Goal setting strategies
New Year's resolutions get a certain amount of bad press these days, complete with statistics on how few people ever keep their resolutions. This has led to advice to set goals rather than make resolutions. Here are a few tips on goal setting from a few well-known - and successful - goal setters:
Richard Branson, billionaire and founder of the Virgin Group advises writing your goals down. He claims the simple act of writing them down will help you stick to them. He says he has always made lists of things he wants to achieve because it helps him make sense of his ideas and track his progress. It doesn't matter if you use pen and paper or your cell phone to jot down your ideas. Branson also says it's a good idea to set both short-term and long-term goals so you can feel a sense of accomplishment along the way.
According to Tony Robbins, business and life coach, those who stick to their resolutions have clarity of purpose and a plan. Your WHY is extremely important - those who stick to their resolutions have an understanding of why they're doing what they're doing. There has to be a larger motivating drive underpinning the goal. Once you understand what that is, the next step is to create a strategy and identify tools that will help you accomplish your goal. Simply put, you need a plan. Robbins says no matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn't trying.
Vishen Lakhiani, founder and CEO of Mindvalley, a leading personal development company, has distinguished between 'means goals' and 'end goals':
Means goals don't stand alone, but are usually stepping-stones to something else. There is usually a 'so' in them. For example, get good grades so you can get into a good university, so you can get a good job, so you can make lots of money, so you afford a nice house, car and so on. Means goals are often about doing things you 'should' do, or are expected to do by your family, community, and so on. Vishen gives the examples of thinking you should get a university degree to have a fulfilling job, or that you should get married to have love in your life. It's quite different to restate this as wanting to be in a loving relationship, and to have consistent opportunities to learn and grow.
End goals are described as being about following your heart. Time flies when you're pursuing them. You may work hard toward these goals, but you feel it's worth it. When you're working on an end goal, it doesn't feel like 'work'. Working on an end goal recharges you, it doesn't drain you. End goals are often feelings, for example to feel happy. Vishen has found that end goals fall into three different buckets. The first is experience. We're here to experience all the world has to offer - not money, not objects, but experiences. The second is growth. Growth makes life an endless journey of discovery. The third is contribution. It is what we give back based on our experience and growth. Goals based on these three areas can be lifelong goals, or, for the New Year, you could think in terms of a one year time period.
