Becoming Goal Oriented in a Continually Changing World
Once we start to understand the world around us better through tools such as systems thinking, we’re naturally going to identify areas for improvement. We’ll begin to see where making some changes can vastly improve how we do things, and we may even decide to create new goals for ourselves. Having a high-level map of what we would like to achieve is a key step in moving from the reactive to proactive mindset we covered earlier in the e-Course and in Chapter One of Think Smarter in a Digitally Enabled World. But the reality is that over 90% of people don’t actively set, write down, or track their goals. Why? It seems to often stem from a few common themes:
It takes time and energy
There’s always something better to do, right?
Fear of failure
Not hitting your goal is a form of failure. Failure feels bad, so why put yourself in that position?
Questioning if it generates results
Things change, circumstances change, so why even create goals in the first place?
These are all understandable reasons to resist goal setting; however, study after study shows that people who create and track goals are more successful in their lives.
Those of you working in corporations are likely steeped in your company’s goal-setting process, as these are found in most mid-to- large businesses and every venture-funded start-up. Goals, and the milestones needed to achieve them, are the lifeblood of these companies. This is how the various employees are directed to work toward the same corporate objectives.
In our era of technology and media abundance, having daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals becomes almost a necessity. We don’t necessarily have to script our entire day in tremendous detail, but it’s important to at least have major guideposts. It’s so easy to be distracted by our overabundance of social media and other diversions that we can easily lose a few hours or more of our precious time every day—with little to nothing to show in terms of meaningful achievements. But when we have goals, they serve as our guide to what is most important, urgent, and meaningful, allowing us to become clear on what needs to be accomplished first before other things divert our attention.
The pioneer in goal setting research is Dr. Edwin Locke, Professor (Emeritus) of Leadership and Motivation at the R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. In his 1968 article “Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives,” Locke pointed out that the act of working toward a goal actually provided motivation to reach the goal. This, in turn, improved performance. This concept has now become mainstream thinking, and the oft- quoted line in management circles is: “What gets measured, gets achieved.”
Locke, et al, wrote in 1981:
“A review of both laboratory and field studies on the effects of setting goals when performing a task found that in 90% of the studies, specific and challenging goals lead to higher performance than easy goals, “do your best” goals, or no goals. Goals affect performance by directing attention, mobilizing effort, increasing persistence, and motivating strategy development [i.e. different ways of achieving the goal].”
In 1990, Locke published a major update to his work in a book titled A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance. The book outlines Five Principles of Goal Setting and states that for goals to truly be motivational, they must have the following characteristics:
Clarity
Goals need to be clear and measurable.
Challenge
More challenging goals produce higher levels of motivation.
Commitment
Goals that are understood, and to which there is a clear commitment, are most likely to get done.
Feedback
You need to have periodic check-ins to see how you’re doing against the goal and if there should be any adjustments made to your effort or to the goal itself.
Task Complexity
Goals should essentially be attainable, given their complexity level.
Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson leveraged Locke’s work and in the mid-80s developed the SMART goal system (Blanchard, Zigarmi, & Zigarmi, 1985). The SMART acronym stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-Related
*Now, one caveat is in order. Sometimes we can become too focused on our goals and that in fact can lead to less than desirable outcomes. Things are changing in our environment all the time, and it may make sense to change our objectives slightly, or to abandon a particular goal all together. This may be necessary as our current goal is taking us down a less than satisfactory path (or harmful one in some cases). Or, perhaps a new more desirable opportunity has arisen that may make more sense for us to pursue. In many ways, it is advantageous to stay focused on the big picture, be comfortable with some level of ambiguity, and not get too obsessed with any particular numerical target or milestone. And, if we stay open and mindful, we’ll get better at spotting these change-points and how to deal with them effectively.
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar
HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED
Over the years, individuals and organizations have developed certain techniques to help them stay positive and motivated as they strive to attain their goals. Whenever we’re embarking on something that’s difficult, it is possible to become deflated as we encounter difficulties in our path. These approaches can help us stay on course.
Break down big goals into chunks
A big, challenging goal that’s broken down into more manageable pieces is more likely to be achieved. You’re less likely to fail at the smaller, more attainable sub-goals, and each small success bolsters your motivation.
Celebrate
As you reach the intermediate milestones, reward yourself. This could be as simple as a cup of coffee at your favorite café or buying something you’ve had your eye on for a while. Just remember that the perk should be relative to the magnitude of the accomplishment.
Acknowledge the good things
Consciously recognize when something positive has occurred. Too many times we’re quick to point out how bad things are, and not as quick to recognize the good things when they happen. Positive, upbeat, and motivated people make a habit of taking a mental inventory of the things that are going right in order to keep their momentum.
Tell people
Studies have shown that if you tell people your goals, you’re more likely to achieve them. One reason is because it creates accountability —people like to follow through in front of their friends and family. Secondly, those same people can be effective cheerleaders. You’ll want to share your goals with people you feel you can trust and who will be positive and supportive in your efforts. You may even choose an individual to jointly pursue some goals so you can mutually support each other. A common example of this is a “workout buddy.”
Now that we know what goal setting is, and how it improves our probability of success, we want to create a plan for the various aspects of our lives that we care the most about. Here are some steps to take when developing an effective Goal Setting Plan:
DETERMINE WHAT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO YOU
When you look around at the people who are very successful, one trait stands out: their clear view of what they deem important and are passionate about. When you have clarity about this, it’s harder to get distracted.
To determine what’s important to you, or what your priorities really are, try asking yourself the following questions:
What do I care about the most?
What do I tend to get most passionate about?
What do I never get bored of doing?
What makes me feel most alive and connected to the world?
What do I tend to argue about the most?
What do I wish I could change about myself?
If money was not a consideration, what would I like to spend my days doing?
What are the few things that, if I accomplished them, would radically change my life?
What habits would I like to create and which ones would I like to eliminate?
Is my spiritual life where I want it to be? What questions do I have in this area? How should I go about finding out the answers? Are there new experiences I would like to have?
How would I like my family to communicate better and function more effectively?
Did I become the person I thought I would become when I was younger? If not, why? What would I do differently from here on out?
Are my finances where I would like them to be? What could I do in the next 1–3 years to get them to the right place?
Am I happy with my current state of health and fitness? What are my options to improve?
Am I satisfied with my level of communication skills with my spouse, family, and colleagues?
Am I satisfied with my current job? What 3–5 things would I change about it if I could?
What arouses my curiosity the most?
The answers to these questions are your main drivers— the core values and things you care about that create your “Why” in life.
Once you have a sense of these, you can then start to create goals in the areas of your life you find important. In general, you’ll start seeing that your goals fit into certain categories. For most people, these would include:
Life Goals
Family Goals
Financial Goals
Career Goals
You can add as many categories as make sense for you.
You’ll also see that these questions guide you in identifying the big things in life:
The Life Experiences you want to have
The Personal Growth and Development you want to achieve
What you want to Give Back to the world
Thing big, really big. Don’t hold back. Go for BHAG—Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals! If you’re going to create a vision, you might as well make it a dramatic and compelling one.
Lastly, put your goal setting into action. There are a number of things to do – from creating a long range goal setting plan using a simple spreadsheet approach to using a number of different apps. Both approaches are detailed in my book Think Smarter in a Digitally Enabled World: A 21st Century Life Manual for Amplifying Your Knowledge, Achieving Your Potential & Changing the World, along with a more detailed discussion of goal setting and other tools and approaches to use. In addition, the book discusses how to use various techniques to increase the likelihood of manifesting your goals.
But to get you started, one thing that works extremely well, is to daily write down your top 3-5 tasks in support of your goals that you must complete for that day. Anything accomplished beyond those will be a bonus. These are the items that create major forward momentum for you – they are the objectives that if only they were completed, you would still achieve the majority of progress you seek. This simple technique also creates focus and clarity among the many competing priorities you face on a daily basis. It also allows you to be flexible in your goal setting – each day’s objectives are dynamically set based on the changing circumstances in your life. Try using it with the Nozbe to-do app.
Till next time, here’s wishing you achieve all of your objectives!
Jay Kshatri
www.ThinkSmarterWorld.com
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