We all know how important it is to have a goal. We set the goals daily, weekly, monthly,… Sometimes, sadly, we fail. The problems might be on the way we achieve the goal. Or on the goal itself.
Then what does it take to be the right goal-setting?
Firstly, is the goal achievable to you, seriously?
It’s all about knowing yourself. Be realistic. There’s no limit for what you want, but there is for what you’re capable of, at a particular moment.
So what?
Figure out what you want and what you’re capable of. It’s kinda non-sense when you ask yourself or anyone else about your strengths and weaknesses without a specific context. So I think this flow might help you out:
- Start with “What do you want?”. The answer doesn’t need to be too detailed. Just a concept for you to call out its name and research more.
- Thus, “What does it require?”. You need to break down what you want into a list, a timeline, a map or a chart… or anything. As long as you understand more about what it takes to come to life and what forbids it.
- Self-reflection with all your honesty and bravery. Do you meet the requirements? Or can you improve well and soon enough to meet the requirements?
If the answer is “Uhm… no, I don’t know” or something like this, you probably should schedule what you want for later. I don’t mean to discourage anyone, but everything is at its best when the timing is right. When you’re not ready for something at the moment, put it back for another time. There’ve been many cases that people made the impossible happen. But we can not count on it to happen on our purpose.
Uncertainty is inevitable, no doubt. Even when you did research well, both unexpected risks and magics can happen, or not. You always can take time dealing with risks from the beginning to minimize their effect. While you have no idea about what to do with magics, except for waiting in vain for them.
It’s up to you. Choose your side.
Is the process manageable?
People often get in trouble maintaining the motivation to finish what they started, even elite ones with good abilities. When you don’t take a glance into the process from the beginning, it’s really hard to chase along the way. Two main reasons are
- You could easily get bored or get frustrated due to having no idea about how near (how far) you are to the goal.
- It’s hard to adapt to unexpected events. Especially everything you got is a big goal to achieve, but not an actionable ‘how’.
So what?
You don’t need to lower your goal (in case your goal is achievable to you). You need to make it manageable by breaking down your goal into smaller milestones aligned to a particular time slot. Then put them into your schedule: monthly, weekly, even daily.
Think big, but don’t forget to do small. Looking at a big picture with smaller milestones gives you a clearer vision of how to adapt to the unexpected. Because you know exactly what milestone is affected by the unexpected. And changing something small is way easier than the big one. Additionally, getting small things done consistently gives you the encouragement of achieving regularly, which helps you maintain your motivation.
Is there any other way to achieve?
We all know how unpredictable the future is. Even when you’re good at drawing the journey, you still could fail on exactly the one you have drawn. If the problem is not on the destination but the journey, you would be so thankful cause the right destination provides you one more chance. And it worths one more try.
So what?
At first, don’t frame the goal too specifically by sticking it to one particular event/person. And make sure there are some more alternative ways.
For example: If you set your goal is to be the champion of the case competition (named X). The one and the only way to achieve is to join and to beat all other candidates. No other way, right? That means if you can’t be the champion, you fail your goal. Consequently, the depression of failure will not be nice to you.
Instead, if your goal is to get recognition on your the problem-solving skill in the real-business scenario, X is one of these ‘how’s. That means if you do not succeed at X, you give your goal some more try. Another competition, or applying for a position in a real business, publishing a research paper on real events,…
You deserve healthy motivation while achieving the goal. Not unnecessary pressure of doing exactly in only one framed way.
Goal-setting is the key to a purposeful life. It worths more effort than just a concept in your mind. Make it yours. Map the process. And plan for the alternative.
Then don’t forget to make it come to life with resilience, patience, and consistency.
Wish you best luck with all your endeavors!
