I've posted before on the virtues of
setting goals and the affect those goals can have on reaching accomplishments in your life. As I'm making good progress on my goals for this year - including getting in better shape and advancing my software development skills outside of the office - I wanted to share some more details about how I set my goals, what has worked for me and what hasn't.
I'd like to start by saying if you don't really believe in the power of setting goals and think all the self-help and self-motivation stuff is really a load of crap then you're definitely in the majority. Most people don't buy into the effect these simple tools can have for getting what you want in life. It all just sounds so corny and hokey. Goals, positive thinking, vision boards, blah blah blah its all stupid and a waste of time...right? Unfortunately for the majority, this thinking is flawed to the core. And the more inundated our society becomes with distractions - and thus more plagued with ADD - the importance of setting goals and focusing on them becomes more paramount to achieving what you want out of life, in my opinion at least.
I did not always believe in the power of goals and focus but I am a firm believer now because of the changes I've experienced first hand. I've accomplished a lot in the past couple months because I've set clear, well defined goals that I continually read and focus on.
I've been reading more, writing more, participated in new open source projects, lost a total of over 30 pounds since moving to Seattle, and generally feel more productive and fulfilled in my time management than ever before. Compare this to any period of time when I didn't set any kind of goals and you'll see that I mainly watched a lot of television programs and movies as well as played a lot of video games. I also wasted an exorbitant amount of time on the internet, not learning anything of particular value. With more content, faster connection speeds, and mobile devices, our world has vast capabilities for knowledge and information. At least for me, I tended to use these tools for useless information that neither spawned thought, change, or left me with any semblance of greater intelligence. In short, its all a distraction - a time waster.
Time wasters are fine in small doses, but I would look back on the past few months and realize I had absolutely nothing to show for it. I hadn't improved myself or the world around me in any way. I'd done great work at Orbitz, but that's work. Its what I'm being paid to do everyday. What about the things I love?
Now I'm improving myself day after day and the key - for me at least - has been two fold.
First,
set goals for multiple timelines, and set well defined goals. Want to know why new years resolutions fail most of the time? Its probably for several reasons but I think the biggest is that the resolutions by themselves are too drastic and long term to succeed at. Quit smoking, lose weight, write that novel. Sure these are great long term goals. But if you're smoking a pack a day, or are very overweight, or haven't even thought of an outline for that novel, chances are you're going to make some progress towards that goal but then get discouraged when you realize how long its going to take and you quit. Better luck next year. You need short term and long term goals. I personally set current month goals, 3 month goals, and year goals. I made the year goals at the beginning of January and have made monthly goals at the beginning of each new month. In February, I made a 90 day goal plan for where I wanted to be in May. The year goals tell me where I want to end up. They are going to be broad goals, but well defined. If I just had these, it would be hard to note progress towards the destination. Imagine driving from coast to coast in the US. If you start in Seattle, your end goal is Miami. But after you've driven a few hours you've made progress - you just can't tell by only looking at your destination (and you can't even see your destination from where you are). By setting monthly goals, very specific goals, I have discrete items that I can measure my progress by and know that I am advancing towards my long term goals. These goals must be specific - in our driving example, it might be to reach the town of Spokane, Washington in 5 hours. The more specific, the more detailed the better. The 90 day plan I'm still test driving to see how effective it is. It should be obvious this goal plan is your medium range - trying to reach the state of Wyoming in our driving example. I like to think of the 90 day plan as a way to ensure you don't get too far off from your end destination. Your monthly goals are your small navigation corrections but you need some way to ensure you are headed to where you need to be. The 90 day plan bridges your short term and long term goals.
Second,
I continually read my goals, I focused on them. When I've set goals in the past and failed, its mainly been because I sat down, wrote the goals, then never looked at them again. Out of sight, definitely out of mind. It sounds cheesy but to really succeed you must ingrain the goals into your mind, ideally daily. I've read that you should have a goal card that you carry around with you. I haven't gone to this extreme. My goals are on my private wiki so I can access them from everywhere. I look at them about every couple days on average. You can set perfect goals - the right timelines, measures of progress, everything - but if you don't remind yourself of those goals most likely your goal writing exercise has been in vain. The key here is to focus on your goals. That's where the motivation comes from, that's where the power of goals is unleashed.
What hasn't worked for me is not
having accountability. If there is no penalty for missing a goal, there can quickly become no reason to continue striving towards our long term goals. Missing a goal is not the end of the world, but there must be a compelling reason to correct our behavior. Otherwise, over time this effort will dwindle and we're left back where we started, content for the present to waste time and be distracted. A dorky buddy system works wonders for staying on track, making sure you don't miss your goals. Think about the success of support groups, surround yourself with people who will encourage you but also keep you on track.
Goals have been talked about in great length but unfortunately few people actually change after being exposed to the power of goals. Ask yourself, are you truly content or do you want to be a better you. You'd be surprised just how great you can be, if you want it enough.
Labels: goals
