Continuous Learning Journal

Sunday, January 15, 2023

Achievement - Setting Goals

    It's not too late to set your goals for this year!

*Audible groans*

The Problem

    Alright I get it.  Setting goals is not the most exciting activity you can complete.  It can be mind numbing work and half of the things you write down are not achieved anyway so why bother to do it at all!?  I was once very much against setting goals and having the new year new me tribal mindset.  I thought that the process of setting goals, sticking with them for 2 weeks, and then never looking at them again for the rest of the year was for wannabes.  Too many times I have been around people that would say things like, "my only goal this year is to be happy" or "this year things are going to be different", yet I never saw these people truly improve their lives in any significant way.  Why would anyone set goals with results like that all around them as constant reminders of the (allegedly) ineffective pursuit?  

The Truth

    Over the years my resilience was worn down and I finally gave in and started setting goals.  At first, just as I expected, I ended setting the goals, pursuing them for about 2 to 4 weeks, and gave up or forgot about them.  In fact, it wasn't until about my third year of setting goals that I started to notice I was pursuing them with a little more rigor.  What changed?  Well, let me tell you.  I believe, just like in all things, that the more time and effort you put into a skill, the better you become at using that skillset.  I started setting goals and slowly over the years I started to read about setting goals, how to set better goals, how to develop systems that help to achieve goals you set and the list goes on.  I spent more time working through these tangent activities that are all related to setting goals and I got better at it!  It turns out that there are more to goals than the goals themselves.  There are a couple different skill sets involved with setting and achieving them.  To name a few there is vision, organization, critical thinking, communication, task management, prioritization and self motivation.  What a list!  I will not be covering all of those skills in this post but I will show you how I personally set goals and maybe it will help you achieve yours.

The Process

    My process has been refined over the years but here is a quick checklist of how I set my 2023 goals.

        [ ] I review company and departmental goals
        [ ] I review my goals from previous years
        [ ] I look at the trends in my project work (10,000 ft. view)
        [ ] I list skills I might need to acquire to help me achieve success
        [ ] I write down things that bother me about my current state
        [ ] I consider CONSTRUCTIVE criticism or feedback others have provided
        [ ] I write a draft of my goals
        [ ] I finalize my goals
        [ ] I create action items each month to push me towards my goals
    Here is a look at my goals for this year:


    If you are wondering what program I used to create these, it is a free tool from Microsoft called OneNote.  I personally love this tool for taking notes and keeping track of projects and I would highly recommend it.  It is like using Word but with "tabs" similar to Excel but on the sides of the application rather than the bottoms of the sheets.

    You will notice something almost immediately.  THESE GOALS ARE NOT EASILY ACHIEVABLE!  These goals are also pretty generic in nature almost akin to "gut feelings".  These are areas in my work life that I strongly feel I need gain a handle on but, and here is the key part, I do not know how to handle yet.  You see, addressing these goals this year will require me to GROW myself so that I can ensure my success in completing them.  That is the beauty of setting goals.  Goals do not need to be achieved, it is the pursuit of achieving them that makes you better so that someday you might be able to achieve them.

WHAT!?!?

    "So what you are saying is all this time that I have spent writing down goals and not achieving them, I was not supposed to not actually achieve them anyway?"  Well yes, but no.  You should set goals that stretch and challenge you so that you are forced to change in small incremental ways.  Goals are simply a "compass" that directs you towards north.  You can travel East or West or even South but if where you want to go is North you should follow your compass.  So what are my goals saying about me right now?  If I break down each one it becomes obvious that
  1. I am struggling to focus on key tasks critical to my primary role responsibilities and that I need to invest in my team so they can take on tasks that I no longer have time for.
  2. I need to develop a plan or trajectory  for my team so that not only do I have a compass, but my entire team has one as well!
  3. That I believe my team can play well with others and that I should encourage it to better meet organization goals.
  4. That I want to fix big problems that will help everyone else achieve more.  See a previous post of mine to better understand my motivation with this goal: Leadership - How to become a Leader
  5. I feel that I have more to offer my team and those around me and I want to make it a priority to invest my valuable time in others to help them grow.
So I essentially I did a gut check, put into words what I felt and my list was born.  I like to add a little flair to my goals as well.  I will add inspirational quotes from books I've read, thoughts I've had that mean something to me and also quotes from my leadership team.  Why do this?  Because it inspires me to reach for these goals each time I read them.  These are quotes and descriptions that draw me in and that stir my emotions in a way that makes me want to get stuff done!  It reminds me that the journey is worth the pursuit.

The Call to Action

    Writing goals is an important part of achievement and leadership.  I would encourage anyone reading this blog to take the time and set goals.  Setting goals is the important first step to realizing you want a little more out of life.  Acknowledge that there is a gap between where you are today and where you want to be in the future and take that first step towards conquering the unknown!

For an interesting article I stumbled across on goal setting while doing a homework assignment check this out 7 Tips for Setting More Effective Goals

For those of you that have stuck around this long, start writing those goals down and be ready because I will be posting on this topic again in the near future.  Look for: Achievement - Making Goals Actionable

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