I recently shared a great little article by Suzan Bond about how to ensure your goals are small and achievable. Reading this spurred me on to share some additional thoughts around goal setting that could be particularly useful this time of year.
I am sure it’s not just me who is focusing inwardly on what I want to achieve this year. For me, my goals and resolutions include a myriad of things such as allowing more time for self-development, winning new business, drinking less wine and being more patient with my nearest and dearest. (Although thinking about it as I write this, the reduction in wine may not help with the patience!)
Making a list of resolutions/goals is a good place to start and there are a host of other goal setting principles that are worth considering.
1. Set your goals in the positive
It’s proven that goals to START doing something are usually more achievable than those to STOP doing something. So try framing your goal in the positive right from the get go. Instead of drinking less wine my goal could be to feel more hydrated or wake up feeling more energised.
2. What is success?
Think about how you will know that you are achieving your goal in the short term. If your goal is tangible ie grow the business by 10%, then it’s pretty straight forward to establish whether you are achieving this or not. However if you have chosen a goal that is not as tangible it’s a good idea to have a think about how you will feel, what you might see and hear that demonstrates you are achieving your gaol. For example if your goal was to build a better relationship with your boss what could be the ‘sensory evidence’ to support this achievement? Would you feel more relaxed when you had your one to ones, would you get more feedback from her? Would others be telling you that they noticed the two of you getting on well? Would you notice her coming to you with additional tasks? Thinking this through when you are setting your goal will help enormously and clarify your success criteria.
3. Start and keep it up
Knowing how you can start achieving your goal is crucial and unclear first steps are often the main reason why a goal or resolution isn’t achieved. Make sure you know how to start and also what you need to do to maintain progress.
4. Benefits
Remind yourself why you are setting the goal and what benefits it is going to provide for you, your business for those around you. Being clear on the benefits is a great motivator and also helps to refine your goals and even ditch the ones that aren’t going to reap enough rewards.
5. Context
Ensure you have thought through the specific contexts in which you want the outcome. Is this something you want to achieve always, right now, with someone specific with everybody? I recently worked with someone who wanted to increase her ability to say ‘NO’ more at work. It transpired she was pretty good at saying no, to everyone but her boss. So her goal shifted from ‘How to get better at saying NO’ to ‘How to say NO to my boss’.
6. Resources and support
Finally, it is useful to consider whether your goals can be achieved single handed and also whether you need any additional resources to help you along the way. If your goal was to learn more about a new part of the business, can you do this yourself? Would it help to speak to a colleague who knows that part of the business? Do you need to invest in a course to learn more about it? Whether this involves people’s time or financial investment it is worth considering at the outset.