Welcome to Part 3!
One look at where we are and then we will continue.
You will have with you a list of goals and the reasons WHY you feel you want to achieve them.
Now, take the list and read through the reasons.
Do they make you feel energized and motivated to achieve them?
The question is crucial, because if they do not, you have to either come forward with better reasons or ditch the goal altogether.
Why? Merely because you can achieve a goal only when it becomes an absolute MUST for you!
The underlying theory is that, it is the REASON WHY you are doing it, rather than the goal itself, that gets you into action.
Here are some examples of goals that you might include for yourself:
Losing weight
Running your own business
Gaining a better job or promotion
Owning a new car
Being more assertive
Having more time for your family and children
Earning more money
Learning to swim
Etc
The simplest form in which the setting and achieving of goals can be defined is this:
You must first decide what your GOAL actually is. Then define it in comprehensive detail. Next you must lay out the steps by which you intend to reach the goal and lastly you must fix a deadline or a time limit for you to achieve the goal.
There should be a reason to have a goal first of all or else there wouldn’t have been a goal at all!
Consider the process of setting a goal as going on a long distance car journey. It will make the whole concept much easier for you to understand.
Obviously you wouldn’t plan a journey unless you knew why and where you are going. Neither would you do it if you didn’t have a map to guide you.
Firstly you would have a clear idea of where and why you are going even before you got into the car. You could be going to visit relatives or going to the gym or shopping or for a wedding. The point is that you know where you were planning to go.
Secondly, you would have mapped out the route on how you were going to get to the place.
Thirdly, you will have allotted enough time for you to get to the destination.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Well, goal setting in life involves exactly the same method – only, you are the car and your life is the journey. It’s as simple as that!
Merely a vague decision that you have to attain a goal or do a particular task yields no action. You have to have a clear-cut thinking.
If you were to ask someone on the street to define what their goals in life were, you would get vague responses like “I want to be rich”, “I want to be happy” and “I want to be famous”.
Don’t get fooled into thinking that these are goals.
They are just a generalization of what everybody desires.
A goal is something that can be defined to the tiniest detail. Once you have identified a goal and decide why you want to achieve it, the next step is to define it.
Consider that it is one of your goals to buy a new car. You have to define such things as the model, the color, the interiors, the price, and so on.
Make sure that you can picture the car you want to buy clearly in your mind instead of hanging on to a general and vague picture.
Be specific and precise.
HOW TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL – PLANNING AND ACTION
Having established what your goal is and defined it in detail, the next step is to plan and break down into steps the path to attaining the goal.
Remember, any goal can be achieved. It is in your hands to make the task a lot simpler by breaking the goal into a lot of sub-goals.
The sub-goals will lead you to your main goal in a matter of time.
Example: GOAL – To lose weight
Think for a moment that you want to lose some weight. Suppose you weigh around 12 Stone. So first of all, you have to make the goal specific.
How much weight do you want to lose??
Lets make it 12 lbs in 8 weeks. Now, that’s what we call specific.
Following this we have break this goal into smaller goals. This is done by splitting the 8 weeks into shorter and smaller periods and setting corresponding smaller goals for them.
You could for example, set sub-goals of losing 1.5 lbs per week.
The method is very effective and makes the person involved more optimistic and hopeful of achieving the goal. Moreover the goal when broken down into smaller parts does not seem like a huge task.
The broken down goal should be written in an easily understandable form, best as a table. This can be put up on a wall where you can see it.
In this case, your chart will look something like this.
GOAL: TO LOSE WEIGHT
SPECIFICS: 12 lbs in 8 weeks
WEIGHT AS ON xx/xx/01: 12 Stone
TARGET WEIGHT AS ON xx/xx/01: 154 lbs 2 lbs
Brainstorm all the activities that you have to do to achieve the goal and then club together activities that are of a similar nature.
For example:
Exercise
- What exercises should I do?
- How often should I exercise?
- Do I need a new kit?
- When will I exercise?
Diet
- What will I eat?
- Should there be a change in the cooking techniques?
- How many meals in a day can I have?
- What is the allowed calorie intake in a day?
- What changes in the shopping list?
Type of gym
- Where is the gym located?
- What are the prices?
- Does it suit my requirement?
You have to decide on such things as what days you will exercise, what exercise you will do and for how long.
You can also put down your exercise routine and healthy eating plan in a table like the one you earlier created. And most importantly, stick to it!
This method of breaking down a big goal into several small goals is called stair-stepping or chunking. It gives you the benefit of enjoying many small successes in the course of pursuing your final goal, rather than waiting to reach the main goal in the end.
The stair-stepping method is much like eating a pizza!
Let’s make it simpler.
Can you eat the whole pizza in one go? Obviously, you can’t!
If you tried eating an entire pizza in a single mouthful, you would choke. By cutting it into smaller slices, it is easier to eat and at the same time, more enjoyable.
Someone once said
“Success by the inch is a synch; by the yard it is hard”.
How true!
Break down your goals and you will see how much simpler they are for you to achieve!
Just concentrate on your sub-goals and your major goal will take care of itself.
GET THE TIMING RIGHT
One thing that’s as difficult as meeting deadlines is creating them. You have to set deadlines for yourself to achieve each goal.
Tomorrow. Later. Afterwards. Few words that are almost like synonyms of procrastination.
Many people are affected by this tendency to put off things for later. However, postponing things for tomorrow or next week only further extends to another tomorrow or another week.
In short, one word that you should take out of your life to be successful is PROCRASTINATION. Chuck it out!
There are so many forms of procrastination.
- One form of putting off things is by not choosing to do anything. You may want to do something and yet, thinking about all the procedures it involves, you may put it off by deciding not to do it at all!
- You may decide to do something, but don’t even start doing it.
- You start doing something, but do not continue it.
- You may continue the work, but do not finish it.
Set deadlines for yourself to achieve your goals. That way you don’t put things off until tomorrow.
TIMETABLE TO SUCCESS.
All you have to do is breakdown your goal, allot time and create deadlines for each.
Make it a point to make your goals achievable and realistic.
Instead of setting goals that exceed your ability, create goals that exploit your potential to the fullest, thus sealing the gap between potential and performance. This is important.
Success breeds success, they say. Be on the safer side. Set goals that you can achieve. This way you get the habit of succeeding as you attain each goal.
It boosts your confidence and helps you attain further goals.
The more measurable and realistic the goals are, the simpler it becomes to correct yourself incase you go off-track.
Don’t set unattainable tasks or make unrealistic demands on your workforce. It will only inflict damage to their motivation, self-esteem and confidence and end up in lesser productivity.
What happens when you set too-big-to-achieve tasks upon yourself is that you become de-motivated. You end up wondering, “What’s the point?” and ultimately give up.
There is a fine dividing line between goals that are easy to achieve and goals that are rather out of your reach.
You have to rely on your common sense, knowledge about your strengths and weaknesses, awareness about your potential to develop and also the age old theory of trial and error.
Goals should be specified for each and every part of your life.
Career, finance, possessions, ambitions, family, relationships, etc – each one is an important area of your life. Set goals for yourself in each of these areas – surely, you will get more rewarding and successful outcomes.
“An oral agreement isn’t worth the paper it is written on”
How true! Even in this context.
Here are a few tips that could be of help to you:
There is no point in just saying that you have a goal. Write it down. It serves as a commitment from your side to yourself.
Setting Goals
Check out this example…
What?
Lose 10 lbs in weight
Why?
It will instill greater confidence in me, enhance my self-esteem and will make me more attractive to women.
How?
Exercise, diet, allocating time, gym or home, etc.
Chunking
- Finding a gym, planning exercise routine, kit, frequency of exercise
- Nutrition
- Time management and organization
Sub-goals
- Lose 2 lbs per month
- Buy 1 new item of clothing each month
- Visit gym 4 times a week
- Increase distance or resistance each time
Timelines
Major Goal attained within 5 months
Review
Is the plan working? What are the results? Do I need to adjust?
Adjust
Let this be a strict rule for you:
Write down everything. Don’t just commit it all to your memory.
Started formulating your goals, haven’t you? You needn’t worry if you haven’t. We have exercises coming up in the next few pages that will help you do just that.
Take time to brainstorm each goal and WRITE down all the things that you need to do to achieve your goal.
These are some questions you could ask yourself:
What will you need?
Do you have the required experience?
Who can help you out?
What will you have to do?
Is there a cost?
Do you need any equipment?
Do you require any capital?
Divide all the actions into 3 or 4 main areas and then categorize them as sub-goals following which, set deadlines for each.
Then…? What else? GO FOR IT!!
As you will have set realistic and achievable sub-goals, achieving them would not be very difficult. Success in attaining the small goals will have you brimming with confidence and ready to do more, as you always win.
Moreover, it will also put you in the right frame of mind to achieve greater feats.
Other uses of goal attainment
You could make use of goal attainment in your everyday life as well.
Suppose you are attending a course at work, have a clear idea of what you intend to achieve out of it and why. What are your goals and objectives?
Always think in advance. Planning is something that never goes futile.
Think over this.
First set goals. Then plan for the short term goals that will lead you to the main goal.
If you are playing a round of golf and you shot a 75 last time around, set yourself the target of 73.
If you bench-pressed 200 lbs at the gym, try next for 210.
Setting goals for yourself both for the short run and long run will reflect on your performance. You will do things better and more efficiently and the best in you will be brought out in everything that you do. What’s more? You will enjoy doing it too!
You will find more and more opportunities coming to you.
Goal attainment can do wonders.
Okay friends, There is work for you to do!