Stephen Sutton has inspired me. You’ve probably heard of him. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 15 and he decided to create a wish list. His wish list included raising £1 million for charity. (At last count he had made over £3m.) You can read his story on Facebook. His inspiration to the world reminded me of the excellent phrase ‘bucket list’. To me, bucket lists are a much more uplifting term than “goal setting.” Wish lists refer to the hopes and dreams we have in life that we may not think we can actually achieve.

(If you haven’t seen the movie ‘The Bucket List’ with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicolson yet, I recommend you do.)

Kendall Summerhawk, a mentor I greatly admire, describes “goal setting” as a very masculine activity. She has written an excellent article on how feminine energy needs to bring emotions to goals.

However, whatever we call it, the most successful people on the planet have a set of goals that inspire, propel, and keep them on track. The busy woman can often struggle, not necessarily with setting goals, but with successfully implementing and achieving those goals. This is because working women often juggle a heavy workload and home.

Other people’s demands on us seem relentless. So how do you go about setting goals?

I’ve compiled top 10 tips for successful goal setting:

1) Identify what you want.

Yes, I know it sounds simple. But when was the last time you sat down and figured out what you really want? In the life? in your career? With your families? His hobbies? There is an excellent framework called ‘The Wheel of Life’. I have created a downloadable PDF for you here.

two) write your goals

A study done at the Dominican University (and not the great Harvard/Yale myth) found that those graduates who wrote down their goals achieved significantly more than those who didn’t. Our brain can’t keep track of all the demands and dreams we put in there. So my encouragement to you is to buy a new journal and write down the goals you want to achieve.

3) Use SMART goals.

SMART is a great acronym for writing goals: Specific (are you really clear on what your goal is?); Measurable (how you will know you have achieved it); Agree (especially important when establishing with a team member); Realistic (can you do it?) and Timely (when will it be ready). When you reread your goals, check to make sure they are SMART.

4) add emotion

I agree with Kendall Summerhawk: you have to have and feel some emotion around the goal. Setting goals is not just a task you can check off. You need to really ‘feel’ and ideally ‘see’ the goal. If you can, then the goals will materialize much faster. So, for example, instead of “I need to lose weight,” imagine yourself in a bathing suit and feel how good you feel.

5) Create a 90 day plan

Many of you know that I have been a great fan of Paul Hoffman’s work on 90-day plans. Essentially, it encourages him to look at his long-term goals to map out a 90-day plan. The general plan is to be as realistic as possible in terms of what you really want to achieve. For example, you might want to start running. A completely out of shape friend of mine has started running 10k in 90 days and she’s on the right track!

6) Set aside ‘planning time’ every week

I have found that my best time to plan is Sunday morning. Most of the family is usually sleeping (as I am an early riser). I spend about an hour reviewing my goals and mapping out what I would like to do for the week. I usually spend about 15 minutes each morning updating my “to do” list. Now this is not easy for me! But with a little persistence, it really helps to get more done.

7) estimate how long

During the planning phase, it really helps to think about how long things will take. Historically, I completely underestimate how long it takes to get things done. By keeping track of how long things are taking, you can be much more realistic about the time needed. As Peter Drucker once said, “What gets measured gets done.”

8) do the big things first

There is an excellent analogy of rocks and sand that is often used in time management training. In other words, you have to create time for the big things in your life: how often is your life filled with little to-do’s? “I’ll get this over with” or “I’ll clear this job and then I’ll be gone.” I’ll have time for that.”

9) Make time a priority for me

Make sure when you set your goals that you include a goal for ‘I’. An investigation by the Families and Work Institute (Women and Time: Establishing a New Agenda) found that 49% of women did not have enough free time. And, less than 4% said they had ‘zero’ time. So what would ‘me time’ look like for you? If you could earn 30 minutes in a week, what would be the one thing you would do, just for yourself?

10) Reward yourself

We are often so motivated to continuously improve and achieve higher performance that we forget to remember our achievements. When setting goals, identify what the reward will be for achieving them. It can be as simple as a cup of coffee or, if it’s a big achievement, you might want to treat yourself to something you’ve been looking for for a while.