What's Goal Setting? Not What You Think
Deep down, I believe we all "know" what goal setting is and what it means, and most of us probably even have some standardized process to set them. Setting goals is a muddy challenging, and gritty approach. For this reason, after reading this article, you will truly understand why it's this way and how you can leverage this to master anything you want in your life. Research on goal setting has exploded in the last 70 years. Goal setting has been studied in all sorts of forms, such as:
Business goal setting
Employee effectiveness
Physical fitness goal setting
Family goals
Life goals
Financials goal setting
Personal Development
All these studies and all the professionals and coaches that talk about goal setting can leave people needing clarification.
So, what is goal setting?
Setting a goal is simply setting an end result.
It's no different than setting your phone's GPS to a destination you've never been to.
Goals are not the goal.
How many times have you achieved something that took you a significant amount of time, and after you achieved this goal, you felt any of these feelings: Lost, directionless, sad, depressed, or have asked yourself, now what?
Take college, buying a home, and starting a family all as examples.
Each of these takes a significant portion of our lives to accomplish. These goals are also standardized throughout our lives. These are the things that everyone tells us we want and should strive for.
The problem is our expectations of our feelings when a goal is achieved. Achieving a goal does not mean our life will be perfect, excellent, or even better. Even a big or long-term goal is a destination on our life's journey. As Tony Robins said, this means, "The purpose of a goal is not achieving the goal, but instead its the journey to the goal that makes us into the people we want to be."
And that's what it is. We all want to become different people.
Think about your New Year's Resolutions. If you set them, aren't they set because you are attempting to become someone different, something different?
Going back to the GPS example. The people at the destination know you have arrived, but no one but you and whoever you brought with you know what it took you to get there, and what it took you is what counts...
Anyone can show up.
Anyone can make a list of 50 goals that they want to accomplish in the next five-ten years, with some accomplished and some not.
But instead, consider who you want to become. What types of values and character traits do you want to develop?
A better paying job, more time with the family, a bigger home, a vacation home, your dream car, and an ideal work-life balance are all goals to strive for, but they are irrelevant when incorporating this question.
How do the things above help me become who I strive to become?
Goals should not be treated as destinations but instead as a journey to becoming. Achieving whatever the thing is fantastic, but even more so when that thing is linked and designed to help you become something better, to become someone you admire.
Your goals are journeys.
Goal Setting With Purpose
Consider this New Year's Resolution Goal:
I want to lose 30 pounds by the end of the year.
This is the most stereotypical New Year's resolution for the vast majority of the United States population.
Most people state this as their "goal" (the resolution).
Depending on where you look, the range of people that accomplish goals is between 8%-30% of people (this comes from a simple Google search but has been studied by many research psychologists and companies alike.)
For context, it's also important to know that only about 20% of the US population sets goals.
I know what you're probably thinking. This data makes goal setting seem like a waste of time and energy.
Personally, I'd agree, but there are things that you can do to make goal-setting more successful.
Bringing purpose to your goals has been proven to increase your odds of success. To bring purpose to your goals, take the time to consider why you want the goal, who it will impact outside of yourself, and what the achievement of the goal might do to change you.
If achieving the goal will create positive change for you, your friends, family, and others in your care, while also helping you build the character and values you would like to demonstrate in your life, then you will have found the purpose to get you excited about it.
How To Set Goals
The real focus in goal setting is not to say I want _____. Instead, it's taking the time to figure out if you want ____, and _____ does have a defined purpose, then how can I make _____ super easy to attain?
Goal setting must be easy, at least at the beginning.
In the "Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg, he discusses chunking, which is the process of making your habits small and simplistic.
Have you ever seen someone try to stuff as many marshmallows or saltine crackers in their mouth to see how many they could fit?
This is how most people look at their goals. They bite off more than they can chew. Chunking suggests that you take really, really small bites. They are breaking the goal up into very quick and simple steps.
Simple steps are easier to manage than extensive, complicated processes.
The losing weight goal could be tackled in many different ways, but what I often see people do is one of these two. They set a goal to work out every day for an hour or start a diet that completely changes their eating habits. Both of these tasks are massive.
How could you break either of these into a smaller bite-sized chunk?
Breaking your goals into smaller manageable chunks is a strategy used by the most successful people in the world.
One of the most well-known goal-setting acronyms is the SMART model.
The SMART model is a great starting point but does leave out some important aspects of goal setting from a neurological perspective. This aspect of goal setting is a game changer.
In that article, I will cover a few other tips and tricks: how and why to write down your goals and the importance of rewards.
Depending on your environment and the nature of your goals, you may have some limitations to operate within.
Corporate Goals
Operating in a corporate setting brings a whole slew of additional challenges and, in most cases, a box to which you must operate within.
Throughout our lives, we are taught the importance of thinking outside the box, but there is still much to gain from within the box. Often the journey is more fruitful when you are given a set of criteria to operate within while attempting to accomplish your goals.
Corporate parameters allow you to become more resourceful on the road to your goals.
Personal Goals
One of the practices that I preach to those that hire me as a coach is to start with the biggest possible goal that you can think of.
Try it now.
Close your eyes and envision 20-30 years down the road, and imagine what your best life looks like.
Who is in your life?
What do they mean to you?
What do you mean to them?
What are you doing with your time?
What are some cool things that you have?
What does it smell like?
What do you hear?
Take that goal and consider what you must do in the next ten years to make that image a reality.
How about in the next five years?
What about the next year?
Each long-term goal is made up of many smaller goals. The small goals help build momentum in achieving the larger goals.
Now how do you feel about setting goals? I hope you understand how the goals you set are irrelevant and that the journey to achieving those goals is the whole point of a goal. I hope you also better understand the impact of having a purpose behind the goal and some strategies and tactics for setting goals.
The additional articles within this article will help you go deeper into the science of goal setting and human behavior, which, if you invest the time in studying, will become accomplished at whatever you set your mind to.
After reading this article, you will find yourself committed and determined to achieve your goals and build your life journey, but if you want more direction, help, or guidance, check out our course Beating the Odds. We address all aspects of achievement, habit, determination, consistency, and human behavior so you are in the best position possible to win.
