Goal achievement benefits every area of life.
• Knowing your “why” is an important indicator of success.
• Having a clear plan can help increase persistence and committment to the goal.
• Effective goal-setting enriches life.
Being able to create meaningful goals – and achieving them – and achieving them is a fundamental part of success. Goals gives us a map of where we want to go. Good goals can challenge us to achieve things we didn’t believe possible and open up new opportunities. Further, successful goal-setting improves performance and brings mastery of tasks. While the idea of setting goals is not new, the theories about goal-setting are more recent. The first formal goal-setting study was conducted in 1935 as a way to better understand motivational psychology within an industrial setting. (Locke and Latham, 2013) Researchers Edwin Locke and Gary Latham (2013) continued studies off goal achievement in the 1960s and helped to establish the framework of modern goal-setting theories. Through this research, they found that goals that were both specific and difficult led to better performance results than goals that were vague and easy. Further, goal-setting was valuable for both internal and external types of goals. (Locke & Latham, 2006) Effective goal-setting combined with task-oriented activities led to influence over other factors, including personality characteristics and monetary achievements. (Locke & Latham, 2006) Importantly, this early research established the framework for effective goal-setting techniques.
Researchers Locke and Latham (2006) identified eight specific attributes of goal-setting behavior – goal choice, learning goals, framing, affect, group goals and traits, and macro-level goals. A myriad goal-setting theories emerged from the work of Edwin Locke and Gary Latham and led to an increased in motivational psychology. Later researchers observed that the presence of goal motivation is critical factor to both the selection and pursuit of goals. (Lazouri, 2015) Through continuing research, it was found that intrinsic motivation is essential because it is key for increased enjoyment as well as persistence in the pursuit of goals. (Fishback & Choi, 2012) Research also found, unsurprisingly, self-criticism often obstructed goal achievement altogether. (Powers et al, 2017) Given these factors, it is important to find the goals that resonate with your inner values and purpose. They should also be important enough and meaningful enough that you are able to move beyond self-doubt and self-criticism. In the well-known book, Find Your Why, Simon Sinek underscores the importance of identifying what motivates and inspires you as well as others for achieving goals. (Sinek, 2017 ) Looking back to the ealier research on goal-setting, and the importance on motivaiton with achievement, it becomes clear why knowing your why is critical for goals. (Leduc-Cummings, et al., 2017)
As your identify your most important goals, there are a variety of goal-setting methods that you can use to structure your goal achievement. Having a goal-setting plan in place is important because it creates a path to reach goals. Fortunately, there are a variety of techniques available. The popular SMART goals, for example, was developed from early research. (Rawollem, et al, 2008) The acronym stands for “specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.” Later research found that setting challenging targets was benefical for goal achievement and added challenging this to the SMART method to create SMARTCH. Yet another variation is SMARTER that instead adds “energizing” (E) and “rewarding” (R) to the original format. (Rawollem, et al, 2008) There is yet another method that is recognized for increased flexibility and its focus on purpose. This method is known as PACT – purpose, actionable, continuous, and tracking . Writer Tammy Salmon-Stephens notes in an article for the National Society for Leadership and Success (NSLS) that PACT is suitable for long-term goals because it places a focus on continuous progress. Because this method also includes purpose, it is an excellent method for including your why in the goal-setting process. Identifying purpose as part of the goal-setting method will bring motivation and also help to leverage the use of instrinsic rewards for the achieving the goal.
During these last months of the year, it is a good time to consider what is your most important goal to yet to achieve this year? Is it getting a new job, learning new skills, or having a healthier diet? There is still time to finish this year strong! Take some time today to reflect on your priorities and write down what is most important thing to achieve during the remaining months of 2022. Be sure to reflect on your why and the inherent benefits you will obtain. Not only will this lead to a satisfying finish for this year, it will also help to build a solid foundation for the start 2023. To help you with achieving your goals, a free PACT goal-setting worksheet is available for download. This worksheet is faith-based and has been modified to reflect the use of Scripture in goal-setting. As you consider your goals, also reflect on passages that motivate and inspire you? What verse brings courage? What specific reminder about God do you want be reminded of?
Here a few examples to consider:
• “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” – Col 3:23
• “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” – Prov 16:3
• “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” – Psa 90:12
May this information bless you as work toward achieving your goals! Happy Creating!
References
Fishbach, A. & Choi, J. (2012). When thinking about goals undermines goal pursuit. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 118(2), 99-107. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.02.003
Leduc-Cummings, Milyavskaya, M., Peetz, J. (2017). Goal motivation and the subjective perception of past and future obstacles, Personality and Individual Differences, (109), 160-165. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.12.052.
Locke, E., & Latham, G. (2006). New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(5), 265-268. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20183128
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2013). Goal Setting theory. Encyclopedia of management theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
MacLeod, L. (2012). Making SMART goals smarter. Physician Executive, 38(2), 68.
Powers, T.A., Koesnter, R. & Zuroff, D.C. (2007). Self–Criticism, goal motivation, and goal progress. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26(7), 826-840. doi:10.1521/jscp.2007.26.7.826
Rawollem, M., Glaser, J., & Kehr, H. M. (2008). Why self-set goals may sometimes be non-motivating. In C. Wankel, 21st century management: a reference handbook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Salmon-Stephens, Tammy. (2021) Meet PACT: A Goal-Setting Technique. https://www.nsls.org/blog/pact-goal-setting-technique
Simon Sinek, David Mead, & Peter Docker. (2017). Find Your Why : A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team. Portfolio.[/su expan