How To Set A Goal

Once again, this sounds like a silly title. What could be so difficult about setting a goal? Surely the challenging part is achieving it.

Aha. Firstly, setting a proper goal is a trickier process than it seems. Secondly, setting a proper goal is very important because a properly-set goal will automatically become much easier to achieve.

The key is clarity. You need to be very clear when you set a goal. The clearer your goal is, the more achievable it will be. Because you will know exactly what you need to do next, to bring you closer to your goal. No shooting in the dark, no beating around the bushes, no getting lost in the woods.

Setting a clear goal can be a fine art, as I will illustrate.

In my previous post, many readers listed their goals. But few defined their goals in an optimal way. Many of their so-called goals were in fact wishes, hopes, daydreams, personal philosophies or statements of principle. All of which do have their value. But they're not goals.

Let's take Henry Leong's comment as an example. He wrote: "Good health, sufficient money, good spouse & a happy family."

All of these are worthy aspirations. But none of these have been crystallised into clear, concrete objectives. None of these are goals. A goal is a goal, only when you can identify at least some concrete steps that you can take, to get there. And a goal is a goal, only if you will actually know it, when you get there.

But take "sufficient money", for instance. How much is sufficient? $10,000? $100,000? $1,000,000? More? What must the money be sufficient for, exactly? And by when?

In all likelihood, Henry hasn't thought these questions through (most people haven't). But if Henry hasn't thought them through, then his goal will be very difficult to achieve. He will just be shooting in the dark. Unfortunately, a goal like "have sufficient money" is not helpful in helping Henry find out how much he should save each month; how much he should invest; and in what; how he can reduce his expenditure, and by how much; and so on.

And because Henry doesn't have a clear idea of what he needs to do, he will probably end up doing nothing very much at all.

"Good health" is also too vague to be effective. As you go about your daily life, remembering that your goal is "good health" will have some beneficial effects. It may occasionally remind you to do or not do certain health-related things, like avoid that second helping of sweet dessert. But a goal like "good health" really isn't specific enough to significantly redirect your everyday behaviour into health-enhancing directions.

The more specific you are in defining your health goals, the better. Watch how we can progressively get more and more specific with defining a health goal.

1. "My goal is good health". [Too vague]

2. "My goal is to exercise regularly." [Better, but still vague. How regular is regular?]

3. "Exercise three times a week." [An improvement, but how will you exercise? And for how long?]

4. "Jog for at least 20 minutes, three times a week." [Very good].

5. "Jog for at least 20 minutes, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening." [Even better].

From a vague, fairly useless statement "My goal is good health", we have reached a much more concrete, definite position. We have taken an ambigious aspiration and converted into a specific thing to be done, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening.

Now Henry will remember that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he should leave his office punctually so that he can get home before it's late. When he gets home, he'll remember that today is not a day when he can just plonk himself on the sofa and watch TV. No, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he needs to put on his running shoes and go jogging. Furthermore he will remember to wear his stopwatch and check that he jogs for at least 20 minutes before he stops.

Because Henry now has a much clearer idea of what he wants to do to get "good health", he's actually going to be able to do it.

Some goals are much less definable in concrete terms, than others. Take "happy family", for instance. You know who your "family" is, but you can't measure happiness the same way that you could measure the distance that you jog, or the time that you take to jog that distance. Nevertheless, it will still be possible, and it is very important, to devise some metrics, around a goal like "happy family". The metrics are important, because in the end, you must be able to identify some concrete actions you're going to take.

For example, you may decide that "quality time" is important for "family happiness". So you may decide that every weekend, the family should spend at least half a day doing something together. Now you are in the position to make concrete weekly plans.

This weekend, for example, you may plan to take the kids to the zoo. Next weekend, you may plan to take them swimming. The following weekend, you may plan to take them to visit Auntie May and have a family dinner together. And so on. Do something, every weekend, for half a day.

And after a year, you'll look back and you'll probably realise that the family was indeed happy, and did regularly spend quality time together. Much more so than many other families, and much more so than if you had merely aspired to a "happy family", but never designed any real goals towards that.

So .... how many of you folks still think you have a goal?