There are stages in life where we wonder “What have I achieved and where am I going?” If you are at that stage, it is time to consider Goals and how you use them.
The majority of people spend their lives dealing with things as they come up. From time to time they attempt various things in an attempt to better their situation and are satisfied when they perceive an improvement even though they have no definite, measurable proof that they have indeed ‘improved their lot’.
Often the things that people attempt are imposed upon them. This happens when we are children and we attend compulsory education. It is expected that we will ‘work hard and get good results’. There may be incentives to do so whether those incentives are enticements such as gifts to reward good results or punishment to demonstrate that poor results are unacceptable. This ‘carrot and stick’ approach continues into employment where we are paid if we meet acceptable standards and face being fired if our performance is not satisfactory. In this environment it is normal for employees to wait for someone to enable them to progress in their career and have additional responsibility with commensurate increased remuneration apportioned to them. People in this environment do not require ‘goals’ because their destiny is decided by someone else. Provided they are happy with this situation there is nothing wrong with this method other than these people are not in control of their destiny and must accept what comes to them whether pleasant or unpleasant.
If an individual is motivated to take control of their destiny and take action to improve their ‘lot in life’, it is necessary for them to have a defined plan of action to make that improvement. It is essential to define what the improved ‘lot in life’ is before a plan can be defined. That ‘improved lot’ is your Goals.
As the sayings go: “If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?” and “If you don’t plan on being somewhere, you will end up nowhere!” etc.
Goals are the definition of what you want to achieve that will mean success for you in your own terms. Whether success for you means being comfortable and living a stress free, happy life with modest belongings that you share with those you love or being a global superstar with fabulous riches and a cadre of sycophants, you will need to set and continually adjust Goals that you will then work to achieve so that you progress toward your ultimate ‘nirvana’.
It is essential to physically write these goals and review them regularly. Situations change and what may seem very important today can become less important later. They are your goals so you can adjust them as you see fit. Once you have your Goals defined, you can then move to the next stage and write a clear Plan to achieve them.
A guide to writing Goals is the “SMART” method whereby they are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Time based (i.e. they have a set time allocated to achieve them).
There is nothing wrong with ‘thinking big’. Setting massive goals such as ‘becoming Prime Minister’ or ‘being a global movie star’ may seem unrealistic and unachievable, but provided you really believe in the goal and are prepared to do whatever it takes to make it happen, you are far more likely to achieve the goal than if you don’t write that goal down and go about executing a plan to make it happen. One of Australia’s longest serving Prime Ministers, Sir Robert Menzies, grew up in Jeparit, a small town in rural western Victoria. When his mother would ask him as a small child “Robert, what do you want to be?” he always answered “Prime Minister!” Because of his focus, he did just that.
Goals need to be balanced across all facets of your life. A framework that can be used has been defined by Priority Management of Canada [ www.prioritymanagement.com ] where goals are set to cover the ares of Work, Learning, Physical, Social, Family and Spiritual.
To write the goals, it is recommended that you picture yourself in the future (say 3 – 5 years) in a meeting with a good friend over your favourite beverage, where you are telling them what you set out to do (your Goals) and what you have achieved.
Keep them simple and ‘from the heart’ but if you are to be successful, you must write down you goals, revisit them regularly and then execute a plan to achieve them.
