There is an old saying: “Most people aim at nothing in life . . . and hit it with amazing accuracy.” It is a sad commentary about people, but it is true. It is the striving for and the attainment of goals that makes life meaningful.
People who have no goals feel emotionally, socially, spiritually, physically, and professionally unbalanced. This can only cause anxiety. People who have goals are respected by their peers; they are taken seriously.
Rules of Goal Setting
Most people, when asked, “What are your goals in life?” say something like, “To be happy, healthy, and have plenty of money.” On the surface, this may seem fine. As goals leading to actions, however, they just do not make it. They do not have the key ingredients necessary to make them effective, workable goals.
- Your goal must be personal. Your goals must be uttered with sincerity. It must be something you want to do rather than something you think you should do. Know your reasons for having the goal.
- Your goal must be positive. Try not to think of green elephants! You cannot do it. It is an automatic response to think of the thing you are told not to think about. This is because the mind cannot not think of something when told to. We tend to focus on ideas and actions from a positive framework. When you think a negative thought such as, “I will not smoke today,” your mind perceives it as “I will smoke today.”
- Your goal must be written. Writing a goal down causes effects that are a bit difficult to explain. It does, nonetheless, prove effective. Written goals take a jump in status from being nebulous thoughts (which you did not care enough about to bona fide entities on paper.
- Your goal must be specific. If you set your goal by saying “I will increase my sales next year,” chances are you will not do it. You need to be specific to avoid the lack of commitment that comes with being vague.
- Your goal must be a challenge. A goal must motivate you to work harder than you have in the past. It must move you forward. Set your goals just beyond your reach so that you will have to stretch a bit. The more you stretch, the more limber your goal achieving abilities will become.
- Your goal must be realistic. Everything is relative to time and space. What is unrealistic today may be totally within reason five years from now. For years it was believed that the fastest a man could run a mile was in four minutes. It was unrealistic to aspire to running any faster until Dr. Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile in 1954. Since then hundreds of runners have done the same.
For our purposes, the best definition must come from you and your values. You must ask yourself, “What price am I willing to pay to accomplish this goal?” You should always weigh the payoffs and the sacrifices involved before coming to a conclusion. Realistic is ultimately your decision.
Working Toward Your Goals
Now that you know the rules for setting goals, you can apply them to the goals you set for yourself. Here is an explanation of each of the areas you need to complete while working toward your goals…
- Define your goal. Your first task is to determine whether your goal meets all the requirements of the rules listed above. If it does, then write it as clearly as possible at the top of the worksheet.
- Examine obstacles that stand in your way. This is a time to guard against negative assumptions and other self-defeating thoughts. Remember the definition of realistic. An obstacle blocks you only if you let it. You should also write down your innovative ways of overcoming obstacles.
- W.I.I.F.M.—What’s in it for me? Why do you want to achieve the goal? What kind of payoff is motivating you?
- Plan your action. You need to carefully list the steps you will take which will bring you closer to your goal. The smaller the increments the easier they will be to accomplish. A German proverb says, “He who begins too much accomplishes little”. As the American Dental Association is fond of saying, “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
- Project a target date for your goal. State your deadline range, such as, “between March 15 and April 1st.” Think carefully about the amount of time you need. Too little time will increase the pressure and frustrate you. Too much time may reduce your drive.
- Know how you will measure your success. Goals should be described in terms of the final outcome of an activity rather than as the activity. This is part of being specific. Instead of saying “I will be running more in four to six months,” you could say, “I’ll be running three miles instead of two miles in four to six months.” How will you measure this? Probably by having one-third more blisters on your feet.
Inspiration and Motivation
The dividends reaped by investing in yourself are unlike any other found in the financial world. When you clarify your values and set goals in all the major areas of your life–mental, physical, family, social, spiritual, professional, and financial– the right roads appear in front of you like mirages in the desert, yet they are real.