Don’t Set Goals!
Ok! I know that sounds so against the norm, but give me a while and I’ll help you see what I mean.
Admit it, you have hardly [actually you have NEVER] hit your yearly goals. Or have you? [sincerely] And this is in spite of the fact that you get pumped up at the start of each year, after all you have read and heard about goal-setting.
Yes goals may help you go [take off] but they hardly get you there. You start out all enthused, but somewhere along the line, it just frizzles out and you have never been able to deal with this recurring cycle over the many years you have been setting goals. And admit it, many times when you buy the idea to set crazy big goals, rather than motivate you; they only seem to crush and knock you down instead.
It is sheer foolish. Ok let me clarify. I don’t mean the act of goal-setting is foolish, but it is foolish to keep doing the same thing which doesn’t work year after year [or whatever the sequence is for you].
Only a few people seem to have the handle on it, and you are not one of them. If you ask your friends and colleagues, you will realize that your experience and theirs isn’t any different. There is something rather nebulous about the whole goal-setting thing [or so I am tempted to think]. Only a few classes of people seem to get it; maybe it’s not meant for you [and I]. Or maybe there are some vital things you need to master first before you can succeed at setting goals.
It leaves you worse off. I mean not achieving your goals leaves you worse; feeling bad and like a failure, and that is not a good way to be.
So as you commence a new year allow me propose something that will be of immense benefit. Rather than set yourself up for another year of goals and defeat, why don’t you try this instead…
This year, rather than setting a goal to cut down your weight [or anything at that]; why not just commit to the habit of skipping for five minutes every morning, and if you are consistent with it for a while, you can then take it a notch higher to skipping for ten minutes daily. Maybe by year’s end, you will be ready to start some other kind of work out/body building if you so desire. If you skip at least 300 out of 365 days, you won’t need to worry about losing weight or staying fit; you will just be that way.
If you desire to author a book, rather than be bugged down with the big goal of writing a book [especially if you are new at it], it is easier to just commit to writing a page each week. At the end of the year you won’t need to worry about writing a book.
Identify what you want to be better at, as it regards any part of your life, career, family, and dreams. Now break it down into smaller parts, and commit to do something about it every week.
Have another set of activities you will do every month that drives you to your goal automatically. You may also want to decide to do something quarterly. That is up to you. Commit to doing this. If you are able to follow through on this, you will get anything you set your mind upon to do, goals or not.
At the end of each month check to see how you fared and that tells you what next to do in the coming month.
What you need? Discipline! Discipline to cultivate your actions into habits that gets you whatever you want to achieve; that might just be the missing ingredient in your goal setting activity. Dedicate the year 2018 to building yourself in discipline.
To help you keep at it, I advise you to be accountable to someone; your spouse, your mentor or a mentee and tell them about your weekly and monthly commitment and humbly ask them to help you by inquiring from you about your commitment whenever your parts cross.
Every quarter do an appraisal, and based on your performance, you can decide on what next to do. Spend at least 20 – 30 minutes each week appraising your progress. Ask yourself, what is/are the most critical factor[s]? Monitor them, they will tell you how you do what you’re doing, well or not so well and what/where you need to put in more effort. Feedback is important for getting better at anything.
Let’s hear from you: Do you agree with the writer? What have you put in place in order to achieve your dream?
