Setting Goals for 2011 and Getting More Successful Outcomes

By Meta J. Mereday

As we approach the year 2011, questions like, what are your goals for 2011 are asked?  

Why do we need to set goals?  According to Paul Flintoff’s article, “Why Are Goals Important & How Do you Set Them?” the writer states, “Invariably, all successful people have goals. So if you want to be successful that means you too must set goals.”

Goals for 2011 provide a framework for how people will conduct themselves in the new year. The importance of goal setting has increased in both personal and professional settings whether you are establishing goals for your business achievements or for your own benefit and preparing for “getting it better” in the next year.

Flintoff’s article expands on why goals are needed. He states, “Goals help to create desire, energy focus, determination – in fact pretty much all the attributes required for success.” 

Goal setting varies from person to person and requires the format to determine how to implement the actions to achieve the goals and the tools to measure the success.

The writer Celes from the Personal Excellence Blog highlights six important reasons to set goals:  goals give clarity to your end vision, goals drive you forward, goals give you laser focus, goals make you accountable, goals help you to be the best that you can be, and goals help you to live your best life.

Planning your goals for 2011 can help determine your course along an outlined path that keeps your “eyes on the prize” and motivates you to overcome any pitfalls along the way.

What are the goals for 2011 that people are setting in light of the many situations they are finding themselves in whether they are facing physical or fiscal challenges? 

Improving current educational levels has become a goal for many who have been downsized in an attempt to improve their chances and expand their horizons in the job market. 

Another goal that is on the rise is spending more time with family and friends as retirees have taken the “staycation” model to new levels by renting trailers and, once again, packing not only their children, but also grandchildren and touring the country.

Interest in improving eating habits, increasing exercise and renewing lost friendships has also moved up the goals list as people are facing their mortality with increased rates of diabetes and hypertension.

Losing weight, walking more and rekindling old romances or finding lost family members are on the goals list for 2011.  The obesity epidemic that has negatively impacted minority communities at a higher rate then the majority community should be fair warning to stem the tide that is causing Blacks and Hispanics to have higher incidents of the related diseases, especially diabetes.

Finally, finding an inner peace from some form of spiritual rejuvenation or a return to a self-satisfying form of religion has become a leading goal for 2011.  The spiritual outreach explosion has launched a variety of programs that have stepped away from traditional religion models, but the mega-church model is still powerful and influential.

Goals for 2011 are taking an interesting and much-needed twist towards the interpersonal and self-satisfying.  It is the proactive sign of the times.

Mereday is a contributing writer for Regal Black Men's Magazine.