Article on Hindu

GOAL SETTING:

To begin with, you may list the past five years and note down your significant achievements in education during each of these years, and check whether you could not have achieved more had you made a pointed effort with specific goals in view. You may then proceed to set goals for the future.

Do not confine yourself to learning in school or college.

Always set each goal precisely with specifics such as quantum and deadline (date and time before which it should be achieved). Fixing of a quantum would permit achievement to be measured. Example: Do not just say learn the capitals of various countries. Instead, define your goal as learning before 8 a.m. on the first of July 2006 the names of the capitals of 100 important countries of the world.

Decide small goals that can be achieved in a reasonable time. You can proceed step by step to attain a big long-term goal.

Set goals taking into account the possibility of conditions beyond your control. Never be too ambitious. Others may advise you to set impossible goals, but be realistic and pragmatic in your decision. If your goals are too difficult to be achieved, you may get disillusioned later. That may prompt you to abandon the healthy practice of goal setting.

Never make your goals too low or silly. Even if you achieve them, it would give you no sense of fulfilment. Nor would it help you in your progress. It is fear of failure that may induce you to set very low goals. Keep your self-confidence high and set useful goals that may be slightly above your current reach.

Prioritise the goals when you have multiple goals before you. Fix the order of priorities precisely.

Make each goal in the form of a positive statement. For example, say `Master the use of correct language' and not `Do not continue to make errors in language.'

Write out clearly each goal. This will render clarity to the goals. Any vagueness in the statement of goals will confuse you while determining the course of action. Moreover, you will not forget the goals if you put them in black and white. You should have control over the goals.

While setting goals never say that you will `try' to do something. It should be that you `will do' it. When you insert the word try, you start with a fear that you might fail in achieving the goal.

Think about the rewards you will enjoy when you achieve a goal. Such a dream will propel you to proceed with enthusiasm. A reward need not at all be in terms of specific amounts of money or quantities of materials. A good example of the rewards that we talk about is the reward of a fine career if you earn a university degree, or the accolades you win when you become a master musician.

Be persistent in goal striving. An initial surge in action followed by a lull or total lethargy is of no use. An expert once said of SMART goals. What he meant was that goals have to be `specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and tangible' with a target date. Check and confirm that each of your goals satisfies the SMART formula.

Modifying goals:

When we have achieved some of our goals, we learn certain lessons in goal setting. It is likely that we made some errors initially in gauging the quantum or time for achieving certain goals.

An appreciation of these errors will tell us how we should modify our style of goal setting, so that it becomes more sensible and realistic. Perhaps, we should redesign our approach, change the target definitions and alter the time estimates. Our achievements will certainly offer a sense of fulfilment that persuades us to continue our endeavour with renewed vigour. We should not feel shy in enjoying our achievements. "Enjoy each milestone as you travel the road to success."

What will be the pattern of change we have to make? If some of the goals were achieved too easily, we should set our goals a bit harder. If they were achieved too quickly, we may alter the timeframe for achievement.

Sometimes, it may so happen that we failed in achieving the goal we had set, because of our inherent inefficiency or inability. If that is the situation, we have to set fresh goals for the correction of such shortcomings.

As great motivational experts say, there are no mistakes but only opportunities. They mean that we should convert errors into occasions for learning from our errors. We should have the grace to accept the feedback with an open mind, and accept our deficiencies, if any. Our future schedules will naturally take into account this aspect as well.

You must have heard about Kaizen. It is a Japanese word that means continuous improvement. It represents a technique that is applied in industry and management. We can adopt the Kaizen philosophy in our goal striving.

We move from one step to another gaining something during each such transition. New goals emerge and we plan to reach them in stages and work for it with dedication.

Kaizen involves certain interesting features: elimination of waste and inefficiency, tidiness, orderliness, cleanliness, standardised cleanup and discipline. All these are indeed well known. But we are emphasising them here to remind ourselves of these strategies so as to make our endeavour effective.

Thank you,

Senthil.