at each Must Have and decide why you need these Must Haves. Do you need the Must Have to make a change in your life? Are making the changes just because it is the right thing to do? Do you have a specific need for the Must Have? Is this a dream that has been put on the back burner because life got you? Deciding on the Whys will narrow your goals into categories.

Hows: Lastly, you need to decide the Hows of obtaining your Must Haves. Do you start a home-based business? Do you get a second job? Do you set aside time every day for the Must Have? Do you save our money or do you invest? Deciding on How to complete the process of this exercise. Example of my own MWH analysis:

Must Have: Money in the bank and in stocksWhy: To secure a great retirement and financial stability for my family and myself.

How: Use my gains from online ventures to supplement other ventures (real estate, stocks, etc)Must Have: TitheWhy: Because it is rightHow: Take 10% off of the topOnce the analysis is finished, separate MWHs into categories sorted by date’s ranges. Which MWHs are short term and which are long term? On the worksheet, the goals are broken into daily, 3-month, 6-month, 1 year, 5 years, and 10-year categories. When you write your goal in the appropriate category, it needs to be date-specific. If a goal does not have an end date, it is a desire. An end date give a goal a metric be to used to evaluate accomplishments and shortcomings? Repeat these steps until you have assigned our MWHs a category. Here are some examples of my own goals:

1. Daily Goals a. Spend 1-1 1/2 a day promoting my business. b. Read GOALS daily.

2. 3-Month Goals a. By April 30, have 10 new enrollees in my downline. b. By May 31, have 15 new enrollees in my downline and be helping my first 10 team members duplicate the process of acquiring new team membersNow that you have completed the worksheet, there is only one thing left to do. READ IT DAILY. Set aside sometime everyday that is “me” time. It does not have to be long, 10-15 minutes. Make several copies of the worksheet that are easily obtainable. If possible, read more than once at day. By reading them everyday, our mind starts to focus on reaching these goals. To remind myself to read my goals daily, I use my Yahoo calendar to send me a daily remainder to my email account to read my worksheet.

Reading the goals daily will also help you plan your days. One question that needs to be asked while reading the goals would be, “What am I doing today that will help me accomplish my goals?” Use our time wisely to help you strive to our goals. Time is never given back. Make the best of it.

By using the MWH analysis worksheet, our wants and desires can be written down and evaluated. After the MWH steps are completed, they can be converted into date-specific goals. By defining date-specific goals we now have a living document that we can read on a daily basis to focus our day’s plan to obtain our goals.