How to Set Goals to Guarantee Success

  Affiliated COUNSELING AND REFERRAL SERVICES (ACRS)

 DR. Michael Shery, clinical psychology

  2615 Three Oaks Rd, Ste 2A,  Cary, IL 60013

 www.carypsychology.com  847 275 8236 (24 Hrs);  drmike@carypsychology.com

 Go to:  Store: Unique Psychological and Motivational Tools

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How to Set Goals to Guarantee Success

Whether this is your first experience with setting goals or you've been setting them all of your life, here are some helpful suggestions and ideas. Set your goals using an internet-based system. An internet-based system does a few things better than traditional paper-based systems, owing to the internet's power and flexibility.

Traditional goal-setting wisdom has taught us that a goal must be a) written, b) challenging, c) believable, d) specific, e) measureable, and f) have a specific deadline. Unfortunately, it's not too difficult to think of an example that directly challenges any of the above goal-setting criteria. For instance, the goal "to live a more spiritual life" may be a valuable, meaningful goal for many, but it's hardly measurable and assigning a deadline makes little sense for a permanent alteration of lifestyle.

This traditional checklist of things that "make a good goal" is largely a product of old technology: pen and paper. The old-school of goal-setting suggested that people write down goals on a small slip of paper and keep it in their wallet or purse. Suffice to say that slips of paper rapidly dissolve into lint. Today we have email.

So what makes a good goal? All of the above criteria are still good components of most goals. However, they are not necessarily all required when using the internet model. For our purposes, a good goal is one that is worthy of individual pursuit. And that is so highly subjective, far be it from us to define what is your worthy pursuit.

A different question is, "What makes a good Goalplan?" On this, our position is precise: A good Goalplan is one that when followed, offers a reasonably high probability of success, given sufficient time.

Let's take each of the traditional points one-at-a-time:

Must all goals be written?
It's important to record your goals, whether you use the internet model or physically write them down on paper. The problem with the paper method is that hand-written goals are difficult to update and manage, and of course, hand-written goals provide none of the additional features that are made possible by the Web.

You must believe that it is at least possible for you to achieve the goal or you will not be motivated to try. More importantly, it is you who must believe, not others (see what to do about naysayers). Also, just because you should believe that the goal is possible does not mean that you must expect it to be easy or even probable. Indeed, some argue that completion of only the most difficult goals will have enduring value to you. Similarly, some of history's greatest moments were the result of people attempting "the impossible," such as flying or putting a man on the moon.

We recommend setting at least one easy goal and at least one challenging one. You could have several of each but you should limit the number of challenging goals or tasks coming due at any one time to avoid becoming overwhelmed or frustrated. The easy goals build good habits of follow-through and reward you with quick gratification. The challenging goals force you to grow.  A mix of the two is ideal.

Must all goals be measurable and specific? 

Your goals should be measurable and specific enough for you to know unambiguously whether they have been completed yet or not. However, to save space on the computer screen, abbreviated goal titles such as "to reduce my stress" might be more convenient than titles such as "to reduce my stress by practicing yoga three nights a week and lowering my blood pressure by 10 points."

Instead, when using the internet, make your individual tasks measurable and specific as much as possible, even if the details must be written on paper.

Here's the big shocker: Goals no longer have to have a deadline! Technology has allowed us to expand the definition of what a goal can be to include: direction, commitment, or lifestyle enhancement as opposed to a mere end-point.

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The Miracle of "On-Going" Goals

There is a new type of goal called an "on-going" goal, that is sustained over time, managed, and tracked, but by design, never-ending. Why, for instance, would you want to end a goal, "to keep myself in excellent physical condition" or "to be an honest and trustworthy person"? Such goals should have no end-date, and now they don't have to. Using the internet to achieve "on-going" goals may sound revolutionary to long-time power goal-setters. It is revolutionary. We invite you to try it>
Set Goals Here!

Go to:  Store: Unique Psychological and Motivational Tools