Please, Don’t: The Most Common Goal Setting Mistakes
What are The Most Common Goal Setting Mistakes? How do The Most Common Goal Setting Mistakes Get In The Way of Your Success?
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Goal Setting is a Life Skill.
Richie Norton
Dear Reader, Welcome to another article about another exciting subject here at Project Cubicle.
Today we are going to discuss a crucial one, The Most Common Goal Setting Mistakes you should do your utmost best to avoid in the field of Your Business. Before it is too late for You and Your Business, we wanted to take a step forward and share some tips, assuredly that it will stop you from making these mistakes once you learn about them.
Here at Project Cubicle, Our Goal is Your Success. We are sharing exclusive Tips and Knowledge that we know it will lead you to Success in Your Business, Personal Growth, and so much more. We are turning over a new leaf, dedicating our entire reason of existence to one thing: Your Success.
We want you to succeed in Your Business, we want You and Your Business to benefit from the Tips, Clues, Techniques, Updates, How-To’s and Knowledge we share that we know it will lead you towards one direction: Success.
Without further ado, let’s begin to talk about one of the fundamental thing we share as the entirety of human beings:
Dreams.
Our Dreams.
Imagination lays at the locus of our mind, we all want something to come true. We have a dream that we’d like to bring to life. With our dreams, we would like to bring a change to the world. Our Change.
However, like we thoroughly explored its concept in our previous articles, Change is a Big Word. Certainly, not impossible but requires Dedication, Realism, Ability to Accept Failure, Constant Tracking, Efficient Planning, Setting Milestones, Celebrating and Appreciating Every Little Success on the way, and more importantly, Persistence.
Like we said, Change, is a Big Word.
Consider these words as a test to your SMART Goals.
How much really want to make Your Dream Come True?
Do you still have Expectations That It Will Be A Piece-Of-Cake?
Are you ready to Make Sacrifices for it?
Are you ready to, once and for all, Fulfil Your Dream?
Are you ready to Begin The Journey?
Have you calculated the Potential Risks and Opportunities?
Why should you be The One to Make It Happen?
We start by imagining our version of the world. Something feels inadequate. Something has to change.
Every Goal is born from a Dream; what makes a Dream a Goal, however, is Determination.
You know what you are going to do.
Today we are going to talk about what the research shows you Shouldn’t Do.
The Most Common Goal Setting Mistakes
1. Making Excuses And Procrastination
(n.) Procrastination:
The Action of Delaying or Postponing Something.
The Infectious Disease of our very own 21st century.
Do not take that leap forward tomorrow. Do not start that healthy diet next Monday. Do not go to the gym Next Month. Do not leave the planning of your Goal to Next Year.
Procrastination gradually increases and is highly contagious. Focus on the present, make the best decision for the present that you know like the back of your hand, it will affect your future. And not only yours; Your Goal’s Future.
It is not simply about using Productivity software or making plans that are not right for you.
First off, decide when you are, actually, productive.
Which hours do you feel more comfortable to work at?
If you feel tired in the evenings, it may not be right for you to attempt to work on Your Goal. However, if you wake up early and get that warm morning coffee ready, you might discover you always have been a morning person after all.
Get that calendar in front of you.
What should you do Until When?
Realistically, plan out tasks that you will be able to complete during the day. Start slowly, do not be harsh on yourself, and give yourself some time to be accustomed to the action of not-procrastinating.
Do not postpone. The Right Time is Now. Give it Your Best Shot.
2. Trying To Not Start From The Bottom is One of the Most Common Goal Setting Mistakes
We talked about this one in our Start-Up Article. There, unfortunately, is no starting from the top. We must start from the very beginning, and usually with nothing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting from the bottom.
Think about how you climb the stairs, is it technically possible to start from the middle? You must pass the previous steps first, to be able to reach the middle.
For an instance, let our Example Goal be Building Your Own Website. Before deciding on what is going to be on the website, planning or even implementing its Design and Appearance may be harmful to your resources. Design can always change, depending on your website’s theme and which information it is going to help carry like a ferry.
Therefore, focusing on the design of the website might mean an attempt to start from the middle, which will only cost you Your Time when you can spend it focusing on the real tasks and steps you should focus on, to be able to begin, in another words, Start From the Bottom.
3. Overplanning and Clinging Too Much to Details
Now, you should not postpone planning and not attempt to locate yourself in the middle when you are just starting.
However, keep this one thing in mind:
You can’t plan everything.
We all sometimes wish we could, but the fact is we can’t. Better to accept it soonest we can. You can calculate the risks, but not foresee each and every little obstacle that you are going to encounter on the way. For this reason, have a framework of what should be done but do not focus too much on every step. Do not try to plan the sub-steps of each task, the amount of these steps may or may not both increase and decrease, maybe you will decide that you do not really need to have that step after all.
Do not try to plan everything; it will cost you your resources that you can utilize and benefit from in better ways!. .
4. Setting Milestones: Not Right For Your Goal
Now, we talked about Steps but what are those steps? While discussing Locke and Latham’s Goal Setting Theory, we explored the concept of Complexity. And we said in order to get the best outcome, we should divide our intended processes into smaller sub-steps. For an instance, say Your Goal is the staircase you would like to climb.
The Goal, surely, is reaching to the Top however if each step is harder to climb than the previous one, you must be rewarded for your efforts.
How?
By assigning these steps as your Milestones.
Is that all?
Setting the Right Milestones for Your Goal is equally important. Say, if you assign a sub-step as a Milestone, you might lose Time and other resources you could otherwise make a better use of.
5. Discarding Habits or Diminishing Leisure
This one is vital. As someone who has “been there and done that” for this principle, I can easily say that it costs you your entire being.
Realizing a Goal is not leaving the rest of who you are to die, or rot. Just because you are now doing your best to make that dream come true, you should not withhold yourself from reading that book you were curious about for so long, pausing to learn the instrument or language you just began learning, or in any way, spending less time to take care of yourself and let yourself feel good.
If you do, you will always feel something is missing and at the same time, fading so far away. You do not need to sacrifice who you are to make that wish come true.
That wish will come true, because of who you are.
Because You, as who you have been, wanted to make that dream come true with each and every part of your being. If you take that out from the equation, then Who exactly is making an effort to realize that goal?
Do not give yourself away for Your Goal.
You will discover that You are, Your Goal.
For this reason, giving your best to make a dream come true does not mean giving up on yourself, and please don’t. The outcome will not be pleasant.
Instead, learn to block your calendar efficiently and place your own agenda in the center of everything you do, and keep that agenda with you when you are making your utmost best to bring Your Determined Dream, Goal, into Life.
Last Words on the Most Common Goal Setting Mistakes
In this article, we have discussed The Most Common Goal Setting Mistakes and what you should watch out while taking your steps cautiously, to transform Your Dream into a Determined Goal, and Bring Your Version of The World and Your Change into Life.
For now, that is all from us, here at Project Cubicle.
What do you think is the most important for you?
Have you made any of these mistakes?
Share Your Story!
We know it will certainly help those who are reading and are struggling with bringing their goals into Life.
If you are experienced, share with us below in the comments so that we can learn from you!
Further Reading
Guideline for traveling from vision to projects and back
