Question without notice: What and why are you trying to accomplish in your life? Just think about it for a moment. What and why. This is a really key question for all of us. The first step in achieving an ambition is establishing what the ambition is and also understanding why you want to achieve it. Often we know what we want to achieve (like get better grades - especially in Math - or lose some weight) but we don't have the right reason to back it up. So, what is your goal and why do you want to achieve it?
At the next stage of goal setting we must ask ourselves not how are we going to achieve the goal but who do we need to become in order to achieve it? What specifically are the actions and mindset required to make the goal a reality? How does someone who has already achieved what we want to achieve act and behave? What values do they have? Are you being realistic in how you are going to achieve the goal you have set or will you just fumble through life hoping that by some happy accident all your dreams will come true?
Let's look at this another way. If you take no action each day how will your goal be achieved? If you don't take any steps to improve yourself, how will your goal be achieved? Can you goal happen by you continuing exactly the way you are? If not, what are you going to do about it? What improvements do you need to make?
As people, we love to focus on events - not the process. What do I mean by that? Well, we love to step on the scales and see that we are four pounds lighter than we were last week - we don't love the training and the dieting! Do we? We love to watch and experience the Super Bowl, we don't love to watch the hours of practise and drills the players go through to perfect their on-field systems which allows them to make it to the big game. We love events - not processes.
This is exactly what happens in our studies. Most students have a dream of that going to College or University, or having a great career one day or of starting their own business, but the process of actually getting to that level of education is often long and painful. All of the homework, the tests, the exams and the assignments required to get good grades can really break the back of even a student with the best intentions!
Passing school is hard and getting good grades is even harder. But the rewards (i.e. events) along the way, such as getting a positive report card, serve to reinforce the desire and attitude required to go through the process to see the ultimate event happen. It's survival of the fittest. When events don't happen, or the event seems too far away and out of each, the process becomes too much to handle.
So what does this mean to us in terms of goal setting and goal achievement? Given that we now know that we don't like processes and we do like events, it makes a lot of sense that we may enjoy setting goals such as "I want an A average in all of my subjects" but we don't like doing the hard work to make sure that the goals actually happen. The process is hard and can be boring and tedious. We want the event (A average for every subject) not the hard work!
So, when you set a goal you need to consider the process of how this goal is going to come about. If you decide that you want to get an A+ in Maths (and by the way rule number one of goal setting is to make the goal specific not airy fairy like "I want to improve in Math") then what you really need to ask yourself is "Who do I need to become to achieve an A+ in Maths? What actions do I need to take on a daily basis to achieve an A+ in Maths?"
Goals don't just happen. They are clearly defined and then deliberately worked towards. You create an event (an A+ in Maths) and then you have to go through the process to get there. Focus on the process and the event will happen. Focus on the event (like everyone wants to) and nothing will happen. The choice is yours!
At the next stage of goal setting we must ask ourselves not how are we going to achieve the goal but who do we need to become in order to achieve it? What specifically are the actions and mindset required to make the goal a reality? How does someone who has already achieved what we want to achieve act and behave? What values do they have? Are you being realistic in how you are going to achieve the goal you have set or will you just fumble through life hoping that by some happy accident all your dreams will come true?
Let's look at this another way. If you take no action each day how will your goal be achieved? If you don't take any steps to improve yourself, how will your goal be achieved? Can you goal happen by you continuing exactly the way you are? If not, what are you going to do about it? What improvements do you need to make?
As people, we love to focus on events - not the process. What do I mean by that? Well, we love to step on the scales and see that we are four pounds lighter than we were last week - we don't love the training and the dieting! Do we? We love to watch and experience the Super Bowl, we don't love to watch the hours of practise and drills the players go through to perfect their on-field systems which allows them to make it to the big game. We love events - not processes.
This is exactly what happens in our studies. Most students have a dream of that going to College or University, or having a great career one day or of starting their own business, but the process of actually getting to that level of education is often long and painful. All of the homework, the tests, the exams and the assignments required to get good grades can really break the back of even a student with the best intentions!
Passing school is hard and getting good grades is even harder. But the rewards (i.e. events) along the way, such as getting a positive report card, serve to reinforce the desire and attitude required to go through the process to see the ultimate event happen. It's survival of the fittest. When events don't happen, or the event seems too far away and out of each, the process becomes too much to handle.
So what does this mean to us in terms of goal setting and goal achievement? Given that we now know that we don't like processes and we do like events, it makes a lot of sense that we may enjoy setting goals such as "I want an A average in all of my subjects" but we don't like doing the hard work to make sure that the goals actually happen. The process is hard and can be boring and tedious. We want the event (A average for every subject) not the hard work!
So, when you set a goal you need to consider the process of how this goal is going to come about. If you decide that you want to get an A+ in Maths (and by the way rule number one of goal setting is to make the goal specific not airy fairy like "I want to improve in Math") then what you really need to ask yourself is "Who do I need to become to achieve an A+ in Maths? What actions do I need to take on a daily basis to achieve an A+ in Maths?"
Goals don't just happen. They are clearly defined and then deliberately worked towards. You create an event (an A+ in Maths) and then you have to go through the process to get there. Focus on the process and the event will happen. Focus on the event (like everyone wants to) and nothing will happen. The choice is yours!
About the Author:
HelpMeToStudy.org is the number one resource for learning new study skills, transforming your study habits and finding the best study tips available. We will help you change the way you think about study - and even better - we will show you how to study effectively: How To Study Effectively | How To Set Goals
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