How to Achieve Your Goals
Achieving Your Goals “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. ” – Lee Iacocca In today’s work world you have to be aware and be prepared for survival. Awareness starts with accepting the breathless pace of the ever growing technology and the fact that corporations can no longer guarantee job security. The job requirements keep changing with the advancements in technology. Lifelong learning is essential if you want to go with the flow and not drown in it. Up and ahead is not the only direction to move in an organization.
If your sole definition of success is getting promoted or advancing in pay/status/job title, then you are not thinking broadly enough. In the new world of work, it is important to consider multiple directions in which your career could move and to focus on those moves that help you develop your employability the most. Focus on progress, not perfection. Flexibility is the key to it all. Self-Managed learning gives us that flexibility. Below are some pointers which will help get us to focus on achieving our goals: Aims & Requirements: First things first. Write down clearly what you are aiming at.
What do you want to do? Why do you want to do it? Who do you want to be? What would you get out of it? Where do you want to reach? What all would you need to know to get there? Now picture yourself there. Keep that in mind always even when you face with failures. This will help you keep moving forward. Set achievable and realistic goals. Creating a Time Table: Whatever may be our goal, making a time table always helps us manage our time properly. For example, If we were on a ‘weight loss’ goal keeping a record of all our calorie intakes, the time we take to work out along with our daily routine will help us a great deal.
We will know where we are going wrong, where we need to improve, what all could be done to help us improve ourselves. It keeps us in check and helps us know our progress. There could be a column in which we can self-assess ourselves (give grades and fun remarks) to motivate and encourage us to go on. Yes, it would be a pain keeping tabs, but hard work pays more than short cuts ever will. Personal Orientation: Personal Orientation helps us to understand how we relate to an environment/situation/relationship. It gives us the opportunity to discover our aptitudes, interests and aspirations.
When we are looking for a job in a company, this could help us to know what we can give to them. It could also help us to align our interests to what the company is looking for. For personal orientation you should learn to explore your world. Make mistakes and learn from them. It will help you make better choices suiting your interests. In short, personal orientation will help you feel more sure of yourself in this complex and ever changing technological world. Deadlines: Deadlines help us to make use of our time more efficiently so as to get maximum output. It also helps to keep laziness at bay.
When you know something has to be done within the specified time limit you tend to work harder to get it done. When things get hard we tend to keep it off until the next day. Deadlines keep a check on that. Without the urgency of a hard deadline pushing your work to completion, it’s easy for you to lose focus. As illustrator Christoph Niemann pointed out in a 99% interview, “Deadlines can actually help us by creating a fixed window of opportunity that requires us to be focused, pragmatic and decisive: In advertising, and also editorial, when people have 2 days, the briefing is much better, and the discussion is much better.
It’s not that people just sign off on anything because they’re in a hurry. They’re just really looking at what they have, and trying to make the best product, and get it done. The problem is when people have too much time on their hands. Because then at some point everybody’s going to question, “Why did you make it red, not green? ” and “Could we try it upside-down, or left to right? ” and then at some point it becomes arbitrary. If the anxiety is about the deadline, then the energy really focuses on the result. If there is not anxiety about a deadline, all of the anxiety goes right to the creative part. Review your progress regularly Keep reviewing your progress daily. This will help you get back on track if you go off course. Monitoring your progress might also motivate you to work harder. These could be included in the Time table. Celebrate! Congratulate yourself when you manage to get through an especially tough spot. Give yourself a treat. Self-Reflection & staying true to your goals: “By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is the easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter. – Confucius How true these words ring. No matter what goals we have set for ourselves or how efficient we have made our time table unless we really truly believe we are capable of it, we will most probable fail. Self-reflection is important. We have to understand and conquer our fears, come to terms with our inner self and strengths. This might seem a waste of time for most people but that’s not so. Being able to remove all those thoughts and feeling which are holding us back from giving our 100% can open so many doors for us. We will not be afraid to take the next step. It will help us grow as a person.
We have to believe we can do it. And then we will become what we believe. Making goals is easy, but working towards achieving them might not be so. Anything worth having takes time and effort. So be prepared to face challenges to get what you want. Don’t let obstacles damper your desire for success. Even after having set your goals getting started is often the hardest thing to do. But doesn’t success taste the sweetest after some hard work? Try to follow your plans with a true heart and I’m sure you’ll success in every walk of life. And yes, pray to God! He will help you with it all!
