WHAT
DO YOU WANT?
Setting
goals is easier when it is known what exactly will be achieved by accomplishing
them. Winning a new trophy might make the collection look good in the pool
room, but it’s how it makes you feel that counts.
In 2013 I wanted to have
some clear goals from the start to see how well they were met. While some
people find it best to work without a specific goal [1], I have found that writing
down what I want and how to get it to be a good way to maintain focus and
motivation to get things done.
To follow my process you
will need to identify:
1) Peak
emotions
Starting with how you want
to feel will create a strong connection with whatever you come up with [2].
Another way to look at this is to discover the meaning of life [3].
In
2013 my peak emotions revolved around:
- Having a sense of freedom
- Connecting with people
- Solving problems
2) Supporting
experiences
Ideas at this stage are
fairly generic and can give an idea of roughly what aspects of your life can be
explored to provide the preferred emotions identified above.
The
type of experiences I was after to create the peak emotion above included:
- Create a relaxing environment at
home.
- Travel to different
culture/landscapes, see more of Australia
- Progress sporting pursuits such
as mountaineering, hiking, diving
- Meet new people, share
experiences
- Improve project management and
support for positive change in the workplace
3) Specific
activities
True goal setting now comes
into play. At this point you should be setting Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic
Time Oriented (SMART) objectives which can be broken down into supporting pieces
of activity. Being very clear in exactly what you want to do will make it easy
to measure up how well you got there in the end.
My
goals were separated into the themes identified above and included:
Home
- Sort out old belongings and files
[6].
- Play some cool computer games
(thank you “Last Of Us”)
Redesign a new garden(goal not met)
Travel
- Train/bus tour and social event
in UK.
- Explore Italy, France,
Switzerland [7].
- Visit South West Rocks, Perth,
Cairns, Gold Coast and Melbourne.
Sport
- Do a guided high altitude ice and
mixed rock and ice climb in France [7].
- Via Ferrata climbing and
multi-day hiking in Italy.
- Complete advanced open water
SCUBA ticket (Cairns) and a cave dive (Fish Rock)
- Complete the Three Peaks hike in
the Blue Mountains [8].
Social
- Facilitate a Youth Leadership
program through Toastmasters.
- Help with a gifted childrens camp
in Canberra.
- Attend a school reunion.
- Visit my family, including
Grandparents.
- Become President of a
Toastmasters club [9].
- Start a blog [10].
Work
- Start a new career in project
management [11].
- Financial Management training
[12].
- Accelerating Implementation
Methodology training [13]
- Pain Management training [14].
- Design an app to improve chronic
disease management [15].
Start a new business(goal not met)
4) Make
a plan
Once you have a list of
SMART goals, figure out what exactly needs to be done to make them happen. I
find that a simple Gantt chart [4] with each goal being broken down into
roughly what needs to be done on a monthly basis a good way to keep things on
track. Bigger or more complex goals might need a separate spreadsheet to
monitor progress.
Creating
a plan at the start of the year helped to prevent being overcommitted. I didn’t
feel compelled to stick to everything but it did make it easy to keep track of
what needed to be done and when. It also helped when I found that I was doing
things which weren’t on the “tick list” and made me feel confident in saying
that I really didn’t have time for them.
5) Take
action
Keep track of specific
things to do in a consolidated list, and use calendar reminders where needed so
you don’t miss anything which has a hard deadline. Keeping notes can also be of
value to reflect on what was done and how to improve it next time.
Common mistakes
Losing weight is a common
goal but I wonder how many people successfully meet it? A problem I see with
those type of goals is that there is no emotional attachment to keep you
motivated. Despite potential pitfalls [5], keeping focussed on how achieving
the end goal will make you feel is a strong form of motivation. Within my
hierarchy losing weight would fit in as part of a plan to be able to complete a
specific activity (eg a sport), supporting an experience (eg exploring
outdoors) which makes you feel a preferred emotion (eg freedom).
Going through the whole
process was a good opportunity to make things happen and has made it easier
take a more realistic view of what I can get through in the coming year.
Does this fit with your
approach to setting goals? Any suggestions on how to simplify or enhance the
process are welcome.
By Joel
Penson
References
[1] Babauta, Leo (24 April
2013). Achieving Without Goals, Zen Habits.
[2] Patkar, Mihir (23
December 2013). Reframe Your Goals By What You Want to Feel, Not Accomplish,
Lifehacker Australia.
[3] Penson, Joel (July
2013). The Meaning of Life, Better Decisions Blog.
[4] Gantt charts,
Wikipedia.
[5] Glenn, Walter (14
January 2013). Putting the Focus on Goals Might be Holding You Back, Lifehacker
Australia.
[6] Penson, Joel (July
2013). Better Filing, Better Decisions Blog.
[7] Penson, Joel (July
2013). Better Holiday Planning, Better Decisions Blog.
[8] Penson, Joel (July
2013). Hiking Three Peaks, Better Decisions Blog.
[9] Penson, Joel (July
2013). I’m The CEO, Better Decisions Blog.
[10] Penson, Joel (July
2013). Blogging About Decisions, Better Decisions Blog.
[11] Penson, Joel (July
2013). Project Management, Better Decisions Blog.
[12] HETI Financial
Management training.
[13] Agency for Clinical
Innovation. Accelerating Implementation Methodology training
[14] Booth, John (2013). Improving
Outcomes for Persisting Pain, via Exercise and Sports Science Australia
continuing professional development.
[15] Penson, Joel (July
2013). My eHealth, Better Decisions Blog.
You summed it up very well Joel. Your goals need to be emotional and invoke positive emotions. People have a tendency to choose emotionless goals (like earning a certain salary or going to a specific holiday destination) but what they should be doing is incorporating an emotional state with these goals. For example, I want to earn a certain salary so I can have the experience of xzy; I want to have this holiday so I can experience xzy. Incorporating emotions into goal settings is vitally important and you've nailed it in your blog!
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