Setting goals offers you more control over your life.
Working towards your goals gives you opportunities for success.
It is easier to define and measure success with goals that involve action and thoughts, rather than those that involve emotions directly.
The first step to achieving a goal is to define it clearly.
S.M.A.R.T.Y. Goals
S - Specific. General statements are too vague and make it hard to really define what your goal is. What do you actually want?
M - Measurable. How will you know when you have achieved your goal? Have you set it up in a way that you can measure success criteria along the way?
A - Active. Goals require commitment. You will need to actively do something to achieve them.
R - Realistic. With your current situation, skills, and connections, is the goal realistic?
T - Timely. Is this the best time to commit to this course of action?
Y - Yours. Is this goal personal to you? Has it been set by you or by someone else? Personal goals are more likely to motivate you and be achieved.
Information about Goals
As humans, we unconsciously set goals for ourselves all the time; if we didn't we would never get up in the morning. It is a matter of making these goals conscious and by doing so, realizing that we are capable of success.
When we set goals that do not fit with the SMARTY goal criteria, we are predictably setting ourselves up for failure. Failure can be very self-destructive. When we do not complete our goals the result is generally negative as it causes us to have judgmental thoughts towards ourselves. By keeping goals short and simple, the chance we will fail is greatly reduced.
It is important when setting up goals to pick ones that can be worked towards immediately, rather than something that is to begin in the future. Leaving goals for future dates, such as starting to exercise after holidays are over, can also set us up for failure.
When we are working towards our goals, it is important to be aware that sometimes there will be causes outside of our control that will interrupt our progress. An example of this could be getting ill and not feeling well enough to exercise. When things such as this occur, it is important to recognize that these outside causes are just bumps along our goal setting road and to keep on trucking towards our goals.
Another important aspect to recognize when working towards goals is that although goals need to be defined clearly in order to achieve them, they do not need to be defined in a way that they cannot be adjusted. For example, if you start a new job that doesn't allow you to practice the same routine, you can readjust your original goal to meet your new needs. By changing your goal to a less intensive routine or by changing your schedule, you are no longer setting yourself up for failure by insisting on sticking to the original plan. Instead you are setting realistic expectations for yourself that will allow for success.
Readjusting your original goals can also be used when personal factors change. For example, you may find that over time you are no longer achieving a goal that you set for yourself due to personal reasons such as lack of motivation, rather than outside factors such as a new job. At this point you may feel like giving up and calling yourself a failure, as the foal you once were able to accomplish is no longer being achieved. However, it is important to stop yourself from judgmental thinking and instead become aware of why the original goal you set is no longer working for you. Depending on what you figure out, you might be able to set a new goal that is more realistic and prepares you for success. For example, you might no longer be doing any exercises because you are too tired. After spending some bringing awareness to this, you then figure out that the reason you are too tired is because you have been going to bed much later than you used to. At this point, setting an entirely new goal to go to bed earlier might be appropriate. By doing this, you set yourself up for success with not only the new goal, but also with the original goal of doing exercises.
Common Pitfalls in Goal Setting
Trying to do too much - Many people make their day to day plans too difficult. Then they don't complete their plans (or feel overwhelmed and don't try at all), and blame themselves for not having enough drive or motivation. The problem is not the lack of drive; the problem is that these people are too eager to solve their problems. As a result, they don't break their goals down into small enough steps. The desire to get better actually slows them down.
The solution is to decide on your ultimate goals, then to give up on reaching them for the next little while. Allow yourself to make small goals that are manageable enough to accomplish. The resulting sense of progress and movement will help you to reach your bigger goals more quickly.
Challenge: Work Steadily, but don't try your hardest.
Feeling discouraged after one or two steps - Have you ever walked down a long road and had the sense that you weren't making any progress toward your destination? Perhaps you turned to look behind you and realized how far you had really come.
Some people take a few small steps towards an important goal and begin to feel discouraged. They focus on the amount of work it will take for them to reach the goal and feel overwhelmed, and it seems as though they have made no real progress. The problem is that they forget to focus on the amount they have already done.
Challenge: Dwell on how far you have come, not how far you have yet to go.
Disqualifying your successes - Some people reach their day to day goals but never give themselves credit for doing so. Sometimes they focus on the negative aspects of their experiences. For example, a man may set a goal of going skiing for the first time in a year. He does this, but trips in the lift lineup at one point and feels embarrassed, so he tells himself that his effort was a failure. If fact, it wasn't a failure at all; his goal was to go skiing and he went skiing.
Other people focus on how they felt during the experience. A woman who used to play the drums sets the goal of playing for twenty minutes and does so. But it doesn't give her the feeling of enjoyment she remembers from years ago and so she decides it was a failure. But the goal was to play, not to enjoy playing. If she could let go of trying to control how she felt, she might begin to enjoy the experience.
Challenge: Give yourself credit for your successes.
Working towards your goals gives you opportunities for success.
It is easier to define and measure success with goals that involve action and thoughts, rather than those that involve emotions directly.
The first step to achieving a goal is to define it clearly.
S.M.A.R.T.Y. Goals
S - Specific. General statements are too vague and make it hard to really define what your goal is. What do you actually want?
M - Measurable. How will you know when you have achieved your goal? Have you set it up in a way that you can measure success criteria along the way?
A - Active. Goals require commitment. You will need to actively do something to achieve them.
R - Realistic. With your current situation, skills, and connections, is the goal realistic?
T - Timely. Is this the best time to commit to this course of action?
Y - Yours. Is this goal personal to you? Has it been set by you or by someone else? Personal goals are more likely to motivate you and be achieved.
Information about Goals
As humans, we unconsciously set goals for ourselves all the time; if we didn't we would never get up in the morning. It is a matter of making these goals conscious and by doing so, realizing that we are capable of success.
When we set goals that do not fit with the SMARTY goal criteria, we are predictably setting ourselves up for failure. Failure can be very self-destructive. When we do not complete our goals the result is generally negative as it causes us to have judgmental thoughts towards ourselves. By keeping goals short and simple, the chance we will fail is greatly reduced.
It is important when setting up goals to pick ones that can be worked towards immediately, rather than something that is to begin in the future. Leaving goals for future dates, such as starting to exercise after holidays are over, can also set us up for failure.
When we are working towards our goals, it is important to be aware that sometimes there will be causes outside of our control that will interrupt our progress. An example of this could be getting ill and not feeling well enough to exercise. When things such as this occur, it is important to recognize that these outside causes are just bumps along our goal setting road and to keep on trucking towards our goals.
Another important aspect to recognize when working towards goals is that although goals need to be defined clearly in order to achieve them, they do not need to be defined in a way that they cannot be adjusted. For example, if you start a new job that doesn't allow you to practice the same routine, you can readjust your original goal to meet your new needs. By changing your goal to a less intensive routine or by changing your schedule, you are no longer setting yourself up for failure by insisting on sticking to the original plan. Instead you are setting realistic expectations for yourself that will allow for success.
Readjusting your original goals can also be used when personal factors change. For example, you may find that over time you are no longer achieving a goal that you set for yourself due to personal reasons such as lack of motivation, rather than outside factors such as a new job. At this point you may feel like giving up and calling yourself a failure, as the foal you once were able to accomplish is no longer being achieved. However, it is important to stop yourself from judgmental thinking and instead become aware of why the original goal you set is no longer working for you. Depending on what you figure out, you might be able to set a new goal that is more realistic and prepares you for success. For example, you might no longer be doing any exercises because you are too tired. After spending some bringing awareness to this, you then figure out that the reason you are too tired is because you have been going to bed much later than you used to. At this point, setting an entirely new goal to go to bed earlier might be appropriate. By doing this, you set yourself up for success with not only the new goal, but also with the original goal of doing exercises.
Common Pitfalls in Goal Setting
Trying to do too much - Many people make their day to day plans too difficult. Then they don't complete their plans (or feel overwhelmed and don't try at all), and blame themselves for not having enough drive or motivation. The problem is not the lack of drive; the problem is that these people are too eager to solve their problems. As a result, they don't break their goals down into small enough steps. The desire to get better actually slows them down.
The solution is to decide on your ultimate goals, then to give up on reaching them for the next little while. Allow yourself to make small goals that are manageable enough to accomplish. The resulting sense of progress and movement will help you to reach your bigger goals more quickly.
Challenge: Work Steadily, but don't try your hardest.
Feeling discouraged after one or two steps - Have you ever walked down a long road and had the sense that you weren't making any progress toward your destination? Perhaps you turned to look behind you and realized how far you had really come.
Some people take a few small steps towards an important goal and begin to feel discouraged. They focus on the amount of work it will take for them to reach the goal and feel overwhelmed, and it seems as though they have made no real progress. The problem is that they forget to focus on the amount they have already done.
Challenge: Dwell on how far you have come, not how far you have yet to go.
Disqualifying your successes - Some people reach their day to day goals but never give themselves credit for doing so. Sometimes they focus on the negative aspects of their experiences. For example, a man may set a goal of going skiing for the first time in a year. He does this, but trips in the lift lineup at one point and feels embarrassed, so he tells himself that his effort was a failure. If fact, it wasn't a failure at all; his goal was to go skiing and he went skiing.
Other people focus on how they felt during the experience. A woman who used to play the drums sets the goal of playing for twenty minutes and does so. But it doesn't give her the feeling of enjoyment she remembers from years ago and so she decides it was a failure. But the goal was to play, not to enjoy playing. If she could let go of trying to control how she felt, she might begin to enjoy the experience.
Challenge: Give yourself credit for your successes.
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