Goal Setting Life
Skill- The Why, What and How of Goal Setting
Success
is Goals and all else is Commentary
The human being is blessed with
the ability to desire. She or he can desire anything in this world or beyond
and can achieve the desire. We have seen throughout history human beings achieve audacious goals in any
sphere of life – Science- A Covid-19 Vaccine in 10 months when the last record
for a Vaccine was 7 years, Spirituality- developing new religious orders
that have stood the test of centuries,
sport, art, business- the list is endless. What does stand out in all of this
is that a higher order inspiration accompanied by tremendous perspiration
results in success. The Goal Setting Life Skill is a plan to achieve what the
mind desires. It is the execution that turns dreams to reality, aspiration to
achievement and thought to outcome. It is about mastering the process of
setting and achieving goals.
Goal Setting fundamentally breaks
out into three key aspects- the WHY of Goal Setting, the WHAT of Goal Setting
and the HOW of Goal Setting.
Let’s dive into each of these
topics starting with the WHY.
“Achievement happens when
we pursue and attain what we want. Success comes when we are in clear pursuit
of why we want it”. Simon Sinek – author and motivational
speaker
So what is the lesson from this
story and how is this related to the Why of Goal Setting? Why do we need Goals? President Kennedy set
for the country an ambitious goal to take lead in the Space Race, a goal that
had never been achieved before and in his own words- a difficult goal and not
an easy one. Any pursuit of value and ambition starts with the setting of a
Goal. A Goal sets the roadmap and direction to any pursuit of significance.
Like the saying goes “If you Don’t know where you are going, any road
will take you there”
The great thing in this
world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving- Oliver
Wendell Holmes
Surprisingly while there is so
much written and said about the importance of Goal Setting it is neither taught
formally in schools nor adopted by individuals as a tool to change their lives.
In the Corporate World and in any field of
extreme complexity Goal Setting is a default process- but the reason for that
is external pressure rather than intrinsic motivation. Goal setting needs to be
democratized so that children and adults can leverage it to improve their
lives.
So why don’t people Set
Goals?
1. They
think goals aren’t important: How many of your friends or family
members are clear and committed to their goals? Haven’t we all heard of the
“New Year Resolution Syndrome”. Come 1st of January we make New Year
resolutions- I will lose weight, I will exercise more, I will quit this or that
etc
2. They
don’t know how: People don’t know how to set goals or think they have goals,
but they are mere wishes or fantasies- Earn a good salary, have a nice family
life, travel the world etc. These are not clear written or specific goals and
there is no way to measure them or track progress. Goal Setting is not taught
in schools and colleges
3. They
have a fear of failure: Failure hurts and people think if they do not
set any goal then failure is acceptable as they did not have any expectations or
benchmarks to start with.
4. They
have a fear of Rejection: What will the world say if I fail? People are
afraid that if they set a goal and not achieve it then people will ridicule or
criticise them. As per the Locus of Control Theory people with internal Locus
of Control feel in complete control of their lives as opposed to those with
External Locus of Control who feel controlled by external factors.
Aristotle the Greek philosopher
stated that man is a teleological organism. The Greek word “teleos” means goals
or purpose. Aristotle concluded that all human action is purposeful in some
way. Viktor Frankl the Nazi concertation camp survivor and author of “Man’s
Search for Meaning” concluded that the greatest need for human beings is a
sense of purpose and meaning- having a Goal to work toward.
Goal Setting is a journey of
personal transformation- giving up self-limiting beliefs that have held us back
from achieving our true potential. The sure-fire way to a long, healthy,
prosperous and happy life is to be continuously working towards and achieving
the things that we really want from deep within. Clear goals unleash our full
potential for personal and professional success, overcoming obstacles and
setting us up for bigger successes. Successful Goal Setting begins with us
taking full responsibility and charge of our lives. The starting point of Goal
Setting is to realize that we have infinite potential to do, become, achieve
anything we want as long as we want it badly enough and are willing to put in
the effort to achieve it
Let’s conclude Section 1 the WHY
of Goal Setting with a small mental exercise. Let’s go back several years to
our teenage years or early adulthood or any point of our life when we aspired
for something. We all aspired to be doctors, master chefs, pilots, actors,
singers. Perhaps today what we are doing is very far from these aspirations. Let
me narrate a personal story to amplify this point. My husband Kailash aspired
to learn music and that too a very difficult musical instrument- the Piano. He
started learning to play the Piano 3 years back at the age of 44 and today he
is a Grade 2 Pianist. He had never in his life touched a Piano before. On the
lighter side on the first day he reported for class at the Music Academy his
teacher looked through him and asked him why didn’t he bring his child for the
class !!!!He has a tough Corporate job. He travels 3 days a week all over India
and abroad. That has never stopped him from practicing and progressing. He practices
on the hotel Pianos or at Music Academies in the cities he travels or his
friends’ children’s Pianos. I attribute his success to a burning desire coupled
with a clear Goal to progress and accomplish something meaningful in the field
of music.
Let’s us see how we can achieve such Goals or any Goal in the next two Sections- The WHAT and The HOW of Goal Setting
Our traditional view of Goal
Setting is one of making lists or setting objectives to be forgotten in the
normal hustle and bustle of daily life.
When we reflect on them, we tend to have perfectly valid excuses for
either dropping them or not achieving them. As the saying goes “The
road to hell is paved with good intentions”.
However, the WHAT of Goal Setting
is about a deeper view of Goal Setting. Goal
Setting is a philosophy that requires strong personal commitment to making a
significant improvement to one’s personal or professional situation. The WHAT
of Goal Setting has four key areas that one has internalized after deep
introspection:
1. Taking
Charge of Your Life: Take complete responsibility for your life. You
are the CEO of your life. The Buck stops with you. You are responsible for your
actions and decisions. All our enthusiasm and inspiration tend to dissipate
through three channels- regret for the past, anxiety for the future and lack of
focused action in the present. No excuses, no blaming others. See yourself as
the primary creative Force in your life.
2. Clarify
your Values: Understand your values and what are the most important
values that have moulded your life since birth. “Be sure that, as you
scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building”
Stephan Covey. We as human beings are born to be congruent. What does
that mean? We are at our happiest best when we are intrinsically aligned to
what we think, what we say and what we do. And at the centre of this is our
value system
1. Analyse
your Beliefs: We need to view ourselves as free from limitations and
fear. Our beliefs are acquired and not
inborn. All beliefs are learned and hence they can be unlearned as well. Hence
we can unlearn all self-limiting beliefs about ourselves. All progress in our
lives come from changing our beliefs about ourselves and the possibilities
available to us. “The only thing that stands between a man and what he
wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe
that it is possible”- Richard Devos
2. Create
your own Future: Successful people are optimistic about the future and
not stuck in the past that cannot be changed. They are not anxious about the
future but they work back wards from a happy future state to the present. What
actions can they take now to ensure that. Happiness is the progressive realization
of a worthy ideal. An inspiring Goal for the Future motivates us to put in the
best efforts to realize the goal and thereby the planned future
I want to now narrate my story that embodies the WHAT of Goal Setting. It is the story of Kreopl. Kreopl is my venture and stands for “Platform for Creativity” Kreo= Creativity in Latin and pl=Platform. Why did I decide to start Kreopl giving up a successful and comfortable corporate career? The simple answer is my passion of “No Child Left Behind”.
It all began with the birth of my
daughter Samhita in 2009. Her birth changed my entire perspective to life- she
was born after 7 years of marriage and I realized I wanted to spend time with
her and be a part of her journey from infancy to toddler to preschool to school
age. I wanted to enjoy this stage in life and not be bogged down by a 9 to 5
job and the associated stress and politics of the corporate world. The decision
was not an easy one, but I received a lot of support from my husband. Jokingly
he said between us at least let one person follow one’s passion!!!!! During
this stage I realized the tremendous development in children that are well
nurtured by family and especially the mother. This nurturing needs to be
available to them at every stage through school by family, teachers, mentors
etc. What struck me was how many children are out there that are not as lucky
as Samhita to be born in a nurturing family. Was birth going to be the only
decider of success and happiness? To me the answer was no- if I could help
it. That’s when the idea of Kreopl was
born- I realized I did not want to go back to my corporate job. I wanted to
work with children to help them realize their potential- But it would take
another 10 years for me to give it life.
Let’s do a quick mental exercise
anchored on the WHAT of Goal Setting. Can everybody think about their first
job. Think about your first salary- how much did you earn? Now come back to
today. What are you earning now? Several multiples of your first salary right.
Now go to the future by about 20 years. If your earnings have multiplied by so
much in the past what stops us from multiplying our earnings significantly 20
years hence? Nothing right.!!!!
Building on a strong foundation
of The WHY and The WHAT of Goal Setting let us move into the execution- The HOW
of Goal Setting.
The HOW of Goal Setting has many
standard frameworks that we are all very familiar with. We would have used it
at some point in our careers the classic one being the SMART Framework to Goal
Setting- Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebound. There are many variants
to this and I have adopted one such.
“The rule is that each
minute spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution”- Brian Tracy
Let us play a game of Treasure Hunt
to understand the HOW of Goal Setting. The first part of this game is choosing
the right Treasure to go after. The
treasure is our chosen GOAL. It is the Major Definite Purpose, our One Big
Goal.
There are 6 rules for choosing
the Treasure
1. It
must be something that you really want. Your desire of this must be so intense
that the very idea of achieving this should make you very happy
2. It
must be clear and specific. You must be able to define it in words with such
clarity that its achievement when it happens leaves no ambiguity
3. It
must be measurable and quantifiable- e.g. How Much, How many
4. It
must be both believable and achievable. The goal can be out of reach to start
with but cannot be so big that it is completely out of sight. This is not
sustainable
5. It
must have a reasonable probability of success- at least a 50% chance. This is important
from the perspective that success builds on success. As you achieve this goal
you will have the energy and enthusiasm to hunt for a bigger treasure.
6. It
must be completely congruent with your
values.
Now let’s begin. There are 12
Clues to unlock the Door to The Treasure they are:
1. Take Action Today. Today is the
day to start, not sometime in the future, not tomorrow, not the day after but
today.
2. Believe that your goal is achievable:
Reaffirm your positive metal models through strong conviction. You must
absolutely believe deep in your heart that you deserve the treasure and you are
capable of attaining it. Belief activates all your mental and physical powers.
3. Write your Goal Down: The third step to Goal achievement is to write
your goal down. Everyone who succeeds works from clear, written, specific,
detailed goals and plans, reviewed regularly. How will I measure success in the
achievement of this goal? What scorecards can I use to measure my progress?
4. Determine your starting point: Analyse your starting point in the attainment
of your major goals or goal. Where are you now? For example to lose weight we
start from our current weight measurement. This forces us to be honest with
ourselves
5. List the reasons Why you Want what you
want: The more reasons you have for wanting to achieve your goal the
more intense will be your desire. The more reasons you can think of the more
intense will be your desire and the deeper will be your belief and your conviction
that your goal is attainable.
6. Set a deadline: Set a deadline
for achieving the target. A best guess by which we can achieve the goal.
Setting a deadline improves focus. We may not achieve everything by our
deadline but it clearly sharpens the mind to work to a time limit. For example
when we board a train or plane the departure time makes us to plan all our work
around that so that we are in time to make the flight or train. If the Goal is
a big one break it up into multiple small deadlines that add up to a big
deadline. Small steps will lead to a big achievement
7. Identify the obstacles in your way: Determine the obstacles that are standing
between you and your goal. What is blocking you? What is holding you back? What
is the single biggest obstacle? Research has shown that 80% of the obstacles
stopping us from achieving our goals are internal. They are within us rather
than the world around us. Only 20% are externalities. Successful people always
ask the question “What is it in me that is holding me back?”
8. Determine the additional knowledge and
skills that you need: Determine what is the additional
information/knowledge and skills that I need to acquire to be effective in
attaining my goals. The key question to be asked here is What one skill if I
developed and did it in an excellent fashion would help me the most to achieve
my goal .In my case the Life Skills Programme was a key intervention to upgrade
my skills to achieve my goal. Whatever
your answer you should write it down, make a plan and then work on developing
that skill every single day until you master it
9. Determine the people whose help you
will need: Determine the people
whose cooperation and assistance you will need to achieve your goal. Start with
your family. Think about your future customers and associates. Look closely at
your network. Look at your relationships. Who are the key people in your work
and personal life? What can you do to gain their cooperation?
10. Make
a Plan: put it all together: Make a plan to achieve your goal. A plan
is an organized list of tasks that you will have to complete to get from where
you are to where you want to go. It is bringing all the steps 3 to 9
together. It’s a list of activities that
are prioritized by time, sequence and importance. Of all the things that you
have to do what are the activities there more important in achieving you goal
than anything else?
11. Visualize
your Goal continually: Step Eleven is to visualize your goal each day
as if it were already attained, see your goal vividly in your mind. Imagine
what it would like when attained
12. Never
Give Up: Finally, the twelfth step to goal setting is to back
everything you do with persistence and determination. Make up your mind that
you will never give up. Never, ever.
To conclude, GOAL Setting is a
transformational paradigm. It is simple to understand but very hard to
internalize. Goal Setting first begins in the mind and then materializes in the
real world.
Good one sahana
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Pooja!
Delete