Hey everyone,
I've found this method of setting goals to be very helpful. It covers how to set and define good goals. But more importantly, it gives a good framework for getting more in touch with your motivation for achieving your goals.
This is mostly courtesy of Jordan Peterson's framework for goal setting which is backed by the science of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
1. Goal: This can be stated as the outcome you want. “I want to have a net worth of $1,000,000 by age 35.” It should be a SMART goal. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound.
2. Motivation for goal: Write a brief paragraph on why you are motivated to achieve this goal. Consider some of the following questions:
· Why do you want to do this?
· Who else benefits from your achievement of this goal?
· If you were lying on your deathbed and had not attempted this, how would you feel?
· Are you doing this for you or for someone else (neither is wrong but you should be aware)?
· What do you find satisfying in the pursuit of this goal?
3. Broader implications of the goal: Write a brief paragraph on how achieving this goal would change your life. Consider the following questions:
· How would achieving this change your view of yourself?
· How would it change the way others see you?
· Are there any societal/familial/organizational benefits in achieving this goal (How would others profit from your achievement)?
4. Milestones and daily tasks: This is where you build in feedback and accomplishment.
· Establish your milestones. Try to make a weekly/monthly milestone. Being able to feel like you are making progress and point to milestone achievement as evidence is key to closing the feedback loop on your journey and sparking the next wave of motivation.
· Break the goal down into its daily action steps. These are key. It may be a while before you start reaping the external or monetary rewards from your hard work so having these daily process goals are very helpful. Process vs Outcome goals. For example, instead of “Make one new sale every day” (outcome goal) have “Make 20 sales calls a day” (process goal) be your goal. You have complete and direct control over how many sales calls you make. You do not necessarily have complete and direct control over “Make one new sale every day”. However, your process goal should be aligned with your outcome. So if you want to make a new sale every day and you average one close per 20 calls then your process goal of 20 calls per day should get you to your outcome goal. If it doesn’t you have already acted, now assess and adjust.
· Schedule time for when you will complete these steps.
5. Identify most likely obstacles and create solutions: Asking others who have already achieved this goal is a great place to start if you don’t know. Write out 5-10 of the most likely obstacles and develop solutions for them right now. I like the following format:
Problem - Too tired to work on business after work.
Solution - Wake up one hour earlier and work on my business for the first hour of my day.
6. Set deadlines for your milestones: You can revise these as most of them probably won’t be met exactly and will need adjustment. The point here is to give your brain a sense of urgency and keep you relatively close to hitting your milestones.
That's it. Now just go work your plan. Know that probably everything about this will and should evolve over time and that is ok. Do the best you can putting this together for now, take some action and then come back and revise it accordingly. Hope this helps.
I've found this method of setting goals to be very helpful. It covers how to set and define good goals. But more importantly, it gives a good framework for getting more in touch with your motivation for achieving your goals.
This is mostly courtesy of Jordan Peterson's framework for goal setting which is backed by the science of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
1. Goal: This can be stated as the outcome you want. “I want to have a net worth of $1,000,000 by age 35.” It should be a SMART goal. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound.
2. Motivation for goal: Write a brief paragraph on why you are motivated to achieve this goal. Consider some of the following questions:
· Why do you want to do this?
· Who else benefits from your achievement of this goal?
· If you were lying on your deathbed and had not attempted this, how would you feel?
· Are you doing this for you or for someone else (neither is wrong but you should be aware)?
· What do you find satisfying in the pursuit of this goal?
3. Broader implications of the goal: Write a brief paragraph on how achieving this goal would change your life. Consider the following questions:
· How would achieving this change your view of yourself?
· How would it change the way others see you?
· Are there any societal/familial/organizational benefits in achieving this goal (How would others profit from your achievement)?
4. Milestones and daily tasks: This is where you build in feedback and accomplishment.
· Establish your milestones. Try to make a weekly/monthly milestone. Being able to feel like you are making progress and point to milestone achievement as evidence is key to closing the feedback loop on your journey and sparking the next wave of motivation.
· Break the goal down into its daily action steps. These are key. It may be a while before you start reaping the external or monetary rewards from your hard work so having these daily process goals are very helpful. Process vs Outcome goals. For example, instead of “Make one new sale every day” (outcome goal) have “Make 20 sales calls a day” (process goal) be your goal. You have complete and direct control over how many sales calls you make. You do not necessarily have complete and direct control over “Make one new sale every day”. However, your process goal should be aligned with your outcome. So if you want to make a new sale every day and you average one close per 20 calls then your process goal of 20 calls per day should get you to your outcome goal. If it doesn’t you have already acted, now assess and adjust.
· Schedule time for when you will complete these steps.
5. Identify most likely obstacles and create solutions: Asking others who have already achieved this goal is a great place to start if you don’t know. Write out 5-10 of the most likely obstacles and develop solutions for them right now. I like the following format:
Problem - Too tired to work on business after work.
Solution - Wake up one hour earlier and work on my business for the first hour of my day.
6. Set deadlines for your milestones: You can revise these as most of them probably won’t be met exactly and will need adjustment. The point here is to give your brain a sense of urgency and keep you relatively close to hitting your milestones.
That's it. Now just go work your plan. Know that probably everything about this will and should evolve over time and that is ok. Do the best you can putting this together for now, take some action and then come back and revise it accordingly. Hope this helps.
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