Goal setting is useful but hard. It’s a tool to help you to get better, change, and progress.
But (un) surprisingly when you set a goal to lose weight, be more active, or read more books it doesn’t work.
why your goals suck
There are 2 main reasons for that:
you don’t know your why
you don’t know your done
know your why
You need to know why you want something. What are the specific benefits you are looking for at the end?
It’s like flying. Usually, you don’t say “For holidays I want to take a plane”.
Rather you say “I want to go to x destination!” and if the plane is the best way to do so, so be it.
When you realize your goal is only one of the means, suddenly a whole new world of opportunities appears where sky’s the limit.
Goal vs means example:
Initial goal: Read more books
True goal: Expand my knowledge on the subject of coaching
Means: Read books, listen to podcasts, attend workshops, get a coaching mentor etc
You get to pick your own adventure - yay!
know your done
At work, I love using the definition of done as the tool to not get stuck in the grey area of:
“I think it looks like done but doesn’t feel like it”
In order to achieve a goal you need to know what done looks like for you.
If you don’t define you will be stuck in the loop. You’ve done some work, and put in the effort but still can’t proudly say “I’m done”.
definition of done example:
True goal: Expand my knowledge on the subject of coaching
Chosen Means: Read books
Done: Read 5 top-rated books on a subject in 3 months and write 200 words summary on each
The extra advantage of getting detailed done is that’s so much easier to execute. It’s straightforward to create a plan, take the first step and figure out if you're on track.
Goals are tricky but define your why and done and you can go wherever you want.
Dear Agata
Thank you for sharing this post.
Humbly, could specifically identifying our intention at the outset, reveal when we are "done"?
With gratitude,
Rodrigo