SETTING AND ACHIEVING GOALS
5 powerful ways to set and achieve goals in uncertain times
How great things can be achieved using short, focused ways of goal setting.
When COVID-19 set in, I was staring at uncertainty. I had no work since my clients were closed for business. I did not have any personal projects to be completed. I was staring at an unending stretch of emptiness. The thought of having nothing to do thrilled me initially. But as its novelty wore off, I started getting finicky and irritated.
I am the kind who loves setting goals on a daily basis; to-do lists are my favorite. Sometimes, I write down completed actions also on my to-do list for the sheer pleasure of ticking it off. But now suddenly, there were no to-do lists. It put me off! I did not want the virus to be hitting a pause button on my life and make a psychological impact on me. The urge to do something took over and I decided to set a few goals for myself.
I set 5 goals for myself. I did not decide them in one go. I developed it over a period of time. (More details on this are given in the lessons underneath.)
1. Reduce my body weight by at least 5 kilograms.
2. Read 7 books a month.
3. Start a business and build a website for the business.
4. Learn a programming language.
5. Build a video course and offer it on Udemy.
When I wrote them down, some of them seemed quite daunting. But I am happy to report that I have been able to complete all of them successfully. I am even more elated that I now have two new revenue streams (baking and online course) that I have been able to build out of nothingness. Needless to say, the mental benefits (gained through learning a programming language and reading 14 books till date) and the health benefits (thanks to my fitter body now) I gained in the last two months are unparalleled.
This experience gave me tremendous insights into goal setting in times of uncertainty. I realized these could work for anybody and so I decided to write them down. These are the 5 key lessons that I learnt:
Lesson 1: Always start with one immediate goal. Never make a laundry list.
Most people set goals like a laundry list. I have done that all my life. My to-do lists are just a laundry list of goals. However, a to-do list takes care of day-to-day action items to be completed. So, you can work on it like a laundry list. But in order to achieve audacious goals, the first thing to avoid is having a laundry list of them.
So, as mentioned earlier, I did not write down all my 5 goals on a single day. I went about setting one goal at a time. Without any physical activity during the day, I was gaining weight rapidly. So, I started with my weight reduction as the first goal and started working out. When its just one goal, it becomes easier to set time for it and work on it. Once I started working out, it became a routine and my mornings were taken care of. I had a goal that woke me up in the morning and I was working on it.
Once I had my morning goal, I set out to decide on a goal that I could work on during the day. I have been doing a lot of home baking for the last 2 years. Word spread and a few neighbors occasionally bought bread from me. I decided to take that to the next level by starting it out as a business. So, my immediate next goal was to launch the business and its website. Over the next one week, I spent the majority of my time on this until I had everything up and running. The focused effort helped me get this up and running in less than a week and it felt good.
I applied the same focus and thinking to decide the remaining goals. If I had written down all my 5 goals in one go, I probably would have been able to achieve a couple of them. The rest would have fallen through the crack. But keeping it focused to the next big goal helped me achieve all of them, one by one.
So when you are setting goals for yourself, ask yourself what is the next big goal instead of listing down all your goals in one go. Avoid making a laundry list at any cost.
Lesson 2: Break your goal into small parts and start small.
When I decided to work out everyday, a lot of my friends recommended at least 30 minutes of heavy exercises every day to reduce body weight. But I remembered James Clear (in his book, Atomic Habits) talking about how the frequency is more important than the amount of time you spend on doing things. In other words, working out every day was more important than working out for a longer duration, especially if you are beginning to form a new habit.
So I decided to start small. I started with 7 minutes of work out per day and then gradually increased it to 45 minutes per day over a period of 30 days. But I made sure that I do not miss even a single day of work out. Because I started small, I kept up the habit without giving up. Once results started showing up, I was motivated to extend my workout time. All this helped me reduce nearly 5 kilograms over two months. More importantly, I now have a habit that I am sure I will continue to practice on a daily basis.
So, once you set your goal, don’t try to do everything on the first day. You will tire yourself and burn out very soon. The burn out will eventually make you drop the goal.
Start small and do small things frequently. Break down the goal into smaller steps and ensure that you do them regularly. Remember: in the early days, its the consistency in doing things that will make the difference; not the amount of time.
Lesson 3: Align your work on each goal to a different time of the day.
Most people set goals and then go about working on them through the day. I have also come across many people who do things whenever they feel like. I decided to try something different. I aligned my work on each of my goals to a different time of the day. That way, the time of the day sets cues for me and gives me the discipline to work on the respective goal.
My workout was scheduled for the morning. My work on my baking business happened in the afternoon since that is usually the time I bake. I set up the reading habit for the bed time. Here too, I started small by reading for 30 minutes a night and then eventually went up to 2 hours per night. Once I picked up the next big goal of learning a programming language, I set aside my later mornings to work on that.
Aligning your work on a goal to a particular time of the day provides the right cue for working on your goals. Once this is aligned and a discipline sets in, it will be easy to maintain it as a habit.
Lesson 4: While working on a goal, decide on your next big goal.
I made a habit of deciding my next big goal while I was working on the current goal. In my case, the next big goal dawned on me by itself most of the times. While I was working on my website for baking, I was intrigued by the software behind it. I wanted to learn to code. I am not a techie and have never learnt coding. It was a radically different goal — one that I wasn’t sure about how it would help me. But since I work with clients who are software companies, I decided to pick up a programming language to increase my familiarity of the learning challenges. After a bit of research, I finalized on my next big goal: I will learn Python.
I applied all my lessons learnt: started small with watching one lecture on Udemy per day and doing some practice; practiced consistently; fixed my late morning time for working on it. Thanks to all these, I picked up the language quite easily and was even able to develop a game in it. While learning this course on Udemy, I picked up my next big goal: create and launch my own course on Udemy!
I practice the same habit with my books too. While I am currently reading a book, I decide on what I want to read next. That gives me an incentive to finish the current book and move on. There is something for me to look forward to, every day.
Having the next big goal ready will give you a lot of excitement; will give you something to look forward to. You are no more staring at emptiness but are excited for what’s coming up next.
Lesson 5: Make a daily agenda and evaluate yourself every day.
This is where I got to do my favorite part — to-do lists. In the face of uncertainty, it is very easy to procrastinate and keep pushing things to the next day. I have felt that urge many times in the last two months and have given in a couple of times. Instead of working on something, I ended up taking naps or playing mindless games on my mobile.
So, I decided to keep a daily agenda (to-do list) and stick to it. Every morning, I decide on the action items that I need to complete for the goals that I am working on. The daily agenda helped me complete small but important tasks and not postpone action items to the next day. More importantly, it gave me a sense of accomplishment by the end of the day. These short bursts of sense of accomplishments are critical in ensuring that you continue working on your goals.
Break down your goals and set a daily agenda. Do this first thing in the morning. Take stock of the completion by the end of the day. Making this a habit will go a long way in ensuring that you achieve any goal, no matter how audacious.
In summary, I have been able to gain immensely in the last two months and I look forward to working on more goals until things clear up. Considering my successes so far, I am confident that these lessons will help me even in good times. I do hope these lessons come in handy for you too.
While I am at it, I have already identified my next big goal: writing. I used to write a lot when I was younger but the corporate life put an end to it. But, there is no better time to set an audacious goal than now. So, here it starts!
Thank you for reading this. Check out some of the poems I wrote, as part of my next big goal:
