What is goal setting?
Did you know goal setting could cause you serious problems if not done properly?
It can also be a source of endless rewards, so understanding whether this is a time in your life where you want to be setting goals is seriously important.
Goal Setting is a process where we take our objectives, desires, dreams, and needs for improvement and set their manifestation in motion. Goals are roadmaps to acquiring results, and the results we want can show up in any area of life: career, family/relationships, health, finances, artistic, education, etc… Goals help us accomplish what we want. They help us create life the way we want it to be!
What is goal setting theory?
Goal setting theory is a way of thinking created by Edwin Locke. He theorized two groups of people:
- Those with desires for progress (anything) and achieve them unguided
- Those who are the same, but set goals to achieve them
Those who set goals (according to Locke) nearly always perform better in their quest for achievement than those who set out to achieve but have no guide or plan.
There are 5 aspects to Goal setting theory:
- Clarity
- Challenge
- Commitment
- Feedback
- Task Complexity
Clarity: clarity of purpose and desire provides us the proper motivation to pursue these goals. We know what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, what we gain when we succeed and what we lose if we fail.
Challenge: Goals that are too easy require less motivation, brain power and will to accomplish. They also offer us little reward upon completion.
Commitment: We really have to get to a point where we are set on achieving this goal, no matter how difficult, and step away from the habit of losing faith in ourselves because we start and stop so many goals over and over again.
Feedback: means information that you are progressing along your goal. Imagine a progress bar. You could get your feedback from a human, but you could also set benchmarks along your goal (3 month and 6 month goals that are part of a yearly goal) to show you that you are indeed on schedule.
Task Complexity: task complexity is related to the amount of time and effort you’ll need to accomplish it. Remember that. High complexity + low time and low effort = delusional
Why is goal setting important?
What do goals do for us?
- Keep us motivated
- Help us prioritize
- Keep us from wasting time, energy and life
- Create peace of mind by having a vision and a plan
- Instill confidence in us through our continual achievements
Goals handle long and short term motivation for life. Think about what we look like when we’re not motivated. We’re sitting still, sulking, looking sullen and lifeless. Is that human life is all about? Is that all it affords?
When we sit and think about what we truly want, that desire becomes an intention –
- which becomes a plan
- which becomes a goal
- That goal with time and effort, turns into an accomplishment
- which turns into pride, confidence, appreciation, gratitude, and recognition
Can you think about the difference between the person who sets goals, and the one who lacks even the motivation to pull themselves away from Netflix?
You stop wasting time on nonsense that really doesn’t matter. Each day you wake from sleeping, and immediately there are a million options for you to focus on. As soon as you wake up, your phone is right next to you, and you could spend the first 30 minutes of your life just looking through social media…
The point here is that our life is full of resources: time, energy, focus, effort.
Resources that are so valuable, that we should start getting serious about making sure we give them away only to what’s worth the trade. Goals do this for us.
By setting goals to get what we want from life, we know what’s a good use of our time, and what’s not!
You develop a unique appreciation for yourself. Feeling confident in our own abilities is necessary to live any kind of fulfilling life. After racking up a few accomplishments, you’ll look at other goals and think, “Sure, I could probably handle that.”
Goals put us back in charge. Life is about growth – progress towards more of what we want for ourselves is called setting goals.
When is the right time to start setting goals?
- When a change needs to be made in your life
- When you feel like you’re not capable of anything and lack faith in yourself.
- When you want to achieve amazing things in your life!
- When you feel like you’re in a rut, and nothing is going your way, or things are stuck.
Goals take our lives in a new direction, and getting started with goal setting isn’t something you need permission for.
Anytime you have desires for life to be different, or to have different results showing up in your life, it’s a good time to start.
What types of goals are there?
Goals are a plan/road map to get certain results. So goals can manifest in any area of life where you want better, or different results.
- Career
- Financial
- Education
- Family
- Relationship
- Artistic
- Self Improvement / Personal Development
- Service oriented goals
- Business/ Organizational goals
“How can I start setting goals?”
The way you start setting goals is by figuring out what you want, or by taking something you know you want to show up in your life and creating a plan for receiving it. Either way, this template below will guide you through and easy beginner friendly way for doing just that.
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