Accomplish More with SMART Goals

The beginning of a new year presents a great opportunity for us to reflect on our accomplishments over the last year. It's not unusual to recall how quickly the year passed and maybe even blame the speed of time for our failure to accomplish the goals we established early last year. Does this sound familiar? Break the cycle. Act now to define goals for this year and take steps to ensure that you accomplish them.

This Nugget presents two resources to help you become more goal-oriented. The first one explains the concept of SMART Goals. Click on The 5 Steps to Setting SMART Business Goals to read a short but excellent article on goals by Darrell Zahorsky. He explains the SMART Goals concept and why it is important to you and your business.

Our second link provides a form that will not only help you establish SMART Goals but will also help you create an action plan that will help ensure that you achieve your goals. The SMART Goal Worksheet is a valuable tool you will use repeatedly. Be sure to keep a blank copy for future use.

Remember: tools are only productive when used. Put these to work for you and improve your effectiveness in 2009.

Checkmate Tip: What Does it Fit?

If you know the OEM number for a part you can usually find out what that part is and what it fits by using the following search.

Be sure that "Model," "Year," and "Part" lines are blank. If there is specific data on any of them, select the line and press the space bar to clear the entry. On the "Go To:" line, type the part code, a comma, and then OEM followed by a comma. Enter the OEM number after the comma. Run your search by either pressing the "Esc" key on your keyboard or toggling to the "Start search" line.