Measuring Success

With New Years Day only two weeks away, here's something to consider when you think of New Years resolutions:

Not every goal is measurable. For example, if your goal is 'I want to organize my home,' you can't specifically measure how organized your home has become, although you may sense that things are easier to find. Writing some specific, smaller steps that move you toward your larger goals can help you track where you are in pursuing that goal. For organizing your home, for example, you can set up steps such as the following:

• Every night before I go to bed, I will do the dishes, put them away, and lay out my breakfast setting.
• I will sort mail or paperwork immediately as it enters my home into three piles: Take Action, File, or Trash. Nothing will stay in the Take Action pile more than a week. The File pile will be filed every two weeks. The Trash will be thrown out on the spot.
• This week I will clean out the medicine cabinet.

At the end of the week, give yourself a checkup to determine whether you've completed each particular step. If you successfully reach your mini-goals for several weeks, you will see measurable progress toward your larger goal (an organized home). Even though you can't measure all goals, you can measure the progress you have made toward them -- and celebrate!

Organize for success: Resolve to read Success For Dummies, by Zig Ziglar.

Yahoo! DailyTips: Measuring Success