Way to Success – Set Clear Goals

In my previous post ‘Work Hard Today For A Better Tomorrow‘, I had spoken about setting SMART goals and visualizing your future. Here is an elaborate discussion on the importance of goal setting.

It’s always good to have a plan, rather than have no plan at all. As humans, we are having the power of thoughts and the ability to control them. Goals too, start with a single thought to begin with, and the actions we put in, are ways to manifest them to reality. It is important to live your goal and breath it every single moment. Having goal clarity rapidly changes the way you think and desire them.

But, the question is, aren’t we naturally programmed to set goals and work on them? Day-in-and-day-out we are doing that. We have reasons behind the actions we do, we want a good job, a decent income, a happy family, a successful life and so much more. These are some of the reasons common to most of us, the reasons why we kickstart our day, slog it out, and make a living. So we do have reasons and motives to action, but on reading the above motives, don’t you feel each one of them is too vague.

Setting clear goals

Understand this, goals are not equal to wishes or dreams. They are clear and specific manifestations to what you want. I must say, the secret of happiness is having clear goals and achieving them. If there are no goals, and, we are living our lives on wishes and dreams, then we will hardly be able to achieve anything concrete, anything which is precise. This will ultimately be a reason for disappointment and dissatisfaction. With clear actionable goals, you get a purpose and meaning to actions you do, and the inputs you give to your life. 

Focus on your goals

However, goal-setting is difficult for many, as it requires constant commitment, thirst for achievement, and burning desire to make it large. Realize your potential while setting your goals and accept complete responsibility of targets for yourself.

Gallup recognizes that one of the key elements one needs to reach his destination is the focus. (Your Focus Talent: Beneficial Tunnel Vision, CLIFTON STRENGTHS, MARCH 27, 2017) They say, if you lack focus, then you will be setting your goals, and resetting them, time and again. Further, because you are focused on a direction and feel it is important, you know its worth your time, so you tend to spend your time there. 

Another survey was undertaken by Gallup suggests that, out of one million people, just over half of them had a clear understanding of what is expected of them when they show up at work. (Strengths-Based Goal Setting, BUSINESS JOURNAL, MARCH 6, 2012) This means that if employees are unclear about their work goals, they will not be able to contribute to the organization’s vision and goals also. It was further found out, that lack of goal clarity is detrimental to productivity. 

We must also have a vision and think of the future. Thinking of the past would anyway not help. Taking better decisions in the present assures us of a better future. A hindrance to this is the self-limiting beliefs we have ingrained. When we underestimate ourselves and think of ourselves as low, we are underselling ourselves and it restricts our growth further.

A study done on a graduating class of Harvard Business School in the year 1979, posed a question to the students, “Have you set clear written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?”. To this, responses obtained were, 3% of students had clear written goals, 13% had goals, but were not written anywhere, and 84% had no specific goals at all. After 10 years, in 1989, the class students, then working professionals, were interviewed again. Findings revealed that the 13% who had clear goals, but not on paper were doing twice as better (that is earning double) then 84% without goals when they were graduating.  But the surprising finding was, that 3 % who wrote their goals clearly, was on an average earning 10 times more than the rest 97%. 

You become what you think

You become what you think. Carol Dweck, a Stanford psychologist, studied the effects of having a growth mindset and a fixed mindset in students. She and her colleagues undertook a study with 373 students and tracked their academic performance. It was found that students with a growth mindset scored higher than students with a fixed mindset.

With this, it is definite, that goal clarity affects our sense of purpose and achievement levels. We must engage in goal setting and not waste our time and actions behind plain wishes or desires. Wishes or desires are just fleeting emotions, they will not lead you to take significant actions. Goals are solid, tangible, visible yearnings, that steer you to favorable outcomes.