SMART Goals

SMART Goals

By Duncan Haughey, PMP

Once you have planned your project, turn your attention to developing several goals that will enable you to be successful. Goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-based.

A goal might be to hold a weekly project meeting with the key members of your team or to organize and run a continuous test program throughout the project.

The acronym SMART has a number of slightly different variations, which can be used to provide a more comprehensive definition for goal setting:

S - specific, significant, stretching

M - measurable, meaningful, motivational

A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented

R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented

T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable

This provides a broader definition that will help you to be successful in both your business and personal life.

When you next run a project take a moment to consider whether your goals are SMART goals.

To quote renowned American philanthropist Elbert Hubbard:

"Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal."

What it means to be a friend

As the older I get my definition of a friend changes and my needs from that definition is an ever revolving and changing thing. When I was young I needed a play buddy, someone I could meet in a secret place to visit far off lands, the only boundaries that we had were the ones our minds created, which is still true today. But today the rules and the game itself has evolved. I have been in many relationships through the years, some more successful then the others but relationships none the less. As my rules have changed through the years, the type of people that are associated with these relationships also changed. So, today a friend to me means someone you can trust, someone I can rely on, someone that will ask me for help when in need. I guess maybe I should tell you about a few of my friends I have now. Friend #1 I will call Brent, He lives about 2 1/2 half hours away but we talk on the phone on a regular basis and have been friends for about 15 years, in those 15 years we have gone through a significant amount of life together and can call upon those events with laughter or sorry, either way we can relate to each other, he trusts me as I do him. He can call me anytime day or night and if he really needed me I would be there and he would be there too for me. That is what a friend is to me.

Growing Older and staying in shape

Image by wallyg via Flickr

I live in San Diego California and to me it is a paradise, but I am having one little problem....I am getting older. I turned 43 this year and I like the age thing but the one thing that I hate is that it is getting harder and harder to stay  in shape. As I get older little tire around my waist has become a little bigger and the flat stomach that I used to hold on to, like some kind of trophy, has turned into a small pooch. Now because I really never acquired a work out ethic I can't seem to get enough gumption to do sit ups to get rid of it. I get up in the morning, get ready for work, drive to work, work all day and then when I get home all I want to do is eat, watch TV and go to bed. I am getting to the point that this lifestyle is not enough, I need more, I need to be inspired.

Well I just got my inspiration there was a fantastic Sculpturor called Polykleitos and he like many other artists of his time created some of the worlds famous pieces like "Diadoumenos". An amazing example of the men of the time, and I want to look like this, I remember in my twenties I was tall and really skinny, I saw a picture of myself today of me back then and I looked really unhealthy but young and defined. I did have abbs and a 30 inch waste but wow was I skinny.

Things are different these days, I feel really great about where I am at, I finally feel like I am growing into the body that I have always wanted. I am going to take some pics of me now and I will post them later. I am not like the sculpture in this blog and gosh I wish I were really like that beautiful man but I am getting there. I finally feel like I am almost in the body that God intended me to have, it has been a real challenge, I have to go to the gym 6 times a week and really watch what I eat but it is paying off, i really need to do more sit up though, But now that I am older and I am not going to have an easy time of it I finally gave up on trying to look young but I can have an amazing body. I totally got that it is me that is responsible for my body and my life, the harder I work on it the better I look and the more I feel right. So fo all you out there that are siting on your sofa wondering why you are puttin gon those extra pounds, GET UP...GO TO THE GYM...GO FOR A WALK....Do something healthy tomorrow and feel better about yourself.  IT DOES'NT GET ANY EASIER.

A Wonderful Day

Image via Wikipedia

I spent all day with my friend James, his friend Randy and my Partner Russ hanging out, shopping and going to the  Museum of Man her in San Diego.  And now we are sitting here watching Moma Meya, andother great movie, before thaty I was watching Julie & Julia. I really enjoyed both.

Honesty & Integrity ----- The Emperor & the Seed

The Emperor and the Seed

by unknown author

Image via Wikipedia

Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.

He called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!"

There was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.
After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.

By now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grown, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"


Wow what great story. it reminded me that Honesty & Integrity, pays off, sometime the only one that knows you are being honest is you, and sometime it is rewarded greatly.  I know for myself that if I live in my integrity and am honest I feel as if I am aligned to my universe. If I don’t live in my integrity & am not honest, that is when my life feels hard, complicated and I am not at ease.

-Loren-

Half measures availed us nothing.

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 59



Every day I stand at turning points. My thoughts and actions can propel me toward growth or turn me down the road to old habits and to booze. Sometimes turning points are beginnings, as when I decide to start praising, instead of condemning someone. Or when I begin to ask for help instead of going it alone. At other times turning points are endings, such as when I see clearly the need to stop festering resentments or crippling self-seeking. Many shortcomings tempt me daily; therefore, I also have daily opportunities to become aware of them. In one form or another, many of my character defects appear daily: self-condemnation, anger, running away, being prideful, wanting to get even, or acting out of grandiosity. Attempting half measures to eliminate these defects merely paralyzes my efforts to change. It is only when I ask God for help, with complete abandon, that I become willing — and able — to change.

Promise Yourself

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your of mind. Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. Think only of your best work, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long As you are true to the best that is in you!

Christian D. Larson