Evaluating Goals: Intent vs. Actuality, A Guest Blog by Kimberly Napoli

Do intentions count? In our heart, yes; in the real world, not so much. Intentions are your goals and objectives, and it is really important to have them. They create a vision for us and what we want from life, but they are just the beginning. You have to push beyond that and focus on results.

The world is interested in what you actually accomplished. Your results are what separate your goals from your dreams. Dreams don’t have to come true, they are things you expect to happen to you. Goals are followed by action and they are a materialization of what you plan to do. It’s not enough to intend to finish that report, do those taxes, bake those cookies, or write that story.

So often we have other people affected by our intentions, this motivates us to complete the task. You don’t expect your boss, friend, school, or family to understand that you intended to do it but didn’t. Your intentions are part of a bigger picture, a relay race with someone at the end to pass the baton to (the completed goal). Unfortunately for many beginning writers it’s more of a marathon with a lot of personal battles along the way, a solo journey with a lot of personal satisfaction at the end. At the end it is you full of pride and joy, your manuscript/article, and the new intention to get published. How, when it is just you, do you turn your intentions into actual results?

One great way is a blog like this, which works to give you the tools to focus and find the right routine to meet your goals. You are part of an environment where you don’t have to feel alone. You can train and run your marathon with people just like you.

An often overlooked but vital tool for getting results is the evaluation process. You have a goal, you have a plan, but if you don’t track your progress and make adjustments, you may have a very big gap between what you intended to accomplish and what actually got accomplished. Now is not the time to let yourself down.

I really do think that the secret to your success is going to be found in the time to take to evaluate your progress and compare the final result with your intended target. It may seem unnecessary or a waste of time, but you are investing in long term solutions. You are giving yourself the tools to streamline and improve the process.

Evaluating as you go will help you see circumstances that need adjusting for, allow you to keep people updated on your progress and reward yourself for exceeding expectations. When you have your plan broken down to measurable elements you can track your progress. By making adjustments as you go, you are more likely to have your intended results line up with your actual results. You won’t be shocked by discrepancies and you’ll have a framework that is repeatable. That is vital. How amazing to be able to have created a system that you can comfortably repeat. Success to the end.

Evaluating the final results is just as crucial. Don’t skip this step. Yes you’re tired, anxious, and glad it’s all over, but until you look at the process with hindsight it’s not really over. This step is important to ensuring you understand what went right and what went wrong. You will need this information to improve the results and tighten the gap between your intentions and actuality the next time you map out your goals. This is your chance to begin the next project with hindsight, to pull out your final evaluation on your last project and factor in the things that worked and didn’t work.

The evaluation process is a vital tool to creating a system that is manageable, enjoyable, and successful. Give yourself the time to take your best intentions and turn them into a successful actuality.