Everything You Need to Know About Goal Setting

Not knowing how to set goals will waste years of your life whilst making you miserable in the process.

I’ve fallen into this trap many times. Setting goals, questioning if they’re ambitious enough, setting new ones, then to reflect at the end of the year that none of my 5 goals were achieved.

But after all that, I’m here to tell you goal setting does work. But only if you adhere to the proven fundamentals of goal setting which I’ve learned the hard way so you don’t have to.

Because as Peter Drucker said:

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

Hi guys, my name’s Lewis & I’ve just finished listening to every podcast/course I can about goal setting to outline the fundamentals for you right now.

1.) Only set 1 goal at a time

The more goals you set, the less likely you are achieve any of them. So don’t set 1 goal for each domain of your life (work, social, hobby) as we’re usually told. Just pick one.

As someone who’s set multiple goals at once in the past, trust me, just pick one. Because when everyone else is trying to juggle their 4 average goals, you’ll be racing ahead progressing on your 1 big goal.

Refuse almost everything. Do almost nothing. But the things you do, do them all the way.

• Derek Sivers

Which leads us into our next point:

2.) Set an aspiration, not a chore

When setting a goal you want to make it abstract. A good abstract goal will signify a desirable state you want to achieve in the future which is in contrast to the state you’re in right now. An abstract goal will also capture the WHY behind the action instead of just the HOW. It should feel worth the price tag and immediately pull you in the direction of action.

For example, “finding a job” is much better than  “applying for jobs”. The latter is a chore whereas the former is an aspiration. “Owning a house” trumps “securing a downpayment on a house.”

And here you can start to understand why we hate paying the delivery charge. The goal isn’t the means, its the end. We want the product we’re buying, we don’t want to have to pay the means in order to get it.

3.) Opt for medium challenge

If you’re like me you’ve likely questioned whether your goals are ambitious enough. And maybe in the past you’ve set goals that seemed almost impossible to achieve.

However, regardless of what society tells you about ambition, when it comes to goal setting, medium challenge level is optimal.

If the goal is too easy, you won’t bother. If it’s too hard, you’ll lose motivation.

But if the challenge level is between too hard and too easy and there are relatively minor consequences for action, then you’ll be more motivated to pursue the goal rather than procrastinate.

I realised this as a salesman in a leisure centre. We had monthly targets to hit and at the beginning of a month with huge targets our motivation decreased as a team. But on months with medium challenge level targets, our motivation skyrocketed. And when we hit the target by the 20th of the month, we continued working to overachieve.

4.) Set do vs don’t do goals

Our brains are geared towards action, so don’t instruct it to “not do” something.

Change goals like:

Quit smoking.

Stop watching porn.

Stop arguing with the Mrs.

For:

Become mentally healthier.

Train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu every Tuesday for 90 minutes.

Buy my girlfriend 1 gift per week on anyway of the week.

5.) Make it specific and measurable:

Although abstract goals are best, beware of making them too vague. As mentioned, a good goal will pull you towards the necessary action needed to be taken.

So you should specify how much and how often you’ll perform the actions for the goal.

For example:

“Be mentally healthier” is more specific than “be morally pure”.

Two corresponding actions for the goal “be mentally healthier” could be;

• Exercise in my garden for 30 minutes a day everyday of the week
• Replace technology use for reading in my bedroom 1 hour before bed each day

6.) Don’t incentivise the wrong thing

During the time of British colonialism in India, there was an infestation of cobras on the streets of Delhi. So, to tackle this problem the British government incentivised the killing of cobras with a financial reward. But soon the locals of Delhi started to breed cobras to kill them and then turn them in to the government for a days pay.

The British ended up with less money and more cobras on their hands because they’d incentivised the wrong thing.

So, if your goal is to get promoted at work, don’t reward yourself for the time you’ve spent at your desk. Occasionally, reward yourself for the quality of work you produce.

Lastly, once you’ve set your goal ask yourself the question: did I set this target or has someone else set this target for me?

Because if someone else has set it for you, you are extrinsically motivated which isn’t within your interests. An extrinsically motivated person is at the perils of rewards from other people.

An intrinsically motivated person, however, works for the love of the task. And not because they’re waiting for a pay-off they have no control over.

7.) Write your goal down by hand not by typing

As Andrew Huberman highlights, writing down our goals stimulates the neural circuitry in the brain which is geared towards action.

And a life hack here: get a whiteboard.

8.) Visualisation motivation hack

Once you start progressing towards your goal, you’ll have days of high motivation and low motivation. This is normal.

On the days where you wake up and you want to work towards your goal; visualise success.

On the days where you wake up and you don’t want to work towards your goal; visualise the consequences of inaction and failure.

9.) Don’t consider success, ponder this instead

You might think this last part is counter intuitive.

But studies show that you are more likely to achieve your goal if you have initially considered most of the potential obstacles which could get in your way because this sparks your ability to strategise a plan for achievement.

So, once you’ve set your goal ask yourself this one question: “what is the one action I would have to do or not do to guarantee not achieving this goal?”.

And then, whatever is the opposite of that action is becomes your North Star of focus.

Before we end, here are 3 quick DON’TS of goal setting:

1.) Don’t tell others about your goal

2.) Don’t have accountability partners

3.) Don’t stick post it notes on the wall (because we become desensitised to whatever is normal in our environment)

Thank you for your time and attention. I wish you all the best in your goal striving endeavours, and as always, I will be routing from afar.