Yada! That’s about as far as I get when I read about someone else’s theory on setting goals.
Personally, setting goals has been great for me and when people ask me what my goals are I often tell them that I have none. It isn’t quite true, I did have a lot but achieved most of them and the remaining few are more long term goals that are on track and mostly auto pilot. Does that make me lazy? There is a system of setting goals that works. It works every time. It has never failed me. It is simple and anyone can operate it. It is not a secret. If you want to know, I will tell you for free but you need to ask for it. There is a good reason for that condition!
I would like to tell you a story about a student of mine that I had set some tasks for in relation to a Diploma of Business she was completing. The module was concerning professional development and her task was to produce a list of items that could be added to a personalised professional development program and them pick the top 3 and turn them into goals, time frame and track them etc. The student was absolutely brilliant at most tasks and the standard of her submissions was amazing however after a week or so of being overdue on this specific task, she confessed that she had no idea where to start with the list. Since the list itself was not assessable I thought I might offer a few suggestions of how to formulate it. This is what I came up with.
Step 1. Make a list of everything you might want to do professionally, even if it is only a whim or a fantasy, even if it is way outside of your current capability. Don’t stop until you have 20 or 30 items on the list. This was easy when you don’t have to confine yourself with reality nor even need a base in your own current skills & experience.
Step 2. separate the list into 2 lists, transfer each item onto 1 of 2 bits of paper, the first headed Realistic, and the second titles Too Hard. Put the things that are easy and within your grasp on the the realistic list, even if they are just a bit outside of your league right now. The list, the Too Hard list, transfer the items that you really would like to do but are too afraid, have no idea where to start or are way, way out of your skills and experience.
Step 3. Neatly fold the Realistic list into halves and put it in the bin. The Too Hard list, cross out Too Hard and write “I really Really want to do this” as the title.
Well, it worked a treat. The end result of the assessment was outstanding and exceeded the student’s and my expectations by far.
Then I decided to take my own advice!
I found out that I wanted to go to Japan for a couple of years and teach English amongst a few other things that I had no idea that I really really wanted to do.
Try it! You might surprise yourself. I did.