Not every goal we set is worth our time and energy.
Andrew Bramley
We each have different things we want to achieve in life and work.
“I want to run a marathon.”
“I want to start a business.”
“I want to build my dream home.”
“I want to change my career.”
“I want to write a book.”
This chapter is not about goal setting, but about testing your goals. That means testing whether your goal really is important to you, and if so, whether you are prepared to pay the price for it.
I want to introduce you to a process I discovered early in my career and use frequently for myself and with clients. In the many workshops I have used this people have said how it helped them make their goal real and attainable.
This is not a complicated process, but to get the most out of it, you need to write down the answers to the questions, and not just think about it. In fact, without writing it down, it may not work at all.
So, with a pen and paper, here we go.
1: What is your goal?
Write down the goal you want to test.
It might be something you want to achieve in your career, or it may be something in your personal life. There are no rules about how you write your goal at this stage.
It doesn’t have to be specific, measurable, or even sane. Remember you are only writing it on a piece of paper, not making a declaration to the nation. And you don’t ever have to show it to anyone.
To demonstrate the process, let’s suppose I wanted to get fit. Sport and gyms are not my thing, but I realise I need to be adequately fit and in shape for my health and energy. Since the answer to this first testing question doesn’t have to be specific, ‘I want to get fit’ is just fine to start with.
2. Why do you want it?
List all the reasons you want this.
And when you are done, ask yourself ‘Why else…?’ and ‘Why else…?’ until you have literally nothing else to say.
Using my getting fit example, why would I want to do anything as reckless as getting fit? Well, I might have more energy, look healthier, feel better about myself, improve my general health, retain my flexibility in older age, lose some weight, sleep better, reduce my stress levels, look like Mr Atlas, or whatever.
Don’t move on till you are clear about why you want this.
3: What obstacles stand between you and your goal?
This is probably easier to do since there are many common obstacles to achieving any worthwhile goal. Write down all the obstacles in your way, even if they seem obvious, and don’t discard any as irrelevant, we all struggle with different things. My obvious obstacles to getting fit? Time, effort, no gym clothes, work travel, cost (maybe), getting out from under a warm duvet when it’s cold and rainy outside in winter.
4: What resources do you have to help you achieve your goal?
Write down all the resources you have to help you achieve your goal.
I do have running shoes. Not top end, but they don’t have holes in them. I live in a nice area where I can head out for a run or a walk. There is a gym near where I live. I have two legs, both are healthy. I have enough money for gym fees if I cut out a few discretionary expenses. I also have a bicycle in the garage that only needs a service to provide free exercise. My enthusiasm is still not high for this fitness thing, but it turns out I do have resources.
From a career perspective, your resources may include knowledge you have, things you know, experience you have, good business networks, access to finances, a home office, a laptop, people to encourage you. You may be surprised how many resources you do have, but this doesn’t mean you should go ahead. You are just testing it.
5: What is your main obstacle? What will you do about it?
Now that you have listed all the obstacles to achieving your goal, decide what your main obstacle is, and what you will do about it.
It might be something practical like time in your day, but it might also be yourself. Your fear of failure. Your lack of confidence. Your inability to get yourself moving every day. Your unwillingness to take a risk. Your need to ‘feel like it’ before you do anything. Or your need for perfection that makes it hard to start, or finish. There is no doubt that getting out of a warm bed in Cape Town during a cold, wet winter is probably the main obstacle to early morning exercise. But there is no-one that holds me down in bed. My car works. I have house keys. I am clearly in my own way here.
What could I do about it? Well, I could put the alarm clock far from the bed so I can’t reach the snooze button. I could invite a friend to join me on a run, so I had to pitch. I could do exercise at the end of the day, or lunch time. I could get a personal trainer with a fixed appointment in my diary. I could get a treadmill and not leave the house at all. I could also start walking and cycling with no early mornings or gyms at all.
6: Whose help will you need?
Consider whose help you will need to achieve this goal.
You don’t have to do this alone; we all need some help along the way. That doesn’t mean you can make it someone else’s problem and rely on them to wake you up and encourage you every day. This is after all your goal and not theirs. But asking for help is a powerful way to kickstart and to stay with your goal.
I could get help from a personal trainer, a friend who exercises regularly, ask my family to encourage me, or if I boldly have a marathon on my list, then someone who has already done a marathon and who can give me some advice about how to get going.
7: What information do you need?
Consider what information you need before you commit to this goal.
For my fitness goal information may include getting information from local gyms on costs, costs, opening times, reciprocal membership when I am away, perhaps chat to a few trainers to find out how this might work for me. For you it might mean getting a brochure from a place you want to study, interviewing people in roles that interest you, getting a quote to get to Peru or attend a course at Harvard. It might be finding out when you application for your future studies needs to be submitted. What information to you need?
8: How will you know you have succeeded?
It’s now time to get specific and ask yourself how you will know you have succeeded.
This is not going to the gym. After all you could get there, chat to some people before hitting the smoothie bar. It would be more helpful to decide you have succeeded when you have run 5km three times a week for 12 weeks, or lifting a particular weight, or doing your first half marathon, or losing ten kilograms.
It may be receiving your graduation certificate, sitting on the stoep of your new home, getting your first consulting contract, reaching a financial goal, or receiving your first paid client at your guesthouse. Be as specific as you can about how life will look when you have succeeded.
9: What is the price of achieving your goal?
Goals are not free, nor is life for that matter. So, before you decide whether you want to pursue this goal, consider what it will cost you.
The price may be time, effort, money, your social life, or time away from home. It may be giving up time you spend watching TV or surfing the internet. It may mean saving valuable cash you need to achieve your goal rather than expensive weekends away, top end wines, or discretionary overseas travel. It may be getting up at 5am each day to work on a project that matters to you. It may be giving up going to bed too late so you can’t get up in the morning.
The cost for getting fit may mean early mornings, cash to pay your personal trainer, or the emotional effort of staying with it when you don’t feel like it. But a career or a bigger life goal might come with a higher price, so take time to work out what the price might be before you decide to pursue this goal.
10: Are you prepared to pay the price for this goal?
Now the time has come to ask yourself whether you are prepared to pay the price for this goal.
You have the choice of saying YES or NO.
If you say YES, write down a list of the simplest actions you need to take to get moving. This is not a list of strategic goals, nor is it a vision of your ideal future. It’s a simple to-do list with some realistic deadlines, like:
- Find my running shoes (before I go to bed tonight)
- Visit the local gym to find out about personal trainers (Saturday morning)
- Go for a walk this evening for a half hour to get moving
- Get the bike serviced (by end of next week)
If it’s a study goal, it may mean finding your study file, getting a prospectus from some colleges that offer courses that interest you, or getting an application form for admission. If it’s a career goal, your first step may be to have a conversation with someone you trust to chat through what you want. Or set up a meeting with your manager to agree a development plan.
If you say NO, that’s a perfectly good answer. You can do anything, but not everything. And not every goal is worth your time and sweat. Saying NO doesn’t make you weak and feeble. Goals and priorities change. Maybe the goal is right, but the timing is wrong. Maybe it always was a goal, but it’s done its time and it’s getting in the way of a more important goal. Maybe the cost is too high for the outcome you want.
Try to lighten up about saying NO. A group of young people met at our offices for a breakfast conversation a few years ago, and during the morning it seemed timely to help them test some of their goals. I gave them each a few goal-testing sheets, and the following instruction: ‘If you say ‘Yes’ at the end of the process, list at least five things you can do to get started. If you say ‘No’, crumple the piece of paper into a tiny ball and aim at a spot on the front wall of the conference room.’ Balls of paper started flying, and with enthusiasm! It was liberating and exciting to see. You can do that in your kitchen, you don’t need a conference room.
If after saying NO, you wake up questioning your decision, you know the process. Grab a pen, make some tea, and try it again.
When our boys were young, I embarked on further business studies. I remember using this process more than once at 4.30am studying while the children were still asleep. This was time consuming, expensive, and voluntary! Why indeed was I doing this?
And when I was done testing my goal, I would get back to statistics.
Your turn
What goals do you want to test right now?
What goals have you been pursuing that have done their time?
What is important to do in your life right now?