Goal setting is critical in the establishment of long-term focus. Goals give one purpose, which drives long-term focus. After setting goals, and reviewing them daily, long-term focus begins to permeate many areas of one’s life. You’ve read goal setting chapters before. It probably helped you initially, but stopped working after a while.
Here’s what you’ve probably heard:
- Some ridiculous acronym: Set SMART goals!
- Set 5 year goals, 3 month goals, and 1 week goals!
- Be realistic in your goal setting!
- Categorize them by sectors of your life (Finance, Career, Relationship, Hobby, etc.)
Guess what? This works–for 3% of people out there. Wooohoooo! Let’s go on a fricken firewalk!
I’m not kidding about the 3% figure, either. Researchers asked an entire class of students at Yale the following questions: Have you set goals, have you written them down, do you have a plan to accomplish them? Only 3% had. This was also the 3% who dominated in terms of grades and campus presence.
The reason goal setting doesn’t work for 97% of people out there–especially when reading a book–centers on the fact that they’re reading. It’s not natural to immediately break flow in order to set goals. And this is perfectly understandable. When you pick up a book, you anticipate that you’ll read, not write. There’s a time and a place for writing.
After attending countless workshops and reading dozens of books on goal setting, my thesis centers on the fact that goal-setting is nothing more than asking yourself critical questions in which the answer pseudo surprises you, and pseudo scares you. Why does it scare you? Because you don’t realize how far away from your goals you are until you begin to set goals, and answer honest questions about yourself.
Apply for the goal setting exercise that will kick you straight in your mid-section
So here’s what I’m proposing: don’t worry about goal setting for now. When you get a chance, apply for my goal-setting exercise on my website. It’s free, of course. But not everyone will be granted access. Those who communicate a strong reason as to why they deserve access will be granted.
You can apply for the goal setting practice here.
*Note: Not everyone who applies will be granted access to this goal setting exercise; if you don’t get accepted, no worries. You can always apply again.
IMPORTANT: If you enjoyed this article, I'd like for you to experience much more by purchasing the book. You can check out via Paypal or Google Checkout. Click here to buy the book.
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