Is Goal Setting Important
Why is Goal Setting important? I will be honest with you, sometimes it is just good to go with the flow and let events take you where they will. However if you really want to achieve something in life, you do need to have goals.
I have lived without goals, before I knew anything about them. My career drifted, aimlessly and rudderless.
Later I discovered, through the self-help movement, the world of goals and goal setting. This is when I started to achieve things. However, before you get too excited, another word of caution from one who knows. Too many goals is worse than no goals.
Yes, I launched too many goals, I had bucket lists and to-do lists. I devoured books like David Allen’s Getting Things Done
With my focus dispersed, I started to fail to achieve. I went nowhere in lots of areas.
The Eastern Way?
Out of desperation, I gave up on goals. I started to follow a more Eastern Zen style of being-in-the-now and learning to love the Process. This was satisfying in itself, but there always remained a niggling feeling that life’s high achievers use goals.
Finally, after lots of trial and error, I rediscovered goals. This time I developed a more mature approach. It is this approach that I want to share with you.
I will show you how you can balance the Western go-getting, goal setting style, with the Eastern enjoy-the-moment philosophy. Along with this, I will show you how you can achieve both Focus and Balance in your life.
Before we start, get your self a ring binder and some dividers. This will start to become your Personal Manual for Success.
6 Quick steps to achieve a goal.
In the following sections in this chapter, I will show you how to set the right goals, that are aligned with your values, and purpose. But before I do that I want to dispel any doubt you might have about whether goal setting will work for you. So here is a quick and dirty method to prove that this stuff works.
The Quick and Dirty Goal Setting Technique
I want you to think of something in your life you want to change, something that is bugging you right now. Or maybe it might be some project that has stalled; the loose ends of which are dragging you down. You know what it is; something that might take no more than a month to be completed, but you just can’t seem to get started on.
Let’s start at the beginning, what do you want? That should be an easy question, but it isn’t. It might be easier to start with what you don’t want. This is because there is a top down and a bottom up approach and we need to adopt both simultaneously.
Step 1.
So the first thing to do is get a piece of paper and draw a line down the centre. On the left write down the thing that is bugging you right now.
Step 2.
On the right hand side, convert this thing into its positive counterpart. For example if you don’t want a messy office, its positive counterpart would be to want a tidy office. Simple.
Step 3
Make this outcome specific, for example “I will only have essential items on my desk and work surfaces, such as PC, phone, diary and a pen. All paperwork and other items will be stored, filed or removed. The floor will be clear.”
Step 4
Here is the key – Give it a realistic and specific date. Eg. By close of business Friday 6th July 2018”.
Step 5
Make sure the goal won’t adversely affect someone or something else. For instance in the tidy desk example. “All non-essential items will be stored neatly away or disposed of, not chucked into the spare room.
Step 6
What is the one thing you can do right this minute, that will take about 15 seconds, to move this goal forward. This can be anything as long as you do it asap and then build momentum. For instance in the tidy desk example, you could pick up all loose paperwork and put in one tidy pile, for filing later. Do this now before reading on.
Have you done the 15 second task? Later I will show how this practice of taking 15 second action will eventually break the back of any over bearing goal or project.
Now let’s move on to setting your life purpose and long term vision.