Three ways to not fulfill the goals for 2015
Five years ago, an unpleasant pattern was observed in my life: I began to notice that the percentage of accomplishment of the “goals for the year” decreased from year to year, and finally reached a catastrophic mark in the region of 12%. At the same time, I absolutely had no feeling of a disastrous year, so I began to suspect that something was wrong. As a result, he experimented with goal setting for several years, simultaneously studying theory and discussing with GKh . As a result, I was able to formulate ways of setting goals that maximize the likelihood of their failure - and I want to share this knowledge with you.
Method 1. Set goals for results instead of process goals.
“Quitting smoking is very simple - you just need to stop getting a cigarette out of the pack and put it in your mouth” - whose quote I don’t remember, but the thought is correct.
')
Most of the goals that we set ourselves are somehow related to changing our behavior: stop smoking, start playing sports, stop sleeping at work and start spending more time with family and so on. Have you ever tried to quit smoking or lose weight by 10 kg? You were helped by the formulation of these goals and the promise to yourself “this time to keep them”? If so, then you are an iron man with a huge stock of willpower. I want to console the rest: it is known that willpower is a limited resource, the chance to draw only a large-scale task on it is minimal, so you need to act smarter.
Let's take a look at why the goal of “quit smoking” is bad. First, you incorrectly formulate the task! Quitting is quite simple, the real challenge is not to start again. I am not Mark Twain, but before reaching the result, I threw at least forty times, and did not smoke from several hours to six months - so I know what I'm talking about. Some may argue that there is no difference in the wording, in fact, it is all a play on words. No, no and NO! The wording is important! You break at the moments when your self-control is minimal, and you need to set a goal that will work out as well as possible at this very moment. Without the participation of the brain, without the participation of logic, the goal should stop you exactly at the moment when you bring the lighter to the cigarette . It is necessary to analyze where punctures occur in the movement to your strategic goal, and say to yourself in the goal “I will not shoot cigarettes at the bar”, “fight with myself if I have already taken a cigarette”, “do not sit in smoking zones”, and etc. Remember, the problem is that a person translates “strategic” goals into “tactical” goals, especially if he is tired, badly or drunk. Do this job for him! Set as a goal something that you can really do. Something where you have a moral choice between “good now, bad then” and “bad now and good then”, and you need help in this choice. A good goal can be such a help!
Another example. At six in the morning, your subconscious mind absolutely doesn’t care that your strategic task is to lose 10 kilos. Your goal should tell you: “I have to wake up on an alarm clock three times a week.” "I know that my body will be against, I need to be patient for 5 minutes, and this will pass." After you got up, put on your sneakers and went outside, it’s almost impossible not to run your kilometers.
These simple goals that need to be done regularly (every day, every week, every time parents or ex-wife call) I call the goals of the process . The goals are distant, beautifully looking in the plan, but not motivating at the moment (pass the Intermediate English, open your business, get a salary increase) - the goals of the result .
Major changes requiring internal break-down occur only through the process objectives. The goals of the result have the opposite effect - after the performance you relax, and it begins to seem to you that “I have already done something”. And this is a hoax. The more global and further the target, the easier it is to run a regular run (well, I'll make it up yet) or take a cigarette (today is a birthday, you can). Do not give yourself the opportunity to slip away from the goal, hiding behind its globality. Set process goals for tasks requiring internal changes!
In addition to all the above, the goals of the result have another drawback. If they are not executed, they demotivate. Imagine that you want to get +1 level to English, for example, from Intermediate to Upper Intermediate. And you set yourself a goal that is precisely formulated - “get Upper Intermediate”. If you have not fulfilled this goal in nine months, then the remaining three will not work for you for sure - because you know that it’s impossible to get a level in such a short time! Compare with the goal “three times a week to attend classes” - such a goal will be relevant even if you decide to return to it in December! Set goals for the process.
Method 2. Record goals for the New Year holidays
I assume that you already know that goals must be realistic. By this, it is usually understood that goals should not be too simple to be interesting to perform, but at the same time not to be too complicated - as a minimum criterion, you yourself must believe that you can achieve them.
However, there is a sure way to turn a realistic goal into an unrealistic one and not even notice it. To do this, you need to set yourself several goals, each of which will be realistic in itself, but to achieve them as a whole you need to be a superman or have a time flywheel, like Hermione Granger. I know a person who, being a rather busy person, set himself the goals for 2014: “spend more time with your family”, “get a promotion at work” and “learn Italian”.
Separately, these goals are quite realistic, but let's do a simple math problem. A person has 24 hours a day, of which 8 he sleeps (yes, I know that you sleep less, but it has been proven that eight hours of sleep increases overall productivity). There are 16 left. He spends another 9 hours at work, including breakfast and lunch, he spends two on the road, an hour to get ready for work in the morning, and another hour to eat, go to the toilet and brush his teeth. Three hours left , and this is at an ideal 8-hour working day, and we have not yet counted time for a family, chatting with friends and reading blogs before going to bed.
On the one hand, three hours per working day is 15 hours per week, not counting weekends. On the other hand, it’s three hours a day . To push in these unfortunate three hours “to work more”, “to be more with family” and “to study more” is an unrealistic task.
Keep these three hours in your head, and admit that you cannot do everything. Do your homework, calculate how much time a week you need for your goals - and cut off all unnecessary. It is a pity, but you are not omnipotent, additional hours will not take anywhere. It is better to fulfill one goal than not to fulfill three.
And most importantly - take into account the context. In Russia, people like to set goals for themselves during the New Year holidays, when you have rested, are full of determination and are eager to change something. Forced to upset: the person who comes from work on January 12 will be a little like a rested and full of strength you-now. Three hours of a rested person, full of energy, differ from three hours after work, in which the brain is already turned off, and the body asks for a bottle of beer, and not an Italian textbook. I know that this is a sad fact, but by admitting to yourself this, you will increase the chances of success.
I have convinced you that the goal should be set while being in the state of “as close to combat” as possible? However, there is also a problem here - in this state, the “fuse” for positive changes is extremely small. Therefore, to formulate goals is really better rested. But it’s realistic to evaluate yourself and set final goals for the year - already in reality. Therefore, I urge you - do not write off to write down your goals on January 9 and immediately upload them to Facebook, asking for likes. Let them rest, edit a few times during the first month - and then announce the final ones.
Method 3: Focus on fixing problems
Many goals are set out of guilt. It can manifest itself directly, for example, in the wording “I eat too much, I need to start eating for 1500 Kcal per day” or “It’s a shame to be a manager in a global corporation and not to know English, I need to learn”. However, it can also manifest itself in a more sophisticated way, through the prism of other people's desires - “My girl thinks I'm fat, you need to go in for sports regularly” or “I have already entered this institute, and I must complete the course”. All these formulations are united by one thing - they have no desire, only one need. If you had only two months to live, would you spend time on these goals?
Ideally, all goals should go from “want”, or at least most of them. It is very bad when all goals go from “must.” Interestingly, this is not only found in people with low self-esteem - often people perceive the goal setting mechanism as a tool to force oneself to do something that one does not want to do. That doesn't work! I repeat once again: achieving such goals is a matter of willpower, and setting goals is not an amulet, which magically increases this limit. You can work on this resource - read about this book “Willpower. How to develop and strengthen ” , but do not expect that simply setting a goal you will have a strong motivation to do something unpleasant.
Another common misconception, a variation of the previous one, is not to include goals that are pleasant to do, but to include only those that are unpleasant. This is bad for two reasons: firstly, you miss “pleasant” goals in assessing whether you have enough time for everything written. Secondly, you are depriving yourself of positive feedback by achieving success in “pleasing” goals, and focus on the negative when “unpleasant” is not performed. Do not divide yourself into "here" and "there", try to accept yourself entirely and to think integrally.
Well, in general, correct yourself - the task is rather bleak, it is much better to engage in improving yourself. I do not agitate now for a positive psychology and a banal rewriting of the phrase from “you need to stop drinking” to “I want to become sober”, all these manipulations do not work if you don’t believe them. However, if you find a large number of items on your list, aimed at eradicating, quitting or correcting something - most likely something is wrong. Just think: for the last several decades you have been working to become what you are - it is rather naive to hope that you can drastically change yourself in a year, especially if there are several such things. Therefore, if you have similar goals, try to limit yourself to one.
As a conclusion : one could write a dozen more “bad advice”, but it seems to me that it is time to stop. Perhaps something from the above seemed to you strange, illogical or caused the feeling "and I usually do not so." But if you read this post to the end, I suppose you yourself know that you have a problem with how you set goals. Maybe in 2015 it is worth trying to do it not “as usual”?
And of course - with the upcoming New Year and success in achievements!
Method 1. Set goals for results instead of process goals.
“Quitting smoking is very simple - you just need to stop getting a cigarette out of the pack and put it in your mouth” - whose quote I don’t remember, but the thought is correct.
')
Most of the goals that we set ourselves are somehow related to changing our behavior: stop smoking, start playing sports, stop sleeping at work and start spending more time with family and so on. Have you ever tried to quit smoking or lose weight by 10 kg? You were helped by the formulation of these goals and the promise to yourself “this time to keep them”? If so, then you are an iron man with a huge stock of willpower. I want to console the rest: it is known that willpower is a limited resource, the chance to draw only a large-scale task on it is minimal, so you need to act smarter.
Let's take a look at why the goal of “quit smoking” is bad. First, you incorrectly formulate the task! Quitting is quite simple, the real challenge is not to start again. I am not Mark Twain, but before reaching the result, I threw at least forty times, and did not smoke from several hours to six months - so I know what I'm talking about. Some may argue that there is no difference in the wording, in fact, it is all a play on words. No, no and NO! The wording is important! You break at the moments when your self-control is minimal, and you need to set a goal that will work out as well as possible at this very moment. Without the participation of the brain, without the participation of logic, the goal should stop you exactly at the moment when you bring the lighter to the cigarette . It is necessary to analyze where punctures occur in the movement to your strategic goal, and say to yourself in the goal “I will not shoot cigarettes at the bar”, “fight with myself if I have already taken a cigarette”, “do not sit in smoking zones”, and etc. Remember, the problem is that a person translates “strategic” goals into “tactical” goals, especially if he is tired, badly or drunk. Do this job for him! Set as a goal something that you can really do. Something where you have a moral choice between “good now, bad then” and “bad now and good then”, and you need help in this choice. A good goal can be such a help!
Another example. At six in the morning, your subconscious mind absolutely doesn’t care that your strategic task is to lose 10 kilos. Your goal should tell you: “I have to wake up on an alarm clock three times a week.” "I know that my body will be against, I need to be patient for 5 minutes, and this will pass." After you got up, put on your sneakers and went outside, it’s almost impossible not to run your kilometers.
These simple goals that need to be done regularly (every day, every week, every time parents or ex-wife call) I call the goals of the process . The goals are distant, beautifully looking in the plan, but not motivating at the moment (pass the Intermediate English, open your business, get a salary increase) - the goals of the result .
Major changes requiring internal break-down occur only through the process objectives. The goals of the result have the opposite effect - after the performance you relax, and it begins to seem to you that “I have already done something”. And this is a hoax. The more global and further the target, the easier it is to run a regular run (well, I'll make it up yet) or take a cigarette (today is a birthday, you can). Do not give yourself the opportunity to slip away from the goal, hiding behind its globality. Set process goals for tasks requiring internal changes!
In addition to all the above, the goals of the result have another drawback. If they are not executed, they demotivate. Imagine that you want to get +1 level to English, for example, from Intermediate to Upper Intermediate. And you set yourself a goal that is precisely formulated - “get Upper Intermediate”. If you have not fulfilled this goal in nine months, then the remaining three will not work for you for sure - because you know that it’s impossible to get a level in such a short time! Compare with the goal “three times a week to attend classes” - such a goal will be relevant even if you decide to return to it in December! Set goals for the process.
Method 2. Record goals for the New Year holidays
I assume that you already know that goals must be realistic. By this, it is usually understood that goals should not be too simple to be interesting to perform, but at the same time not to be too complicated - as a minimum criterion, you yourself must believe that you can achieve them.
However, there is a sure way to turn a realistic goal into an unrealistic one and not even notice it. To do this, you need to set yourself several goals, each of which will be realistic in itself, but to achieve them as a whole you need to be a superman or have a time flywheel, like Hermione Granger. I know a person who, being a rather busy person, set himself the goals for 2014: “spend more time with your family”, “get a promotion at work” and “learn Italian”.
Separately, these goals are quite realistic, but let's do a simple math problem. A person has 24 hours a day, of which 8 he sleeps (yes, I know that you sleep less, but it has been proven that eight hours of sleep increases overall productivity). There are 16 left. He spends another 9 hours at work, including breakfast and lunch, he spends two on the road, an hour to get ready for work in the morning, and another hour to eat, go to the toilet and brush his teeth. Three hours left , and this is at an ideal 8-hour working day, and we have not yet counted time for a family, chatting with friends and reading blogs before going to bed.
On the one hand, three hours per working day is 15 hours per week, not counting weekends. On the other hand, it’s three hours a day . To push in these unfortunate three hours “to work more”, “to be more with family” and “to study more” is an unrealistic task.
Keep these three hours in your head, and admit that you cannot do everything. Do your homework, calculate how much time a week you need for your goals - and cut off all unnecessary. It is a pity, but you are not omnipotent, additional hours will not take anywhere. It is better to fulfill one goal than not to fulfill three.
And most importantly - take into account the context. In Russia, people like to set goals for themselves during the New Year holidays, when you have rested, are full of determination and are eager to change something. Forced to upset: the person who comes from work on January 12 will be a little like a rested and full of strength you-now. Three hours of a rested person, full of energy, differ from three hours after work, in which the brain is already turned off, and the body asks for a bottle of beer, and not an Italian textbook. I know that this is a sad fact, but by admitting to yourself this, you will increase the chances of success.
I have convinced you that the goal should be set while being in the state of “as close to combat” as possible? However, there is also a problem here - in this state, the “fuse” for positive changes is extremely small. Therefore, to formulate goals is really better rested. But it’s realistic to evaluate yourself and set final goals for the year - already in reality. Therefore, I urge you - do not write off to write down your goals on January 9 and immediately upload them to Facebook, asking for likes. Let them rest, edit a few times during the first month - and then announce the final ones.
Method 3: Focus on fixing problems
Many goals are set out of guilt. It can manifest itself directly, for example, in the wording “I eat too much, I need to start eating for 1500 Kcal per day” or “It’s a shame to be a manager in a global corporation and not to know English, I need to learn”. However, it can also manifest itself in a more sophisticated way, through the prism of other people's desires - “My girl thinks I'm fat, you need to go in for sports regularly” or “I have already entered this institute, and I must complete the course”. All these formulations are united by one thing - they have no desire, only one need. If you had only two months to live, would you spend time on these goals?
Ideally, all goals should go from “want”, or at least most of them. It is very bad when all goals go from “must.” Interestingly, this is not only found in people with low self-esteem - often people perceive the goal setting mechanism as a tool to force oneself to do something that one does not want to do. That doesn't work! I repeat once again: achieving such goals is a matter of willpower, and setting goals is not an amulet, which magically increases this limit. You can work on this resource - read about this book “Willpower. How to develop and strengthen ” , but do not expect that simply setting a goal you will have a strong motivation to do something unpleasant.
Another common misconception, a variation of the previous one, is not to include goals that are pleasant to do, but to include only those that are unpleasant. This is bad for two reasons: firstly, you miss “pleasant” goals in assessing whether you have enough time for everything written. Secondly, you are depriving yourself of positive feedback by achieving success in “pleasing” goals, and focus on the negative when “unpleasant” is not performed. Do not divide yourself into "here" and "there", try to accept yourself entirely and to think integrally.
Well, in general, correct yourself - the task is rather bleak, it is much better to engage in improving yourself. I do not agitate now for a positive psychology and a banal rewriting of the phrase from “you need to stop drinking” to “I want to become sober”, all these manipulations do not work if you don’t believe them. However, if you find a large number of items on your list, aimed at eradicating, quitting or correcting something - most likely something is wrong. Just think: for the last several decades you have been working to become what you are - it is rather naive to hope that you can drastically change yourself in a year, especially if there are several such things. Therefore, if you have similar goals, try to limit yourself to one.
As a conclusion : one could write a dozen more “bad advice”, but it seems to me that it is time to stop. Perhaps something from the above seemed to you strange, illogical or caused the feeling "and I usually do not so." But if you read this post to the end, I suppose you yourself know that you have a problem with how you set goals. Maybe in 2015 it is worth trying to do it not “as usual”?
And of course - with the upcoming New Year and success in achievements!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/246639/
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