{"id":1759,"date":"2013-01-17T12:03:26","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T20:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oneminutetodolist.com\/blog\/?p=1759"},"modified":"2013-01-17T12:03:26","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T20:03:26","slug":"giving-up-on-goals-4-tips-for-setting-goals-that-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/giving-up-on-goals-4-tips-for-setting-goals-that-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving Up on Goals? 4 Tips for Setting Goals that Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan 17, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The whole goal-setting topic is a tricky subject\u2014it\u2019s wrought with land mines. It seems so proactive to set ambitious goals, but despite our best intentions, most such goals are missed. When that happens repeatedly, we get discouraged and many of us never set goals again\u2014to avoid the pain of missing them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, failing at goals may be because we\u2019re creating and managing goals incorrectly, not due to being an undisciplined person.<\/p>\n

4 Tips<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are 4 tips you can use to achieve more success with goal setting and thus rekindle your faith in the process. Setting goals is still the best way to make progress in just about any area, so I hope you give one or more of these a try and get back on the goal bandwagon.<\/p>\n

1. Create more goals that you have direct control over<\/strong><\/p>\n

Too often we beat ourselves up over missing goals we have no direct control over. For example, the goal of getting a raise at your job is not under your direct control\u2014that\u2019s someone else\u2019s decision. And you cannot directly remove body weight (surgery aside!); rather you have to add exercise or diet to do that. So to increase your success rate, add to the larger goal some smaller goals that represent specific actions you<\/em> can take that may lead to the larger goal like \u201ctake 30 minutes of exercise every day.\u201d Then track your daily compliance on such goals to keep your attention on them. Using one of the new online sting\/reward systems can greatly help you do that (see next point).<\/p>\n

2. Use a tracking and sting\/reward system<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some ongoing goals need steady motivational reinforcement; goals like making 10 sales calls per week, or exercising 30 minutes each day. There are lots of new online systems you can use that will track your progress on goals like this and thereby keep your attention on them. Many have smartphone apps that help. One I like called BeeMinder.com<\/a> both tracks your progress and can alert you and then even automatically \u201csting\u201d you with a small fine as you fall off the plan and miss your milestones. Why do this? It makes a longer-term outcome more immediately connected to short-term successes and pains. You can even link BeeMinder to a Wi-Fi connected weight scale<\/a> and accurately measure and motivate an on-going weight-loss goal\u2014users say it really works. Read more about BeeMinder.com here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Write Vision Statements\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

For an important goal like starting a new career or, say, getting a new home, write out a vision statement that vividly describes how life will feel when you reach your goal\u2014and then review that statement often. Perhaps set a recurring task to read the goal every week, or even every day. When you do the review, mentally imagine your new life as if you have reached it\u2014pretend you can feel it. Research shows your subconscious mind drives you to success when your emotions are positively engaged over and over like this\u2014don\u2019t underestimate how powerful this can be (for more details, see Chapter 9 of my 2010 book Master Your Workday Now<\/a>).<\/p>\n

4. Avoid arbitrary deadlines<\/strong><\/p>\n

For many goals we often set a deadline date that is completely arbitrary\u2014there is no direct impact if that specific date is missed. The trouble with that is, when the date arrives, you\u2019ll recall that it\u2019s arbitrary and you\u2019ll likely skip any action. That\u2019s especially true in a busy workplace\u2014there will always be some other fire drill going on in your business that requires more attention. And after skipping a lot of these, you lose respect for the deadline process\u2014even with real deadlines.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s better to set deadlines sparingly and instead use your business intuition to recognize the right moment for most of your smaller goals. But if that fails repeatedly for an important item, then rather than an arbitrary deadline, set a real <\/em>deadline\u2014one that has some meat<\/em> to it. The meat might be using a date that will impact others if missed\u2014one you\u2019ll hear a complaint for quickly. And if others are not affected, the meat might be a fine <\/em>you set for yourself that you have to cough up when you miss a deadline; one way to do that is described in point #2 above.<\/p>\n

So don\u2019t use arbitrary deadlines\u2014they just don\u2019t work. Put some meat on your deadlines, or don’t use them at all.<\/p>\n

See my longer article on Arbitrary Deadlines<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jan 17, 2013 The whole goal-setting topic is a tricky subject\u2014it\u2019s wrought with land mines. It seems so proactive to set ambitious goals, but despite our best intentions, most such goals are missed. When that happens repeatedly, we get discouraged … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1759"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1765,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions\/1765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}