R.R.Consulting: Goal Setting

There are many people in the world for whom success is like a baby step. Each and every time they complete the level of success one by one. On the other side, there are many people who are smart and hardworking but they never touch the Pinnacle as they want to be. We all see such type of people. Have you ever thought what is the reason why only some people get the success? Are they from another planet? Are they eating other things which we are not? One of the most basic prerequisite to be successful is Goal Setting. You can check yourself, how many times you set a goal in your life. Either in your personal or professional life. Many people know that Goal setting is better but they never implement it because they don’t know how to set the goal and how to achieve it. Let’s understand the process.

First and foremost, let’s understand what is Goal? ‘A goal is specific plan or action to achieve the Target’. Why goals are important?

n Goals provide direction

n Goals tell you how far you have traveled

n Goals help to make the overall vision attainable

n Goals give people something to strive for.

Now, let’s see how to achieve your Goal?

Start Dreaming:

“Dream is not the thing you see while sleep but it is the thing that doesn't let you sleep.” – A.P.J.ABDUL KALAM.

Visualize yourself attaining your stated goal is the first most important thing. Best example for this situation is Mr. Sachin Tendulkar. In one of his interview, he had mentioned that in 2010, he was supposed to take retirement from cricket. At that time his brother told him, don’t take decision in urgency. Think twice. Your dream is to lift the world cup trophy and next year, i.e., 2011, final is at wankhade stadium, your dream will become true. From that day, Sachin had started dreaming for his goal and rest is history. If you can dream it, you can make it happen!

So, don’t just think, start dreaming.

Visualize the complete goal, like,

ü See the new office,

ü Visualize your visiting card,

ü Feel the salary cheque in your hand,

ü Then each night, right before you go to bed, repeat the process.

2. Run your own Race:

Make sure that the goal you are working for is something you really want to achieve not what your friend or your family wants to achieve. Generally as a human what our mind set is to copy each and every thing from our surrounding area. If you want to check then ask any student, what he wants to become, if someone from his family member is doctor then he wants to become a doctor, Police then he wants to become a Policeman. He doesn’t know what he actually wants to become. Lot of people spend their entire life trying to achieve other’s goal & expectations. So, it’s better to run your own race instead of others.

3.Don't just think, Ink it.

Many people have a habit that I am so clever all things I stored in my memory. That is a good thing that they have a sharp memory. But a written goal is much more likely to be attained than an unwritten goal! There was a survey in Harvard Business School – MBA students asked about their clear written goals for their future –

o 3% students had written goals plan, (earnings 10 times compare to 97 %)

o 13 % students had clear goal but not in written &, (earnings twice compare to 84 %)

o 84 % students had no clear goal.(Earnings on an avg.)

4 Be Positive.

Write your goals in positive instead of the negative. In writing your goals, we create a set of instruction for our subconscious mind to carry out. The more positive instruction you give it, the more positive result you will get. There is a saying that “if you sincerely want to achieve that something the whole universe strives to achieve that.”

5. Find Inspiration

Inspiration is necessary in Goal Setting. How we can motivate all the time till the goal achieved. Identify what motivates you. Fill your day with motivating things. If you want to become a runner then find out your inspiration and make sure, you heard his/her name or will see the photo frequently. So that will help you to motivate.

6.Set SMART Goals

Your Goal should be SMART. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.

Specific – write your goal in complete detail. Instead of writing ‘A new job’, write ‘ A job in Marketing ’

Measurable - Instead of writing ‘A new job’, write ‘ A job in Marketing where I will earn monthly Rs.20000’

Achievable- if your work experience is in the marketing then you cannot get the job in Technical. Make sure that your goal is high enough. Shoot for the moon; if you miss you will still be in the stars. But take care that your goal is Achievable

Realistic – If you are sales manager then you cannot become a Country Sales Head in a short time.

Timely – one should put a dead line. Instead of writing ‘A new job’, write ‘A job in Marketing where I will become a regional Sales Manager in a year. ’

7. Identify Obstacles.

Find out Obstacles which will halt you to achieve your goal. List out all obstacles and try to find out a solution for it.

i. Time

ii. Motivation

iii. Facilities

iv. Fear of Failure

v. Fear of Rejection

vi. No daily plan

vii. They don’t know How

viii. They think Goals aren’t Important

8. Create positive pressure on you.

Write down your SMART Goals. The more focused you are on your goals, the more likely you will accomplish them. Reviewing your goal on a daily basis is a crucial part of your success. E.g, There was a boy who wants to help his parents as his brother’s marriage was approaching in the next year. So he had decided to give Rs 100000 cheque to his mother. He had started dreaming and also made desktop reminder on his cell phone which reminded him each and every time as well as also set a mechanism of auto sms to his mobile from Google account which is free of cost. So, in this way he had started to achieve his goal. His deadline was 31.12.2010 and he achieved it before 1 month. Just think how positive pressure will help you. You can write it in your personal diary also but in this case, that boy thought out of the box and set a desktop reminder and achieved his Goal. Do you want to meet that Boy? He is none other than, writing this article, ”Rahul Revne”.

9.Divide your Target

If you are a Business man, you set your target that my turnover should be X million by the end of this financial year. You are in the business in the long time. So, you are very well aware about your monthly sales. In which month sales will be high or low. Divide your target from yearly to quarterly and from quarterly to monthly. Write down your sales target for each month and also mention your action plan, how to achieve it. At the end of the year, check your progress. It may be possible that you achieved 90% or 110% from your target. Whatever the status may be, celebrate your success.

10. Set Performance Goal

Rahul Dravid is the best example of this. In many interviews, Dravid says that he has set performance as well as result goals for himself but believes that performance goal works better for him because result is not always in his control. Even if I set a result goal of scoring a century, I could get out to a bad decision or really a good ball or may be score 95, which still means I haven’t reached my goal. Performance goals are far more realistic, achievable and often set the stress out of the result. So, if you continuously achieve performance goals, you invariably end up achieving a result goal.

11. Fix Deadline

There are certain things in life that you want to accomplish or milestone that you want to achieve. Now just ask this question to yourself. We all have a dream to buy a car, flat but when, on which date, which colour, god knows. Fix a deadline and just go ahead and do them. The moment you put a deadline on your dream, it becomes a goal. You will also enjoy achieving that goal.

Where Goal Setting can be wrong ?

More Than 3 to 4 goals at a time:

One can work on maximum 3 to 4 goals at a time. Generally what people are doing, they try to work on more than 3-4 goals at a time.

When goals are unrealistic:

For example, becoming a company CEO immediately after graduation is an unrealistic goal.

Goals that are 'beyond' your control:

For example, winning the lottery is definitely beyond your control.

When goals are unclear:

For example," becoming successful" or "becoming a better student" are not clear goals to work toward.

Do’s &and Don’t for Goal Setting

Do’s	Don’ts
Visualize your desired outcome	Go into your goal with a negative attitude
Write down your course of action in an easy step-by-step format that can be checked off with each achievement	Try to memorize all the steps as most will be forgotten
Think positive all the time	Don’t think negative.
Be realistic in your setting your goals.	Set your goals too high to achieve them

Last but not least, when you set the Goal, you should live your life as a true lover. We always see in the movies or in the surrounding areas, what are the situations of true lovers, let’s understand with the poem.

The cold breeze tickles my skin

Eyes filled with freshness and heart feels cold

Thunder is surrounding, waves are approaching

But everywhere I see her…I see her...I see her...

On a full moon day her illusion appears,

And her eyes appear in the sparkling stars,

And her laughter echos in gentle flow of stream

But everywhere I see ...I see her...I see her....

Though we are miles and miles away from each other

But our hearts are one

Though she is not seen by me,

Yet everywhere I see ...I see her...I see her…