The Secret To Success: Goal-Setting 101

To begin any venture without a goal is like driving with no destination in mind.

The process can start to feel pointless, exhausting and in some cases further away from our initial intentions in the first place.

If you were to imagine aimlessly walking into work each day just to drag your feet, sit at your desk and fumble around with no real purpose or direction. How would you feel?

Goal setting is an essential component of self-motivated action and purpose that facilitates an outcome.

When our intent is clear and we map out an efficient pathway toward our outcomes we enable proactive behaviours that increase the likelihood of us achieving whatever we set out to do.

Throughout the following article I will dive into how goal setting influences decision-making on a daily basis, the process of setting meaningful goals and how these can impact the success of our outcomes.

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”

- Pablo Picasso

The process of goal setting is often misinterpreted and far too often I see it played out as a broad attempt to outline action points without meaningful purpose or direction.

In order for a goal to have purpose, it has to have significant personal meaning.

The more challenging and valuable a goal is, the greater importance and higher effort we devote to attaining it.

Identify your personal values.

As individuals, we live with greater fulfilment when we act in alignment with our highest values. This makes determining the hierarchy of your values a fundamental process. Setting goals in alignment with your values will increase the attachment and therefore the likelihood of complying with the action steps that enable the outcome.

Our values also play an important role in our discipline to actioning behavioural changes when motivation is fleeting. If our goals reflect our values we are less likely to give up on them when we are ‘tired’ or ‘don’t feel like it’.

Be specific.

In order to achieve an outcome, we need to have clear intent and a direct pathway to get us there. Prior to setting a plan, we must be transparent with ourselves about the outcome we want to achieve.

As a coach, common goals I hear are to, ‘lose weight’ or ‘get fit.’
Although these aren’t bad or wrong goals to have, they don’t provide us with the direction or clarity to achieve specific outcomes.

When our goals are vague and unclear it becomes easy for us to lack direction and move away from the action steps we initially set.

Being specific means setting time frames, dates, targets and identifying exactly how you want to hear, see and feel when you achieve your outcome.

Make it challenging.

As part of our human psyche, we often undermine our potential and set the bar lower than what we are actually capable or have potential to achieve.
This is most often based on fear of failure and inability to meet required expectations.

However, as the old saying goes, “The bigger the goal, the narrower the focus.”

This implies that the more difficult the goal appears, the more satisfying the accomplishment will feel.

There is a fine line between attainable and challenging that encourages us to expand our skill set, delve outside our comfort zone and exceed our own expectations that makes committing to the challenge worthwhile.

Reward yourself!

Instilling a reward system creates an effective feedback loop in our brain for driving continuous success toward our goals.

This feedback loop allows us to feel and process emotions to start or cease action, encouraging us to decide whether or not we repeat a behaviour and form a habit.

This can come under any activity, event or item that elicits a pleasurable response associated with completing a task or learning something new.

The idea is that we reinforce positive behaviours associated with achieving a task, which in turn increases the likelihood of said behaviour being repeated.

Goal setting is often underestimated and dismissed as a pointless step in the journey; however, when implemented effectively, it is a powerful tool in turning vision into reality and a driver of long term success.