In my last blog, I promised to share my thoughts on how to use goal-setting to overcome challenges. As I thought about writing on the subject of setting goals, I couldn’t help but wonder why the same word is used in some sports such as football or soccer, basketball, hockey, and others. You hear about the goal post. This is an area or physical structure manned by the goalkeeper. Each team has its goal post and the opposite side must send the ball into it to score. The target of each team is to score; that gets into the other side’s goal post. At the end of the game, the side which scores the most goals wins and takes home the trophy. During the game, there are several attempts by the players to score and outplay the competition. Despite how much the other side outplays the competition, the trophy does not go to the team with the most attempt or best play. It goes to the team with the highest score. Why?
The answer is simple. That is how you determine the winner. While the purpose of sports may be entertainment, the goal of the players and their teams is to win – period. Athletes attract a lot of money as salaries and from endorsements which generate more money for them because people want to identify with success. The winners of each championship and their star players’ especially top scorers get more endorsements. This also applies to track events. The finishing line is the goal post and the athlete that crosses the line first wins the competition. So when the athletes are in the field of play, they are focused on winning. They are not running all over the field or track with no goal in mind.
In sports as in life, there must be a yardstick by which we can measure performance and the winner gets rewarded. In pursuing the goal post, there are rules of engagement. Any violation brings about a consequence. The consequence can lead to total disqualification. In life, everyone is in the field of play one way or the other. The unfortunate thing is that most of us do not know the location of the goalposts or the rules of engagement. For the most part, we score against ourselves or we dribble ourselves in all directions with no specific goal in mind only to be frustrated. There are rules of engagement for success. If you do not observe them, you suffer frustration and failure. A lot of us do not know about this secret. The few who have discovered it did so after suffering several frustrations. They set out to find out why their lives seem to be going nowhere regardless of their best efforts. When they found it, their lives changed for good.
Why do we need goals in life? “People with goals succeed because they know where they are going…” Jim Rohn. Someone else said that goals are like travel guideposts. And I agree. We need them and we must have them to achieve our life’s goals. When your best efforts are misdirected, you are going to be frustrated. Some writers and life coaches say that there are five types of goals, some say there are seven and some say three. It doesn’t matter how many types of goals there are. What matters most is that you recognize the importance of setting goals for yourself if you want to achieve a meaningful life. This is the first step.
A goal must make sense if it is going to be achievable. If you say you want to lose weight for instance, and don’t do anything else, you are only indulging in wishful thinking. I assure you, you will not make any move even if your life depended on it. But if you desire to lose weight and set it down in writing, it seizes to be wishful thinking. A very important aspect of goal-setting is how you state your written goal.
Your goal has to be specific, measurable, realistic, and time-bound [SMART] for short. So let’s take your wishful thinking on weight loss and make it a goal. First, your goal must make sense to you if you want to realize it. You should understand why you want to lose weight. Did your doctor advise you to lose weight? Do you feel clumsy being stuffed in clothes that used to fit you? Has your best friend has been talking a lot lately about losing weight and you think it is a good idea for you also. Okay, we give it to you. Is it your idea to lose weight? In answering these questions, your goal becomes clearer. You have convinced yourself that you need to lose some weight in other to be healthy and feel better about your appearance. How much weight do you want to lose? Let’s say you want to lose twenty pounds. This goal cannot be endless, so you give yourself six months. Your goal can now be written like this, “I am going to lose twenty pounds in the next six months. You are specific about what you want to do, which is to lose twenty pounds. Is it measurable? Yes because every week if you follow your plans, the weights will start going down. Is it reasonable to want to lose weight for your well being? I think so. Who wouldn’t want to be healthy and look good in their outfits? Is it time-bound? Yes! Six months. Six months is a realizable time to lose twenty pounds.
The importance of setting goals cannot be overstated because it gives meaning to the things you do. So what is the difference between wishful thinking and goals? If what you desire to do is not written down, they are merely wishful thinking. A lot of people shy away from writing down their goals. This is only because they are afraid to commit.
Nothing is requiring that your goals be lofty. It may be something as small as achieving tardiness. If you have been dogged by the problem of not keeping to time, you can use goal-setting to overcome the problem. It might also be that you want to save some money but each time, you give in to buying just one more dress. Try setting a goal to deal with that challenge.
If you are like most people, you have several things you will like to accomplish. Life is multidimensional and so must our goals be. Here is what I did. First I defined my mission in life. This gave me a rallying point. Then I defined my goals in four categories:
1. Career goals
2. Personal goals
3. Business goals
4. Income or Financial goals.
Your career goals may include professional goals, how far you want to go on your corporate ladder, or your political career. Your personal goals include the company you keep or want to keep, personal growth activities, health, how many books you read a month, and your spiritual life. Your business should include what business to start, and your financial goal could include how you manage your money, income, or profits, and whether you want single or multiple sources of income.
If you can start by categorizing your goals, you can list away under each category. For instance, you can start by listing twenty goals under each category. However, if when you start, you can’t think of twenty things to put down, just put down as much as you can at that time. You can always go back and edit your goals. Anyway, they are not stagnant. As you achieve each of your goals, you cross it out. Even if they are written on a computer or electronic device, don’t delete them. Cross it out. It is invigorating and inspiring to see how many goals you have crossed out because they have been accomplished. REMEMBER, your goals must be realistic for you and not impressive to anybody.
Another thing I did is to prioritize my goals. For each goal under each category, decide whether it is your one-year goal or two-year and so on. This is a helpful way of being realistic. If a goal doesn’t feel right for you, maybe you need to push it forward to your five or ten-year goal. This gives you time to grow up to the goal. Goals are not limited to an immediate or short term basis.
If you have never set goals before, or you think that it is for certain kinds of people, it is a good thing to rethink that idea. Give yourself that gift of learning to set goals. It is a worthy gift to give to you. Start small and build up from there.
Don’t forget to celebrate once you are doing writing your goals.
Every goal must have an outcome. How you achieve the outcome is working through the steps or processes required for achieving that goal. This requires planning. It is called a plan of action to achieve goals.
I will discuss that next week. Until then, please let me know how you did with your goal setting.