Project management/Experimental self communication/Critical thinking and self communication/Goal setting

Preparation

 * Study Venn Diagrams : Anything beyond very simple personal goals always involves other human beings or mammals or life forms or rocks or other manifestations of the physical universe.

Personal Goal Setting and Implementation Management

 * Identify or brainstorm specific personal goals.
 * Identify specific missions, goals or tasks which are related somehow to your attaining your specific goal. First do this individually for each goal.  As part of daily prioritization can identify common tasks or tasks which can be worked on concurrently.
 * Identify current and possible obstacles. Keep alert for chances to nibble, sidestep or obliterate them as you proceed through the planning and action tasks and work with other people.
 * Identify people and organizations who can assist you with achieving your goals or prioritized tasks.
 * Figure out what is in it for them. This will undoubtedly involve some intelligence gathering (recruiting, querying) or coordination and possibly mutation or expansion of the original goal set to adequately compensate other participants for their efforts beneficial to your goals.  Sometimes phased or interlocked delivery is important.  You are trying to accomplish your own or the team's goals and tasks, not be diverted to completing someone elses desires prior to achieving or initating work regarding your own.  Sometimes it simply requires a polite request, flowers with a smile, or some reasonable amount of cash.
 * Develop a plan or a series of small achievable tasks which when accomplished in the aggregate will achieve the goal. For multiple goals do this for each one and then integrate or prioritize according to personal priorities.  Keep in mind priorities may need to shift in accordance with external events or others peoples' goals or desires.
 * Specify concrete objective measururable milestones or metrics which can be used to track progress towards the goal.
 * Review progress periodically and revise the plan appropriately.

Note: In Total Quality Management philosophy this cycle is often call the PDCA loop. Plan, Do, Collect, Analyse, iterate. The biggest difference is that TQM is often implicitly assuming motivated people and teams and focused on specific business or manufacturing processes. The above goal setting processes is more general and must involve motivating other people and gaining their assistance or cooperation.