Why goal setting is important?
We are goal oriented people, and when they are challenging and specific we are far more motivated to achieve them, or as Andrew Carnegie put it:
“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.”
Researchers also found out that writing down our goals is valuable, but even more valuable is to write down how we will achieve them. Writing about our goals brings structure and makes our thoughts more concrete and tangible. Writing down your goals is closely associated to committing to them, and a goal that we have committed to focuses our attention and energy onto how we are going to do it.
The well-known acronym SMART helps bring a structure to setting goals:
- Specific-provides clarity (as with the best known version of SMART)
- Measurable-encourages our commitment and belief that we can achieve it
- Attainable-it is a challenging goal that stretches us (but not too stretching that it becomes beyond our ability to achieve as the next point suggests)
- Relevant -we are able to do it, and the situation around us is supportive to make it possible.
- Time bounded-bringing clarity and focus
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