What do you think of the word ‘goal’?
It used to switch me off, for reasons that I would have struggled to explain, but I suspect had something to do with the association I made with the unfamiliar suited-and-booted Corporate World, which felt a long way away from Sally of the Medical World.
Anyway, I’ve since got over that, because I then discovered coaching, which is based on working your way forward, and it transpires there’s a lot of goals tied in with that!
Of course, I had kind of been setting goals all my life, just not always consciously, not necessarily calling them that, and possibly not always in the most effective way either. For example, I obviously set myself a goal to work as a doctor one day, to pass my driving test, to buy a house, to fill said house with a ridiculous number of pets, etc etc…you get the picture. You may well have done something similar (minus the gerbils perhaps).
If you’re not a huge fan of the word ‘goal’, just substitute whichever word feels more comfortable for you.
Because the actual word that you use is just a matter of semantics; essentially what we’re talking about is a concise description of what you want to achieve. Knowing your ‘why’ and your ‘how’ are, of course, closely linked with this.
So, what are benefits of getting clear on your goals? It all centres around FOCUS:
Involves getting clear on what’s really important to you in life
Setting goals entails getting specific about what’s important to you in life, because you choose which goals you want to set. That may sound obvious, but how clear are you on your priorities in life? In my experience, that’s not always something which has been clearly identified and therefore it becomes easy to spend time and energy on things that are not ultimately that important to you, at the expense of those things which actually really do matter to you.
Sets your direction
Without goals, there’s a high risk of wandering aimlessly through life. Setting goals is like choosing your ultimate destination. Rather than leaving things to chance, and letting life happen TO you, you are taking responsibility and directing your efforts and energy with intention, enabling life to happen FOR you. It nourishes the human need for autonomy.
Encourages you to notice and celebrate your achievements
That sense of achievement is great, isn’t it? Particularly when it is all about a goal which really matters to you; it feeds into your sense of possibility and wellbeing. Making a point of noticing your achievements as you go starts to subtly redirect your focus in a very positive way, and feeds into the next one.....
Keeps you motivated and beats procrastination
Setting yourself a goal and working out a step-by-step plan to get you there is much less likely to result in procrastination than if you’re not really clear on what, specifically, you are trying to achieve, why you are trying to achieve it, and/or how you are going to achieve it. In terms of how you go about achieving your goal, breaking it down into bite-sized chunks helps to bridge the gap between your starting point and your end point, making it much more achievable, which provides positive reinforcement to your level of motivation....onward and upward!
Switches focus from problem to solution
And last, but certainly not least, the lens through which you view the world has a significant impact on what you notice. So if you are mired in problems and obstacles, your brain will automatically be on the lookout for this kind of information; it is primed to look for evidence to support your perception of reality.
If, however, you seek out solutions and reasons as to why you can achieve your goals, this becomes the kind of information sought out by your brain.
Neuroscience has revealed a lot about the brain's potential to develop new neural pathways so, the more you focus on solutions, which forms the basis of goal-setting, the more this will become an automatic habit. And, the icing on the cake, this habit then spreads into all areas of your life.
In conclusion, I’m a convert, and I’ve got over my thing about the ‘goal’ word, because what sits behind that word is potentially a huge amount of personal wellbeing, so why wouldn’t you?