Goal Setting

Goal setting is important in life, and certainly important as a tool for success in work. What is goal setting? How do you set goals? Is it really necessary? What if your goals change over time?

First, yes, goal setting is necessary. Someone once said, "Failure to plan is a plan to fail." Goal setting goes along with planning. Goals act as guideposts and milestones as you move toward accomplishing your plans. When you reach goals that you’ve set, you know that you are making headway. You will get a sense of satisfaction and you are compelled to continue. Goals related to work might be the kind you set in order to get a project completed or the kind you see when you are working towards a new or better career. They can help as you work toward being completely independent of working for anyone but yourself, if that’s what you have in mind.

What is goal setting? It's the act of deciding where you are going, and then setting up the path to get from where you are to where you want to be. On that path, you will reach milestones that indicate how far you've come. The milestones are goals. For example, you want to become a full time freelance writer. Right now, today, you are working a regular full time day job, and writing short stories after work for a couple magazines. You're on the path. You can set up some goals to reach that will keep you moving forward. For example, your first goal may be to be doing enough writing that you are able to cut your hours at the day job to half. So to do that, you need to pick up a few more writing gigs. That's a goal. Once that goal is reached, your next one might be to pick up enough more freelance work that you can just quit the day job. That's the final goal. This is simplified, but you get the idea.

How do you know what goals to set? Well, that takes some thought. You probably need a well-defined end in mind - your final goal. Then you need to look at where you are and what it will take to move to the spot you want to be in. What steps will you need to take? Each step accomplished is a goal met. Make yourself a diagram on a sheet of paper and map it out.

What if you get halfway there and you change your mind? To some people this is an awful situation to be in! It's impossible to know with 100% certainty at the outset of any long-term project that you won't want to change directions mid-stream. Carefully plan, and start working towards your dreams. If you change your mind, remember that you can learn from everything you've done and that each experience is valuable if you use it to your advantage. If you find yourself feeling not so dedicated to the path you're on, adjust your course, make new goals and get going!