ART OF GOAL SETTING - I
ART OF GOAL SETTING - I
Come January. On the new year event, we wish our friends. We proudly announce to our friends and relatives that this year onwards ‘ I am going for walking’ or ‘ I am going to have a strict diet’ or ‘I am going to study more hours by reducing watching TV’ or ‘ I am going to start saving from January onwards’.
Every year we have own resolutions. We are proud to announce also. Then what happens to that ? God only knows. Can you remember, what were the resolutions you took last new year day ? Why we are unable to follow our resolutions ? Why our resolutions are not having enough power ?
We all want to achieve success in our life. We are working towards it. Are we getting the expected results ? Is it taking too much time to achieve even small success ? You are working towards your success and you don’t get the result as expected or within expected time. What went wrong ? What could be the problem ? Are you able to analyze it ?
Take for example. You are driving a two wheeler. In front of you, an auto rickshaw is going. No passenger is inside the auto. The auto driver is in fact searching for a passenger. The auto will be moving very slowly or maybe waiting at a stand. The auto doesn’t have a destination. Hence the auto driver is searching for a prospective passenger. The vehicle is moving very slowly consuming petrol; the life of the auto is also coming down; the driver’s time is also getting wasted. Why all these ? The driver doesn’t know the destination. Once a passenger gets in and asks the driver to proceed to railway station, how fast the auto will go ? In the shortest time, in the shortest route, the auto will reach to the railway station. Because, a clear destination is given to the auto driver.
Just imagine the auto driver is your sub conscious mind. Destination is the goal. You are the passenger. Unless a clear goal is given, your subconscious mind will not take you to the right direction and to the right destination. Hence, having a goal is very important.
Take another example. You are driving a car and traveling in a high way. There comes a four road junction. Unfortunately, no sign board is available to show which road leads to your place. You wait for some time and take one route. After a few kilometers, you find out, you are in the wrong direction. You come back. You take another route. This also takes you to a wrong way. Again you come back. Finally you find out the right direction and start your journey. By this time, you have lost considerable time, petrol and mood. Unless you have a clear map to success, you cannot have a smooth journey. All your life journey will be a waste of time.
Before we start constructing a house, we prepare a blue print for the house. What should be size of the house, size of the rooms, length and breadth of the rooms, compound wall, etc. We start constructing the house according to the plan or blue print. We get the house exactly as per our blue print. Our life is bigger than constructing a house. Do we have a blue print for our life ? Unfortunately most of us do not have any blue print for our life. But we all want success somehow. There is a proper route to achieve success. It is the map for success. It is the art of goal setting.
We all have dreams, aim, vision and expectations. Will all these become goals ? Goal setting is a simple organized personal planning process. It is a reliable method to identify what you want to achieve, whether in long term or in short term. This process gives you a laser sharp focus on the target.
All our dreams may not become our goals. You give importance only to certain dreams. That will be a consistent one. Take for example, you want to achieve 95 % marks in the final exams. It can be a dream and it can become your goal, provided you write down in a piece of paper and give importance to it. Your dreams will remain only dreams, unless you write it down to achieve and give importance.
Allow yourself dream like a child. Let your imagination run wild. Brainstorm. Write your ideas down on paper and decide which ones are the most important to you.
To understand the importance of goal setting, the following study will help you.
Mark McCormack in his book “What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School” tells of a Harvard study conducted between 1979 and 1989, the graduates of the MBA program at Harvard were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” It turned out only 3 per cent of the graduates had written goals and plans. Thirteen percent had goals, but they were not in writing. Fully 84 per cent had no specific goals at all. They all got out of the school and enjoyed the summer.
Ten years later, in 1989, the researchers interviewed the members of that class again. They found that the 13 per cent who had goals that were not in writing were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 per cent of students who had no goals at all. But most surprisingly, they found that the 3 per cent of graduates who had clear, written goals when they left Harvard, were earning, on an average, ten times as much as the other 97 per cent of graduates all together. The only difference between the groups was the clarity of the goals they had for themselves when they graduated.
If you read the autobiography of many successful people, you can find one common amazing factor that all had clear goals and worked towards it. They succeeded in their life. Top achievers understand the basic skills for setting and reaching their goals. They know how to design goals that create success.
Goal setting is extremely powerful technique for accomplishment. But if you want an effective goal setting, then you require extra skill to design it in the right way.
(continued in the next blog)
Come January. On the new year event, we wish our friends. We proudly announce to our friends and relatives that this year onwards ‘ I am going for walking’ or ‘ I am going to have a strict diet’ or ‘I am going to study more hours by reducing watching TV’ or ‘ I am going to start saving from January onwards’.
Every year we have own resolutions. We are proud to announce also. Then what happens to that ? God only knows. Can you remember, what were the resolutions you took last new year day ? Why we are unable to follow our resolutions ? Why our resolutions are not having enough power ?
We all want to achieve success in our life. We are working towards it. Are we getting the expected results ? Is it taking too much time to achieve even small success ? You are working towards your success and you don’t get the result as expected or within expected time. What went wrong ? What could be the problem ? Are you able to analyze it ?
Take for example. You are driving a two wheeler. In front of you, an auto rickshaw is going. No passenger is inside the auto. The auto driver is in fact searching for a passenger. The auto will be moving very slowly or maybe waiting at a stand. The auto doesn’t have a destination. Hence the auto driver is searching for a prospective passenger. The vehicle is moving very slowly consuming petrol; the life of the auto is also coming down; the driver’s time is also getting wasted. Why all these ? The driver doesn’t know the destination. Once a passenger gets in and asks the driver to proceed to railway station, how fast the auto will go ? In the shortest time, in the shortest route, the auto will reach to the railway station. Because, a clear destination is given to the auto driver.
Just imagine the auto driver is your sub conscious mind. Destination is the goal. You are the passenger. Unless a clear goal is given, your subconscious mind will not take you to the right direction and to the right destination. Hence, having a goal is very important.
Take another example. You are driving a car and traveling in a high way. There comes a four road junction. Unfortunately, no sign board is available to show which road leads to your place. You wait for some time and take one route. After a few kilometers, you find out, you are in the wrong direction. You come back. You take another route. This also takes you to a wrong way. Again you come back. Finally you find out the right direction and start your journey. By this time, you have lost considerable time, petrol and mood. Unless you have a clear map to success, you cannot have a smooth journey. All your life journey will be a waste of time.
Before we start constructing a house, we prepare a blue print for the house. What should be size of the house, size of the rooms, length and breadth of the rooms, compound wall, etc. We start constructing the house according to the plan or blue print. We get the house exactly as per our blue print. Our life is bigger than constructing a house. Do we have a blue print for our life ? Unfortunately most of us do not have any blue print for our life. But we all want success somehow. There is a proper route to achieve success. It is the map for success. It is the art of goal setting.
We all have dreams, aim, vision and expectations. Will all these become goals ? Goal setting is a simple organized personal planning process. It is a reliable method to identify what you want to achieve, whether in long term or in short term. This process gives you a laser sharp focus on the target.
All our dreams may not become our goals. You give importance only to certain dreams. That will be a consistent one. Take for example, you want to achieve 95 % marks in the final exams. It can be a dream and it can become your goal, provided you write down in a piece of paper and give importance to it. Your dreams will remain only dreams, unless you write it down to achieve and give importance.
Allow yourself dream like a child. Let your imagination run wild. Brainstorm. Write your ideas down on paper and decide which ones are the most important to you.
To understand the importance of goal setting, the following study will help you.
Mark McCormack in his book “What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School” tells of a Harvard study conducted between 1979 and 1989, the graduates of the MBA program at Harvard were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” It turned out only 3 per cent of the graduates had written goals and plans. Thirteen percent had goals, but they were not in writing. Fully 84 per cent had no specific goals at all. They all got out of the school and enjoyed the summer.
Ten years later, in 1989, the researchers interviewed the members of that class again. They found that the 13 per cent who had goals that were not in writing were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 per cent of students who had no goals at all. But most surprisingly, they found that the 3 per cent of graduates who had clear, written goals when they left Harvard, were earning, on an average, ten times as much as the other 97 per cent of graduates all together. The only difference between the groups was the clarity of the goals they had for themselves when they graduated.
If you read the autobiography of many successful people, you can find one common amazing factor that all had clear goals and worked towards it. They succeeded in their life. Top achievers understand the basic skills for setting and reaching their goals. They know how to design goals that create success.
Goal setting is extremely powerful technique for accomplishment. But if you want an effective goal setting, then you require extra skill to design it in the right way.
(continued in the next blog)
posted by VALUE PLUS @ 9:25 AM
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