Whether in your business or personal life, if you want to fulfill your potential and, create the best life possible; you must set effective goals for yourself. Effective goals are the biggest difference between a life spent daydreaming and a life spent experiencing the riches and rewards that you desire. Many people see goal setting as the simple act of expressing what they would like, either verbally or in writing; but effective goal setting is so much more than that. If you take a look back at your life to date, you will see that anything worthwhile which you achieved required some planning and effort. Great things rarely, if ever, happen by accident. Effective goals take you from setting the goal to planning, pursuing and achieving the goal.
Why effective goals are so important
Ask any successful person or any success guru and they will tell you that setting effective goals is critical to success. However, they don’t always explain why. Here are some of the key reasons why goal setting is so important.
1. Clarity
We live in a busy world with a lot going on. There are so many things which you could spend your time on but not all of these things will add value to your life. That is a critical factor in determining how much you enjoy your life i.e. the amount of value you add to your life through the activities you partake in. Ultimately, the more time you spend in the activities that you really want to do and, the better you perform in those activities; the more you will enjoy your life.
Goal setting gives you clarity about what you want. You may have vague desires floating around in our heads. Effective goals help you to set out, in concrete terms, exactly what you want. Without doing this you would end up drifting from one activity to another without getting anything important done. When you set effective goals, you actually create your goals twice – once in your mind and once later in reality. As you spend a little time each day visualising your goals, you develop a clearer vision in your mind. This makes it easier for you to formulate a plan to get you there.
2. Responsibility
One of the major differences between successful people and those who lack success in their life, is that successful people accept responsibility for everything in their life. They know that whether by their actions or their failure to take action, they are responsible for the results which they achieve in their life. That is why successful people always set themselves effective goals.
When they set effective goals, and start working towards them, they make themselves responsible for seeing it through. Even when things go wrong, they do not spend their time blaming outside influences. They review what happened; identify the factors that they can change, make a plan and take action to get back on track. They become solely accountable for the results that they achieve.
3. Action
Whether your life goes in the right direction or the wrong direction, the direction of travel is determined by the actions you take. If you do not have effective goals, you are uncertain as to the direction that you wish to take your life in. It is then impossible for you to identify the appropriate actions to take. Wishing for things to happen simply will not take you where you want to go.
If you set your goal well, you will be crystal clear as to what it is that you wish to achieve i.e. you know your destination. Once you are clear on your destination, you can work backwards to determine the milestones which you will need to achieve along the way. From there, you can break the journey into specific actions you will need to take and then formulate these actions into a plan. Breaking up your goals into smaller goals is a critical part of setting effective goals and, it tells you exactly what you need to do and when.
4. Motivation
When you set effective goals, not only do you know what you are trying to achieve; you know the benefits you will experience when you achieve it. When you have your goal, and your action plan, it is easier for you to keep track of each action and the progress you are making towards the end result. You know the value of each action and, even in those moments when you do not feel like doing one iota more; you can remind yourself of the benefits you will experience when you have achieved your goal. This will help you to push through. As you get closer to achieving your goal, you can see how far you’ve come and you know that it would be a lot easier to keep going than to quit or turn back. The very act of putting your goal into words and getting started can be a great motivator in itself.
5. Focus
Time is your most precious and limited resource. There are many things which can quickly fill up your time. If you do not have enough to fill your time, you can rest assured that somebody else will soon see the opportunity to fill your time for you. When others take your time, you can be guaranteed that the activities they ask you to perform will rarely be for your benefit.
When you set effective goals, you are able to focus on the specific tasks that you need to perform. You start to evaluate tasks earlier in the process too. Rather than wait until you are about to commence a task to think about its importance; you now start to consider its importance as soon as it comes your way. Effective goals improve your focus in two ways – they help you determine which task you should be completing but just as importantly; they help you to say ‘No‘ to tasks which add no value or have no importance in your life. Shiny object syndrome becomes a thing of the past as you know exactly where to invest your energy each day.
Learn more about goals and their importance – check out the Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting.
Goal setting is important but there’s a right and wrong way to do it. Like any skill, it’s something you need to learn and practice. You will make mistakes but if you can learn from them, you will soon start to attain the goals you desire. There may be lots of changes you want to make in your life or career, but slow down. Focus on a few goals at a time. Choose which ones are most important to you. Because you have taken the time to capture all of your goals, you needn’t worry about forgetting any. You can regularly review your goals to determine which you should be working on now; which are no longer important and identify any new goals you may have.
Image credit: Geoffrey Whiteway