Posted on 14 Jan, 2009 -
On the need to have aims in life
Set small, manageable goals for yourself this year to do what you want to do, achieve what you want to achieve
Alternatively, if you’re like me, it could even help you do less yet feel happier with what you’ve done
It may even give you an increased sense of purpose in life…
Two apparently opposing messages attracted my attention this week as I searched for an apt topic.
One was from another writer saying that one of her three resolutions for the New Year was to ‘Do Less’. Another was the words ‘make goals’ that jumped out at me from one of the small coloured cards covered in scribbled notes on my desk.
Do less yet have more goals?! Hang on a minute Wendy… Isn’t that a contradiction?!
Well, not exactly. You see, as anyone who’s known me for any time will know, I’m obsessed about the idea that I do not have enough time to do what I want to do. But perhaps, I realised today, part of the problem is that this ‘what I want to do’ is simply not specific, formed or achievable enough to ever give me a sense that I have achieved what I want.
But what is all the fuss about goal-setting anyway?
A quick lesson in the immense power of goal-setting
The effective setting of goals is apparently one of the most powerful ingredients of success.
Whether your goal is to lose weight, learn the piano or get yourself a better-paid role or job, you are far more likely to be successful in your aim if you set yourself specific, reasonably ambitious but yet achievable goals on the route to getting there.
If I start the year with just the vague idea that I’d like to learn to play the piano, for example, I’m less likely to achieve my goal than if I sit down and set out a plan and a series of easily-achievable goals (say, one lesson from my book per month).
Research has also shown that where goal-setting is used in the work place or in school, productivity, achievement and motivation can all be increased significantly.
In one recent big study of such psychological studies by Singer, Hausenblas and Janelle, for example, the analysis found that goal-setting led to performance enhancement in 78% of sport and exercise research studies, with moderate to strong effects.
Another study by Atkinson and Reitman showed that multiple goals are even better than single goals for affecting performance.
The main ingredients of an ideal goal is that it is Specific and Achieveable and where possible Measurable and Time-Bound as well.
As the personal development guru, Anthony Robbins says, “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
If I make better goals I will get a better sense of achievement
If there’s anything you’d like to achieve this year - whether it’s paint the bathroom window, find a mate or do a half marathon - your first line of attack might be to sit down with pen and paper and set yourself some step-by-step, small, detailed and achievable goals with reasonable time limits for completion.
The thing that struck me about my own possible use of goal-setting, however, was a bit different.
What, I thought, if I set myself goals that are more life-affirming and also more specific and achievable than the normal vague and unachievable goals I taunt myself with constantly?
If one of my main aims in life is to enjoy each day, one day at a time, then I think I will be happier.
If I change my goal from ‘wish I could find the time to get down to writing another novel one day’ to ‘would like to learn a few valuable things about the writing of novels each month’ and perhaps ‘to write a short story by the end of the year’, then I think I will both get further with my aims and also feel a lot better for it.
By setting myself goals in life that I can actually achieve, I will be able to attain that allusive feeling I crave of having ‘got things done’. I might also feel that I have more purpose in life and realise how much I am already living life to the full.
How can we know what are the right goals to set for ourselves?
The first step in setting ourselves the right goals in life might be to ask ourselves what it actually is that we really want out of life.
Only when we have analysed what it is that we really want can we go about a) making quiet efforts to get it and b) realising that we have achieved what we set out to achieve.
4 Key goal-setting tips to get you started properly
Before proceeding with any goal-getting, ask yourself WHY you want to achieve this goal. On one hand this question will help you clarify your desires more clearly and occasionally help you stop a misguided goal. On the other hand, it will help increase your motivation to carry out what you need to do to succeed.
The smaller the task you set yourself, the more likely you are to achieve it. This is particularly true if you’re having trouble motivating yourself to do what you need to do - or just getting round to it. If the task is small or short enough, you’ll easily find the time and motivation to do it. You may even find yourself going well beyond that and doing more.
Don’t just think about it, DO it. It’s very easy to say ‘yes, I’ll set some goals’ and even to fool yourself that you have set some. Unless you really set them in concrete and preferably write them down, however, they will probably melt away and disappear from memory as quick as the snow in your garden.
Develop goals in the 6 different areas of your life. This is an idea I have borrowed from the website of personal development writer, Gene Donohue. The idea is that if you set goals in each of the areas of your life, your life will be more balanced and satisfactory across all the different areas.
The six areas Gene suggest are:
Your family and home
Finances and career
Physical and health
Spiritual and ethical
Social and cultural
Mental and educational
While the goals we set do of course need to be manageable and achievable, it is also worth bearing in mind that they do not need to be mundane or too prosaic. As Herbert A. Otto, leader of the human potential movement said:
“To be come fully alive a person must have goals and aims that transcend himself.”
