Finance TipsHow to set goals... |
And stick to them.
Gareth Cotten decided to become a Moneyweb blogger because he felt Moneyweb was the best place to entrench himself in the financial/professional sphere, instead of approaching some of the other, broader, blog and news forums. He wanted to make a difference and help floundering individuals and business with lessons he had picked up over time.
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CAPE TOWN - For most of us, we've been back at work and in the normal swing for over a week or two. The manic rush to catch up on old admin and adjust our clocks (and minds) back to working mode is pretty much over; and now it's the time when many people start working out what exactly it is that they want to achieve this year. It's all good and well setting yourself some lofty goals and targets, but are they sufficiently clear? And do you know how you're going to go about approaching them?
There is a definite science to setting (and achieving) goals, and hopefully this article will help you to set good, solid ones, as well as help you lay out your "plan of attack". These general principles apply to whatever area of your life your goal/s may be in...
To increase your chances of reaching your goals, they need to be specific, and well thought out. Saying to yourself "I'm going to lose weight" or "I want to save more for retirement" - while noble ambitions - is not going to cut it. They're too vague, and it's far too easy to lose track or get overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. I'm sure you've read or heard about SMART goals, but I'm going to be using a slightly different variant - SMERTIE. Good goals have the following attributes:
Specific: Your goals need to be highly specific. Don't use vague terms to describe them - use clinical and unambiguous language. Instead of "I want to lose weight", "I want to save more", or "I want more free time", use "I want to lose 10kgs", "I want to put away R50 000", or "I want an hour a day to myself, to read in my study".
Measurable: Make sure that you can measure and track your progress. Use any metric that applies - weight in kilograms, Rand amounts, time in hours - and attach it to the goal. If you can't measure it, you can't keep track of your progress, so re-word it until it's in a measurable form. This also helps with breaking the goal down into steps or milestones (which we'll see later).
Evidence: You must be able to provide evidence that you've achieved it. This applies especially to those goals which are a bit more esoteric - "I want to be happier" or "I want more love in my life". With these two examples, you could change them to be "I want to laugh at least ten times a day" or "I want to spend an extra five hours a week with people I love". Do you see how they've changed from something vague into something that you could show/prove to yourself or others?
Responsibility: If you're wanting others to achieve your goal for you, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Make sure that your goals are phrased in a way that make you, and only you, responsible for them. So replace "I want to be given more free time" with "I will make more free time for myself"; or "I want my staff to respect me more" with "I will spend two hours per week engaging my staff one-on-one to find out what they enjoy and don't enjoy about working here".
Time-based: This is a biggie. If you haven't set a time limit or constraint on your goal, it's just a wish. Without an end-date in mind, it's too easy to simply delay and procrastinate, and in a year's time you'll be in exactly the same boat you are now. Ever thought about how you suddenly find an extra gear when you're under time pressure to get an assignment or project done? How much more efficiently and effectively you work? That's your subconscious kicking in, helping you find ways to get the task at hand done. Harness that power, and change "I want to smoke less" to "I want to only be smoking one cigarette a day by 30 June 2010", or "I want save for a holiday" to "I want to have R30 000 in a holiday account by 30 November 2010".
Inspired: This is one of the differences from the SMART system of goal-setting. To corral all of your senses and focus into working towards a goal, it has be one that inspires you. Gunning for some wishy-washy goal that you heard one of your colleagues mention at the water cooler, or something that your spouse or parents wish for you, is going to end in failure if it means nothing to you. It must be something that would change your life; something that you'd go to the end of the earth for; something that puts a spark in your eye just thinking about it. Visualise yourself achieving it (down to the finest detail), and if your heart is pounding a little faster, and you've got a silly grin on your face, then it's inspiring. Personally, I have a goal to be a rand millionaire (defined by net worth) at age 27, which means by the 17th of January 2012. Whenever I think about it, it gives me an immediate boost, which is often what gets me through working late nights and sometimes long hours.
Emotions: This is tied quite closely to being inspiring, but is slightly different. Imagine your reaction when you achieve your goal - will you simply acknowledge it with a small nod, or will you have a huge smile on your face, high-fiving everyone around you? Make sure that there are emotions tied into the achievement of your goal. If you start falling behind, recognise that feeling of disappointment for what it is, and work twice as hard to get back on track; or use that feeling of elation when you pass a significant milestone, and build it into the momentum of you getting there...
Right, so now you've defined your goal. It's clear, you know exactly where you want to be, but how do you get there? All of a sudden, the amount of work and commitment it's going to take hits you like a ton of bricks, and you feel immediately deflated. Sound familiar? The biggest trick is do the next step, and break it down into smaller, more easily achievable goals - these are your milestones. This way, even though you've got the end-goal in mind, you're never really staring it directly in the face, and it can't intimidate you. You're only looking as far ahead as the next milestone, and that seems a whole lot more realistic. It's a bit like a runner going up a hill: if they look at the top of the hill, and at all the road between it and them, they naturally start to lose steam, and are beaten before they've even started. If they're smart, though, they'll keep looking just a few paces ahead - this way, they've got their head up, they can see where they're going, and they're not allowing the size of the task ahead to play on their minds.
So how do you set milestones? Pretty much along the same lines as setting the big goal, with a bit of logical pacing injected into the mix. Get a clear picture of where you are now, and what the end goal is, and break down the difference into five or six relatively equal steps. Clarify what each of these points involves, and put a time limit or date on them. To see if you're doing it correctly, ask yourself this question: If I were to achieve all of the milestones, would I automatically proceed to achieve the goal? If the answer is yes, you've got them set out properly; if no, then go back and review them. The idea behind milestones is to use the smaller victories to build up your momentum, until such a point that you're an unstoppable force, and your goal is achieved almost automatically!
If you're having trouble setting milestones for a goal that's quite multi-faceted (say, starting a new business), try this: Picture yourself having achieved your goal, and then cast your mind ‘back' as to what would have been your major stepping stones and achievements along the way - these are a great guideline to use for setting milestones.
The final step (yes, there's one more!) is to get going, in whatever way that may be. Brainstorm your action steps - these are the actions and things that you can do to get you moving towards each milestone. You may only be able to come up with a couple now, but write them down between your milestones; and when you come up with some more in the future, make sure to put them down as well. This way, you don't ever sit and twiddle your thumbs - you always know exactly what needs to be done at every point in the process, and all you have to do is ‘follow orders'. Make sure you put down a couple that you can do right now (yes, as soon as you finish reading this!) However small the actions may be (looking something up on Google, making a phone call to someone in the know) they will get the ball rolling, and be the beginning of a fantastic, inspiring journey for you...
A side note: Make sure that you write them (goals, milestones, action steps, the lot) down, and stick them up somewhere you'll see them every day. The sheer action of writing them down commits you that much more to the process, and stimulates your brain into thinking about how to achieve them. Reading them every day keeps you focused, and means you have no excuse for losing momentum... Good luck!
*Gareth Cotten is a young serial entrepreneur who eats, sleeps and drinks business, entrepreneurship and innovation. When not advising others on their businesses or personal development, or working on his own enterprises, you'll find him on the beach, staring at the waves and talking to himself. For more info, go to www.goodadvice.co.za
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