Goal-Setting with PAR & SWOT

In golf, every hole is classified by its par. It is the theoretic number of strokes that expert golfers should require for getting the ball into the hole. So based on this, I give you PAR for goal-setting.

P A R stands for:

• Plan
• Action
• Result (or Review)

Using PAR for the basis of all goal-setting, if the action doesn’t immediately lead to a result, this offers the opportunity to reflect and go back to the planning stage. It’s also helps to use PAR in conjunction with my other goal-setting model GO-FLOW (see below) as well as a SWOT analysis:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

Using SWOT can help us to play to our strengths, manage our weaknesses, maximise opportunities and neutralise threats (obstacles).

Taken together, PAR, SWOT and GO-FLOW remind us that what we often term ‘failure’ is actually ‘feedback’. Goal-setting isn’t about getting ‘a hole in one’. It’s about learning how to use feedback to refine our plan so that our action becomes increasingly locked on to our targets. Goal-setting is a process of continual, focused enlightenment not a one-off  ‘shot in the dark’.

Links:

• Going for Your Goals or Going With The Flow?
• Don’t Wait For Your Ship To Come In. . . Swim Out To Meet It.