Have you abandoned your New Year’s Resolution yet? What happened?
Research suggests most people will have folded by now – with an accompanying feeling of disaapointment and a dent in their self-belief.
We tend to set goals in a cavalier manner – on the spur of the moment, amidst a burst of emotion that we think will carry us through to success.
And that is why we tend to fail.
The problem with not achieving our goals is not only that we don’t reach our target but that we feel less confident, and less inclined to try again.
It seems obvious but the most important thing about goal-setting is achieving the goal.
Here are some tips to help you.
1) Achievable Goal
Small, achievable goals work better than grand-scale goals.
Most of us need rewards in the short term, not the long term.
We need wins on the board. So measure success in consistent process.
This encourages us to set new achievable goals so we eventually achieve the big outcome goal.
2) Process Goals
While the nirvana of the big exciting outcome goal is always present, what gets you there is action – repeated process.
So it’s the process we need to focus on, particularly getting a cadance of process which will slowly but steadily get us there.
3) Small Steps Repeated Often
Again, no huge process goals because when we fail, we stop altogether.
Keep the steps small and you’ll achieve the goal painlessly with self-belief on a high.
Example:
If you don’t usually run, but your outcome goal is to run a marathon in 6 months, and your process goal is to run $3km every morning before work, if you miss one morning three things will happen:
- you’ll have weakened your resolve for future days because you now identify as someone who misses their running sessions.
- if you try to make up the distance it will be very difficult and unpleasant – it’s going to turn you off the process
- if you miss the second day, by day three you’ll have to give up because most people just can’t do 9km with no running background.
