The Art of Good Goal Setting
Welcome to edition 8 of the Happier People in Tech newsletter series. As usual, I review a positive strategy to help you implement more happiness at work - all backed by the science of wellbeing and happiness.
Today we look at something we all do - especially in work: setting goals. But did you know that only 8% of people actually achieve their goals? That's shockingly low...
So what can we do to achieve our goals?
“A goal is a dream with a deadline.”
Napoleon Hill - Author
Goal setting is part of our innate quest to better our lives, circumstances or relationships. There is something deeply human about setting and working towards goals. Everyone has goals, big or small. As with everything in life, goals can look quite different to different people. Your goal might be to become the next Beyoncé, inspiring people to join the great resignation in pursuit of their authentic self. Or you want to be the next Elon Musk setting the most ambitious goals in human history (and sometimes having to realise it might have been a bit too ambitious).
Or, more likely, your goals are concerned with your career progression, that #nextplay, or maybe a more drastic career change. And some of you reading this would be delighted just to make it through that tough meeting tomorrow.
No matter if your goals are long-term or short-term focused, concerning your own personal life, or span across the lives of others and your community, as long as these goals are meaningful to you, you will be motivated to work towards them and make them happen.
So why is it that we often fail at achieving our goals?
The Art of Good Goal Setting - According to Science
The way we set our goals matter. People often set unattainable goals that are not setting them up for success in the first place.
Setting good goals is an art - but the good news is, everyone can learn to master the art of good goal setting. Here are 3 steps to create better goals:
Your goals are intrinsically motivating.
This is goal setting 101, however it's often overlooked especially in busy work environments where most of the immediate goals are set by the business and external stakeholders. Often, there is so much to do just satisfying the goals that other people set for us, that we tend to forget about our own, self-motivated goals. What are your personal and professional goals? And are they on your priority list?
Your goals fit your values and strengths.
Positive psychology research has taught us that we massively increase the success of attaining our goals when they are in line with our values and mapped to our character strengths. But what does that mean? That means we need to become more analytical about our goals and ask ourselves the question: what am I trying to achieve with this goal? Sometimes, goals can appear intrinsically motivated, but might still be a value mismatch. Here is an example of the hypothetical case of Anna, a 30-something IT professional:
Anna has set a goal for 2022 to work towards that next promotion. She really wants to achieve the next level in her career as she has been in the same role for 5 years and everyone else is progressing as well. When asked what it would mean to her if she achieved that promotion she says it would really make her happy and proud, it would be a reward for her hard work and dedication. When asked what a meaningful day at work looks like to her, she lights up and talks about having a positive impact on others, helping her peers and her clients and bringing smiles to other people.
On first glance, Anna seems to be pursuing her own intrinsic goal of happiness and career satisfaction. When she talks about the perfect day at work, her values and strengths are really shining through. They are centred around human connection and helping others. Her strengths of kindness, humour and teamwork are her intrinsic drivers.
Is her motivation to progress in her career driven by her values though? Not really. Her main motivation is to follow the 'rules of the game' and do what seems to be the norm in her industry and 'what everyone else is doing'. A value-matched goal for Anna would include her intrinsic motivation supporting the community and caring for others.
What can we learn from Anna? It is important to apply a more analytical approach to our goals. We also might have to clean up our list of goals a bit and narrow it down to the ones that are not only intrinsically motivated, but also strongly driven by our values and strengths.
You have a concrete, written plan how to work towards your goal.
Once you have done that clean up, you will have a small number of goals that are really meaningful and important to you. These ones are your best bets of mastering the art of goal setting by developing a concrete plan of how to get there. To further increase your chances of mastery, you also need to write these steps down - yes, that classic skill of handwriting is most useful here.
According to a study from 2015, we know that there are 3 steps to making that goal plan that increase your chances of achievement:
Define your goal well and develop a plan of action.
Sent these to a supportive friend or accountability buddy.
Conduct weekly or monthly progress reports and send them to your accountability buddy too.
Create your own meaningful goals
As we have seen, the art of good goal setting starts with you taking the time to evaluate and question your current goals. It can be useful to do this once a month as part of your personal reflection. On a weekly basis you can checkin with your progress and keep that accountability up.
To get you started in that process, I have a gift for you: download the free goal setting coachbook - a versatile goal setting and planning workbook that will help you set meaningful and achievable goals: 👇🏼
And remember: celebrate each little step on the way - often, the journey is your biggest teacher!
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