Here, we are going to talk about goal setting. There are few important points we must clarify before we set our goal.

1.       Why is goal setting important?

2.       How are these going to help me in achieving my goal?

3.       Is this necessary to write them down?

Goal setting is definitely important as it gives a clear path of what we want to achieve, an achievement in either working or personal. It helps us to stay on the track all the time without getting lost. Still remember the story of Alice in the Wonderland?
 
Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
Alice: …so long as I get somewhere.
The Cat: Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.

I love this passage very much. Alice, of course, is lost and she is asking for directions from the cat. It applies to us also, if only Alice has a goal to get to somewhere else it doesn’t matter what path she chose.

To achieve one goal, you must know how you are going to get there. From setting yourself a goal, it gives clear direction of what you need to do and what you are lacking still. For an example, if you want to be a singer, you must able to find out your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. With that, coming out an action plan to help yourself to understand further how are you going to make use of all the resources (tangible and intangible) to help you to achieve your goal.

From the book ‘What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School’ by Mark McCormack, he tells a study conducted on students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program. In that year, the students were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” Only 3 percent of the graduates had written goals and plans, 13 percent had goals but they were not in writing, and a whopping 84 percent has no specific goals at all. Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the finding, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. And guess, what about the 3 percent who had clear, written goals? They were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

Guess I have stated the answers of the 3 questions above, why we must set our goal and get it written.

According to Brian Tracy, the bestseller “Goals”, there is 4 reasons why people don’t set goals.

1.       They don’t realize about the importance of goals. If the people with whom you spend the most time – family, friends, colleagues and so forth, are not clear and committed to goals, there is a chance that you will not be, either.

2.       They don’t know how to set goals. Some set goals that are too general. These are, in reality, fantasies common to everyone. Goals, on the other hand, are clear, written, specific and measurable.

3.       They fear failure. Failure hurts, but it is often necessary to experience failure in order to achieve the greatest success. Don’t unconsciously sabotage yourself by not setting any goals in which you might fail.

4.   They fear rejection. People are often afraid that if they are unsuccessful at achieving a goal, others will be critical of them. This is remedied by keeping your goals to yourself at the outset, let others see your results and achievement once you have accomplished your goals

SMART Goal Settings

In order to success, it is important for us to set a clear, measurable, time-bounded goal that we can work forward.

Goal can be set with the SMART guidelines.

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Realistic

T = Time Bound

Let’s see each of this and how we can elaborate the points, to make our goal fuller and clearer.


Specific

Goals should be straight forward and emphasize what you want to happen. This helps us to focus our efforts and clearly define what we are going to do.

We have to ask ourselves WHAT, WHY and HOW in order to know what exactly we want to achieve according to SMART model. For example:

§               What are you going to do? Use action words such as direct, organize, coordinate, lead, develop, plan, build etc.

§               Why is this important to do at this time? What do you want to accomplish?

§               How are you going to do it?

Ensure the goals we set is very specific, clear and easy to understand. Instead of setting a goal to lose weight, set a specific goal like to lose 2cm off your waistline.

Measurable

There is a saying ‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’. In another word, the whole goal statement is a measure for the project. If the goal is accomplished, there is a success. However, there are usually several short-tern or small measurements that can be built into the goal.

For example, how will you see when you reach your goal? Be specific! ‘I want to read 3 chapter books of 100 pages on my own before 24 November 2012.’ Show specific target to be measured.

When we measure our progress, we stay on track, reach our target dates and experience the joy of achievement that drive us on the continued effort required to reach our goals.

Attainable

After we identified goals that are most important to us, we begin to figure out ways how we can make them come true. Therefore, from there we will develop new attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity in order to reach our goal. We will begin seeing previous overlooked opportunities to bring ourselves closer to the achievement of our goals.

However, if we set our goals too far out of our reach, we probably won’t commit along the way and give up halfway. Therefore, a goal needs to stretch slightly so you feel you can do it and it will need commitment from you. For instance, if I aim to lose 4kg in a week, I might think it is impossible to achieve it but when I aim to lose 2kg in a week and I achieved that, I will aim to lose another 2kg, to make it possible and achievable for myself.

The feeling of success which this brings helps you to remain motivated.

Realistic

Realistic, in here means ‘do-able’. It means the learning curve is not a vertical slope, the skills needed to do the work are available, the project fits with the overall strategy and goals of the organization.

The goal needs to be realistic for us and where we are at the moment. For example a goal of never eat sweets, cakes, crisps and chocolate may not be realistic for someone who really likes to eat these food. It will be more realistic to set a goal of eating a fruit a day instead of sweet food. We can then choose to work towards reducing the amount of sweet products.

Be sure to set goals that we can attain with some effort. If it is too difficult for you, then you are planning the stage for failure, but if it is too low then it sends a message to us that we aren’t very capable. Conclusion set the bar high enough for a satisfying achievement.

Time Bound

Set a time frame for our goal. For next week, in 3 months, by fifth grade and etc. putting an end point on our goal gives us a clear target to work towards.

If we don’t set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because we may have the feeling that we can start anytime we want. Without a time limit, there is no sense of urgency of taking action now.

Therefore, time must be measurable, attainable and realistic.

Make a habit of daily goal setting and achieving, for the rest of your life. Focus on the things you want, rather than the things you don’t want. Resolve to be a goal-seeking organism, moving unerringly toward the things that are important to you. – by Brian Tracy