The Art of Goal Setting

How do you set goals? That is a question that is actually quite legitimate. Most of us have stuff we want to achieve. Make more money, be more organised, be healthier, to name but a few. But are these actually goals? Well, they are a good start I would say, but to become goals they need a bit more thinking.

Let’s look at one example: “I want to be more organised.”

Good idea, but how do you know when you have achieved this? Is it when all your CDs are alphabetically sorted? Is it when you are no longer late arriving at appointments? Is it when all your laundry is always up to date? What does being organised mean for you?

Another example: “I want to be healthier.”

Same questions: How do you know you have achieved this? Does your blood pressure or blood sugar (or both) have to be a certain level? Do you want to reach a certain weight? Do you want to be fit enough to run a marathon? And by when?

Being not very specific about setting your goals is one of the reasons why the famous New Year’s Resolutions usually fail. We are so vague about what we want to achieve that we have no idea what “achieved” actually looks like.

We usually don’t attach a time limit either, a realistic one to be precise. Unless you go on “The Biggest Loser” you are not likely to lose 3 stone by the end of January when you start on the 1st January. Unless you are a very lucky person you are not likely to win the lottery and therefore end up £1 million richer within a few weeks time.

So, the gist of today is: be specific about your goals. And give them realistic time limits. What precisely do you want to achieve by when?

Next time we’ll talk about what we do with those goals so that they don’t just stay dreams that won’t come true.

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt