Participating in the process is easy. It is much harder to achieve results. And desired results. And the first step on this way – a clear goal-setting. They say it is not harmful to dream … However, dreams come true very rarely. And only when they first turn into clearly defined, written-on-paper SMART goals. Let’s discuss a few specific, practically applicable recommendations on how we can make our dreams come true and achieve the results we want.
First, let’s talk about how dreams differ from goals.
First, dreams we keep in mind, while goals are always formulated on paper. If you think that you can keep some of the goals in your head and not write them down, be sure that they will remain dreams. Technically speaking, their efficiency is extremely low. They are not implemented.
Second, a goal always has a specific person in charge and a specific performer. Until we identify the doer (or doers), our dream, even if written down on paper, cannot be called a goal. At best, it can be called a vision, a ghost.
Third, to achieve any goal, it is necessarily necessary to expend a certain amount of some resources. At a minimum, the time of the doers. At most – the financial and other resources of the organization. When setting a goal, the amount of required investments is defined. Exactly investments, but not expenses as in business we always estimate a parity of the required investments and expected benefits from any step. Benefits are not always expressed in money, but they can and should always be valued in monetary terms. It usually does not make sense to set a goal whose realization will require more expenses than will bring profits. Although it is not always easy to estimate long-term benefits.
By the way, have you often set goals like “learn English,” ” become a good designer” or “quit smoking”? Let’s try to figure out why such goals are very rarely achieved. By the way, visual modo site will be useful for designers. Collected here are articles that will help you improve your designer skills.
First of all, what does “learn English” mean to you? Is it enough to learn a hundred words? Or do you need to pass the TOEFL exam with at least 600 points? Formulate clearly what the result should be and try to make it measurable. The word “lose weight” should mean “lose three pounds” for you. This is the only way to determine if you have reached your goal or not. Or, let’s say you achieved 90% by losing 2 kilograms 720 grams. Naturally, you need to know when to get on the scale and weigh these “3 kilograms”, that is, in what time frame the goal should be achieved.
You need to set yourself other achievable goals. How do you determine if a goal is achievable? Pretty simple. Break it down into smaller ones. For example, if your goal is to learn 10,000 English words in one year, you don’t know if it is achievable until you determine that 10,000 words a year means about 30 words a day. For most normal people, especially those working and devoting their lives to more than just English, this is an unattainable goal. But if you reduce the number of English words to 1,000 a year (which means learning three words a day), the goal becomes achievable. What’s more, you will be able to measure your daily progress. And even adjust the situation: if today you failed to learn the next three words, you can either learn six tomorrow or one day shift the deadline. But you already know about it in advance and can prevent such a situation well in advance.
Reasonable motivation is needed to achieve a goal. Even a difficult task will be doable if you will be moved by an extreme necessity.
Test the strength of motivation can be put before yourself a series of tricky questions. Would you set this goal for yourself if you knew that you have no more than three years to live (no more than a year, no more than a month)? Is this goal so important to you that you would dedicate your life, or even part of it, to it? Are there other goals that are more relevant to you?
Carve out an hour or an hour and a half of your time. Think about the most important goals in your life (or company life, if we’re talking about business goals). Write them down and try to align them with the requirements of this article. Make a list of your goals in your weekly journal. This list should be a kind of lighthouse that allows you to plan for the year, quarter, month, week, day, so that each step will bring you closer to your desired goal. Check constantly all of your goals with this “lighthouse. And do not hesitate to abandon them, if all your actions do not bring him closer. If hesitation still occurs, think, maybe it is necessary to supplement the “lighthouse” with something else important? Review your goals at least once a year. However, don’t forget to “think globally and act locally. Set specific small step goals that steadily bring you closer to those huge lighthouse goals.
Your life is a glass. It’s up to you whether that glass is filled with water, Coca-Cola, or high-end French red wine…
Now, the 12 steps to setting a goal:
1) formulate a goal (in the form of the desired outcome) on paper;
2) make sure that this goal does not take you away from your “lighthouse” or “beacons,” but brings you closer to them;
3) specify the goal, so that the expected result was specific, clear, understandable to you and others, not just the executor. Make sure that you and the doer equally understand what the result should be and in what form;
4) make the goal measurable. Make sure you’re clear about how you’ll measure the achievement/non-achievement of the goal. Make sure that the person in charge/performer will also be able to measure achievement of the outcome and, if possible, progress toward it;
5) Establish a clear timeline for achieving the result. We don’t refer to “clear deadlines” as “yesterday,” “as soon as possible,” “now,” “by the end of the week,” but only a deadline with a specific date (e.g., Wednesday, July 23, 2003) and time (by 5 p.m.). Even though the time may still change;
6) make sure that the goal is achievable. If it is not achievable within the specified time or with the specified resources, do something about the time or resources. Or find a new and original technology to achieve it. In any case, the doer must not doubt the attainability of the goal. Otherwise, he will not even try to achieve it or will make little/insufficient effort;
7) determine how achieving this goal will affect the other goals, what it is for and what it is for. Make sure that the doer is clear about what it is for, and that the reason is compelling to them. In short, make sure the doer is motivated!
8) Determine what is required to achieve this goal and provide the necessary resources and conditions;
9) once again, make sure that the “game is worth playing” and the goal is worth your attention;
10) determine or help the implementer determine the ways and plan to achieve the goal. Identify the milestones on the way to the goal;
11) bring the goal to the direct implementer, making sure they commit to achieving it within the agreed time frame (see “How to Properly Delegate a Task”). If you are the direct executor, simply put the task in your calendar plan;
12) control the achievement of the goal. Celebrate its achievement! Never stop at what you’ve achieved!
Oh, and one more important point. Never make life difficult for yourself! If the goal is much easier than “increase sales of product A for 7% to September 30, 2003, to exit this product at the level of break-even point” and rather similar to “do not forget to buy a package of milk in a grocery store across the house on the way home, do not waste effort on the above steps. Forget about them. Just go to the grocery store and buy a carton of milk…
The test “Are we setting the right goals?”
Give answers to each of the questions (“yes” or “no”). In the case of several “nested” questions, a “yes” answer is possible only if all questions are answered positively. Make the necessary notes right in the test and write down on a separate blank sheet of paper all the ideas that arise. Take your time. Answer all questions. If you can’t answer a question that is within your expertise, answer “no.” Be brutally honest – you are answering for yourself! GOOD LUCK!
1. do you have a clear idea of what/what we’d like to see ourselves as in five years? (YES/NO)
2. do you have a clear idea of what your business or the company you work for should be like in five years? (YES/NO)
3. Is your vision/vision for items 1 and 2 written down on paper somewhere? (YES/NO)
4. Is there a list of clear goals that you have for this year? (YES/NO)
5. Are goals that are set in a weekly or monthly range focused on certain longer-term goals? Are you convinced that your daily work brings you closer to these goals? (YES/NO)
6. Do you always know clearly why/why a particular work/action/step is being done? And isn’t it ever the case that something is done because someone else is doing it or because “we’ve always done it that way”? (YES/NO)
7. Are the goals you set for yourself or your subordinates always measurable? Are you always able to determine whether or not you have achieved the goal, or to what extent you have achieved it? (YES/NO)
8. Do you break down a complex goal into simple subgoals that should eventually lead to it? (YES/NO)
9. Do you always set goals for yourself and your subordinates that may be very difficult but still achievable? (YES/NO)
10. Do you always know what this particular goal will lead to? Why do you need this result? What is it for? (YES/NO)
11. Do your goals always have a clear time frame (specific date of achievement)? (YES/NO)
12. Do you often write down your goals on paper? (YES/NO)
13. Can you say with confidence and responsibility that the goals you set for yourself and your subordinates are being achieved? Are you satisfied with the extent to which they are being achieved? (YES/NO)
If you answered “Yes” to all 13 questions – you are a great person who has already achieved a lot and will achieve almost anything he or she wants.
If the answer “Yes” turned out to be 10-12 – think about how to bring the result to the maximum possible. And do it – you can do it.
With a result of 4-9 “Yes” remember that “when they do not know the distant thoughts, do not avoid the close grief.
With a result of 3 or less “Yes” – congratulations, you are an “average employee of an average company,” look at the above 13 questions and think about how to stop being a “statistical mediocrity. If you want to, you can do it…
But most importantly, no matter how few than 13 “Yes” answers you have, don’t settle down until there are 13! Step by step! Try after try! Go for it!
For each of the “no” answers, think through specific actions: what you can and should do to give a firm “yes” to the answer the next time you work on the test.
Set deadlines for taking these actions and achieving the “yes” goal.
Identify the performers and those responsible (since these actions will not happen by themselves). Don’t forget to let these actors and responsible parties know.
Identify the resources required and their sources.
Based on points 1-4, analyze the achievability of the planned action. If necessary, adjust items 1-4.
Do it!
Believe in yourself!
Be proud of successful results!
We wish you success!