I've read a lot recently about how setting goals are out and systems/habits are in.
For centuries, goals have helped millions on their way to success and now all of the sudden they don't work anymore? What gives?
I understand there are always better ways of doing things, but this seemed extreme. Either way, I'd love to hear some discussion on your goal-setting system. Or if you even set goals at all. Why or why not? What works?
Goal is not just about doing things in better way than before. First of all you must answer a question. Close your eyes and imagine that you are a 100 year old person lying in hospital bed and going to die in a 60 seconds. Now at that time what makes your mind think that "I can die in peace now"? I mean what you achieved that gave you that much peace? Is it being the richest person in the world? Is it that you established the largest company in the world? Or you just invented a time machine? Or you just removed all the poverty from the world? May be you are a president of your country now. So we become what we imagine most of the time in our life.
Secondly, you need to decide what are you expert in doing? In which field you can make change? When you know answer to all these questions then you will know your goal.
It doesn't matter what you do in your daily life. But if it is done to achieve that goal then it counts. Even if its just doing nothing just thinking for hours about strategies to achieve that goal in a quiet place. Meditation really helped me in stabilizing my mind about my goals. You should try it too. And remember, never lose hope. "Hopelessness" is the only greatest enemy of success.
Without goals, nothing gets done. Ever. You need to find the best solution that works for you. For some, it's writing things on paper. For others, it's using whiteboards or apps. You may have to go through some trial and error first.
First figure out the correct "metrics". These are the things (tasks, results, drivers of results etc.) that you will be measuring and creating goals for.
Example: Having a "goal" of increasing revenue, when margin or number of clients may be more important, is a waste of time.
So first determine what you need goals for. Then prioritize these. You won;t be able to focus on everything as you get started, so make sure you focus on the most important things.
Second. Determine target goals for each metric. Targets should be something you think you can accomplish with 60-70% confidence (or probability). Targets should stretch you, but be realistically obtainable if you perform well.
Next determine the acceptable or possible Goal Best Case, Worst case and "expected case" (what you feel in your gut) scenarios for each metric. Make sure you understand the high level ramifications of each.
Next. Determine what will drive you to reach each goal. Determine who will need to be involved. Determine the cost (and the associated ROI) for each.
Then get to work.
There is a ton more to say about this, but this should get you started.
You will read a lot about SMART goals. Here' my article on DUMB goals. http://performensation.com/the-best-performance-goals-are-d-u-m-b/
You can contact me through Clarity if you want to discuss this further.
