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(photo: http://peerlessgolf.ca)
Remember those new years resolutions from
last year? Have you achieved any of them? Chances are you’ve either forgotten
them or you didn’t even make any. That’s normal – most people
(including myself on numerous occasions) often fail to set themselves clear, systematically
to follow goals/resolutions. There are numerous reasons for this.
#1 Too Lazy. This sounds rather intrusive, but it’s the truth: most people are
just too lazy to set themselves daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals. It
requires work and time to set good goals and that’s why most people fail to do
it (I’ll list some criteria for a good goal later on). I definitely fall into this
category as well, as I fail to set myself daily goals every now and then.
#2 Poorly set
goals. Another problem I have and believe many others
face is the issue of setting goals you either think you can’t or don’t even
want to achieve. This problem arises when one doesn’t put enough thought into the
goals they’re planning for themselves. Often times I find myself goalless in
the late morning (ideally one should be preparing their to-do list either
before bed or early in the morning) and so I quickly jot down whatever comes
into my mind.
Later on in the day it turns out that some
of my goals are contradicting, time wasting or unimportant. This leads (rightly
so) to a low comply rate and the importance of the goals therefore lose in
value. So not only do you fail to achieve your mediocrely set goals, you also
lose the appreciation for setting them in general.
#3 What is “Goal
Setting”? Although we’re already half a page into this
blog post, I’m sure there are still some of you out there who don’t know what
setting goals truly means. Is “take out the garbage” a goal? Or is it something
along the lines of “Get an A in my next math exam”? This confusion coupled with
the natural laziness of humans can easily lead to one not setting any goals.
In my opinion there are different types of
goals that depend on the time frame you’re looking at.
Short-term
goals:
The first type of goal I’ll introduce you
to is the “short-term goal”. These goals are ideally set daily and are, as the
name suggests, short term. The purpose behind them is for you to have a clear
plan on what you’re going to set out to achieve in the upcoming day. Having
concrete to-do lists allow you to be more productive throughout the day and
also give you the sense of accomplishment in the evening when you’re in the
winding down phase. On multiple occasions we find ourselves clueless, running
around and trying to do everything at the same time. What have we achieved at
the end of the day? Not much. This problem doesn’t occur when we have a good
to-do list to follow.
I could go on for ages, listing countless examples out of my to-do
list journal, but I think you get the idea: short-term goals make sure you get
very specific activities done in the day. These activities should go hand in
hand with your mid-term goals. The time frame we’re looking at here is daily and/
or weekly.
Mid-term goals:
The idea behind a mid-term goal is to have something more meaningful
than a short-term goal yet not as seemingly unreachable as a long-term goal.
It’s best to explain this using an example:
Long-term goal: Become a karate black belt
Mid-term goal: Win the 2014 karate open championships
Short-term goal: Go to karate training today
As you can see, the mid-term goal forms the
bridge between the rather tiring daily grind and the seemingly impossible yet
desirable distant future. By setting yourself mid-term goals you can make your
short-term goals more precise and meaningful (in this case, your participating
in the karate training in order to win your fight, and your fight brings you
close to your black belt).
Here, the mid-term goal served as a means
to an end, not a means in itself. Your mid-term goals don’t necessarily have to
be in direct relation with your long-term goals however. One can perfectly
apply this to the example above: instead of dedicating your life to becoming a
black belt, you are perfectly happy to finish your karate “journey” with the
competition. In this case your long-term goal falls away and you’re left with a
mid-term goal that, once fulfilled, is over.
Mid-term goals should be set monthly and/or
annually.
Long-term
goals:
I already gave an example of what a
long-term goal is, but let’s have a look at it in more detail. Long-term goals
should be thoroughly planned and prepared. After all, your mid- and short- term
goals are in the majority of cases a result of your long-term goals. You’ll
probably only have a handful of these goals, as they’re “big ticket” items that
take a lot of work and time to achieve. Looking back at your life, you’d
ideally be satisfied with who you are and what you’ve done. As always, here are
a few examples:
Long-term GOALS:
1. Do at least one Muay Thai
fight in Thailand
2. Publish a book on
Nutrition
3. Receive PhD in
Biochemistry
As you can tell, your long-term goals are
something you constantly work and strive for. Achieving them should be one of
your highest priorities in life.
However, if for some reason you lose your
interest in one of your long-term goals, don’t hold on to do them forever.
Strike them off your list and set out for new ambitions that you’re passionate about. Just make sure you’ve only given up your goal
because you truly aren’t interested in it anymore, not because you realise it’s
hard to achieve. Remember this quote: “If
it were easy, everyone would do it.” Don’t quit in hard times.
To finish off this blog post I’d like to
list some criteria on what makes up a good goal, so you can start setting goals
for yourself right away.
Goals should be…
·
Clear and direct (“Do 100 push
ups today” instead of “Do push ups today”)
·
Short-term goals should work
for your mid-term goals (“Do all required reading for history exam today”
supports “Get an A on history exam”)
·
Long-term goals should be
broken down into mid- and short- term goals (see karate example above)
Was this post helpful? Any constructive criticism or opinion you’d
like to share? Then please leave a comment below. Thank you!
