New Year’s Resolutions vs. Short-Term Goals
It’s a new day, a brand new year and most of us feel that rush of inspiration to go out and chase all we desire! “New Year New Me” is a commonly followed motto that hypes us up for the year ahead and, whilst we all can get carried away and make declarations on what’s to come and what goals we will be achieving, it is more often than not just an enthusiastic moment.
That enthusiasm usually does not maintain its momentum and surely enough it fizzles putting some goals in our backlog till the next year.
This occurs mostly due to the vagueness of the “set” goals. There is a specific process to be followed when setting a goal and more importantly, achieving it.
Our New Year’s resolutions tend to be indistinct ideas of what we want to achieve and where we would like to see ourselves. Setting goals on the other hand has to do with an aim and a detailed thought out process in achieving that aim, small steps at a time.
This is exactly what we do at Agile Actors as well. Our core practices help develop our professionals’ most valuable product — themselves — one goal at a time!
So what do we need to do to achieve desired goals?
At Agile Actors, our professional and personal goals are what create our Personal Development Path which is supported and guided by our Coach-Coachee relationships.
Specificity — We have to be very specific about what we want to achieve. A well-defined goal gives us a clear view of where we are heading and, consequently, the steps required to move towards that direction become clearer as well.
Measurable goals — Τhis part of the process helps you refine your goal. Actions that can make a goal somewhat more “tangible” help in recognizing how close you are to your achievement.
Set attainable goals — Αnd by attainable I am not referring to an easy goal. Ideally, our aim should be to go for the next level, the next step, as by doing so we challenge ourselves and grow in the process. We cannot however go for unrealistic goals that would be impossible to achieve. Know your strengths and weaknesses and go for that goal that’s just out of your reach currently.
Your goals must be relevant — Αsk yourself what this goal means to you. Is it significant to you? Does it directly affect your growth and development? Do you have the relevant knowledge, background to go for it? Non-relevant goals are easily discarded as the objective will most probably be even further out of our reach.
And last but definitely not least, time, time, time — Set a predetermined date/time defining the end date of the goal. “I will have achieved my goal by January 29th at 18:00”. By setting a deadline you can more successfully time manage the whole process leading the ultimate goal.
Finally, don’t stop! Set goal, Achieve goal, Request Feedback and set a new one!
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