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Goal Setting Techniques:
Going Beyond Goal Setting
I just Googled the phrase “goal setting”, and found approximately
3,600,000 web pages that relate in some way to that phrase. This
shouldn’t surprise us, because conventional wisdom is that goal
setting is an important skill.
It is easy to document both through anecdotal evidence as well as
through research that setting goals can help us achieve more.
There are hundreds of books, tapes, speeches, workshops, and
websites that will provide us with tools and processes to set
goals. One would think for something as important as goal
setting, with as many tools as there are available, that
everyone would be a goal setter.
This however isn’t the case.
While I could fill a book with the reasons why, there is one that
is very important.
People don’t set goals now because they didn’t achieve the ones
they set in the past.
They’ve followed the goal setting process they learned or read
about, but the seminar or book stopped at the wrong time. The
seminar stopped with the setting of the goal. That is like
ending the game after the first play, then going to sit on the
sidelines, while the goal is out on the playing field.
My advice to you, if you can identify with what you’ve just read is
to stop worrying about goal setting. And start focusing on goal
achieving.
In other words, stop worrying about which goal setting model to
use, or which software to track your progress with. Stop making
the goal setting process the focus, and start putting the focus
on goal achievement.
Here are three things you can do to put our focus on goal
achievement and drastically increase your success:
1. Get sick and tired. It is often said that people really
begin to reach new health goals when they become “sick and tired
of being sick and tired.” Achieving a goal means that you want
something different than you have now. To build your ongoing and
sustaining drive to achieve the new item, knowledge or
situation, you must become disgusted and dissatisfied with the
current situation. This doesn’t mean that you should become
bitter or grumpy, but rather it means to develop a healthy
dissatisfaction with the way things are now (current
profitability, the cycle time for new product development, or
your inability to find a bathroom in
Brazil).
2. Get (and stay) excited about the result. To sustain the
challenges, setbacks and disappointments along your way to goal
achievement, you must have another motivation as well. You must
really want the benefits that will come to you when the new goal
is achieved. Build a clear and compelling picture in your mind
of what you will feel, sense, see, and believe once your goal
has been achieved. Focus on the results you will gain from the
goal, rather than just the goal itself. This is important
because in the end this is what you are after, not “just” the
goal itself. As you work towards your goal, the goal might
shift, but as long as the desired results remain clear, you have
improved the likelihood of achieving the end result you desire.
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3. Start a plan and get started. Notice I didn’t say to lay
out a complete plan of all the steps between you and your goal.
If your goal is of any size and importance at all, it will
require many steps, and it will be very difficult/impossible to
identify them with any degree of certainty at the start. Too
many people think they need the perfect plan. They delay
starting so they can get the best information. They want to talk
to one more expert, read one more book, examine two more
options. Get started already! Give yourself a clear idea of a
general approach, and some clear first steps. Allow yourself the
luxury of knowing that the next specific steps will become clear
as you stay on the path.
Doing these three things will drastically increase your success in
achieving any goal you set.
Actually, let me say it more strongly. Until you have these three
factors going for you in large (although potentially varying)
amounts, you won’t achieve the goals you set. You will lose
momentum. You will lose focus. You will lose hope. You won’t be
able to overcome the first setback. And you will fall into the
convenient and comfortable thinking that goal setting “doesn’t
work” for you or that you need a new tool, a new technique or a
new guru to help you set “better” goals.
Whether you are setting goals for yourself, the team you lead or
for your organization at large, take this advice to heart.
Focus less energy on setting the perfect goal and spend more time
preparing yourself for ultimate success. Stop worrying about the
resolution, and start focusing on the resolve that will be
required to succeed.
Doing this will bring you greater success, less frustration and
will help you and your organization move closer and closer to
your potential.
Kevin Eikenberry is a leadership expert and the Chief
Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://KevinEikenberry.com),
a learning consulting company. To receive a free Special Report
on leadership that includes resources, ideas, and advice go to
http://www.kevineikenberry.com/leadership.asp |
