Success in any domain calls for skills and motivation equally, the latter including and demanding the strive for particular goals. Goal-setting is believed to be the key to success by everyone from parents, to managers, to life coaches, as it is as psychologically important in business and in personal life. Setting goals brings you closer to gaining more control over the outcomes and processes used to achieve those specific outcomes.

What happens in your brain when you set a goal

The practice of setting goals is a surprisingly complex psychological tool and it has some powerful effects on the human brain.

First of all, after setting a goal, we get a different perception of ourselves, as we practically imagine how it would feel like and be like if and when we achieved that goal. This boosts our self-confidence and pushes our senses to start looking for the best solutions in order to get to that goal. However, if we fail to reach it, our self-image no longer matches our expectations and we might get some negative feedback on our performance.

The positive thing about this is that if we are smart enough we can use these in order to set goals that contribute to the real growth of ourselves as individuals and our companies as well.

The principles of effective goal setting

It’s well known that desire goes hand in hand with motivation, and this is why settings clear goals that shape up the way in which you see your future will turn both managers and employees into motivationally oriented individuals, with a strong mindset on the long-term success of the business.

Here are a few principles that one might want to follow in order to increase their chances of setting achievable goals in an effective manner.

1. Keep your goals specific.

In terms of effectiveness, it’s always good to be able to measure the results and performance of an action. So when you set a goal, try to steer clear of the vague “do your best” or “no goals at all, let’s see how it turns out” practices and find specific goals whose outcomes can become palpable and that you can relate to for the future.

2. Keep your goals challenging, but realistic.

The process of setting a goal should always be closely linked to the skills and abilities of each individual. Goals should never be set to be so difficult that the person in charge will fail to take them seriously or will experience failure and frustration in meeting them.

As long as the goal does not exceed the capabilities of the individual who is supposed to accomplish it, the rule goes — the higher, the better. Challenges are always good and they actually generate better performance than easy goals.

3. Juggle with short-term and long-term goals.

The timeframe to meet your goals can vary from one situation to the other and its circumstances and efficiency can be totally different. Most of the time, long-term goals are more easily achievable after being broken into smaller goals. Short-term goals are more attractive as they allow you to basically see the improvements step by step, this way increasing the motivation factor. So even if your goals are high, try making each step towards the peak a mini-goal, so that you don’t lose sight or interest in the big picture.

4. Keep a positive attitude.

Like everything else in life and business, positive beats negative. The most successful and appealing people are positive people, who can always see and appreciate the bright side of things. The same goes with setting goals — it’s a good idea to set them positively, avoiding negative predictions such as mistake or failure. And also, whenever you go through a deadlock, you can ask yourself what can I do to turn things around? and you will start to see the upside of things as well.

5. Figure out a few goal-achievement strategies.

No matter the goal you have set out to achieve, there are always ways to maximise your chances of success, strategies you can adopt according to your skills, the tools you have available and the needs of that specific project. Don’t leave things to fate or to coincidence, make up a plan and organise your moves so that everything goes as you wish, or at least as close as possible to it.

6. Write everything down.

After setting your goals, drawing plans to reach them, planning deadlines and rewards — and why not punishments for not doing what you were supposed to — put everything in a map or a folder on your computer, or use cool tools such as Wunderlist to keep track of your progress. This way you will be more prepared for challenges, you will know exactly where you are and what you are expecting next and you will have a trail that will help you evaluate the results at the end of the project. This kind of procedure will also keep you more focused on the activity and committed to it.

7. Establish a strong feedback procedure.

It is extremely important that at the end of a project, after all the steps have been covered and the goal has been achieved (or not!), a certain evaluation system is implemented. Feedback is absolutely vital for the progress of an individual. You have to know how things went, where you did good and where you encountered issues. Without a form of evaluation, even if it’s basic, there is no virtual way of tracking improvements or keeping score of progress being made.

8. Don’t make your goals “definitive”.

When setting your goals, try to leave some room for change, for flexibility and adjustments. Don’t set them in stone, but rather work to adapt them to the necessities of the possibly changing circumstances. Use your goals as a constant guide and you will discover that this will help you be realistic about them and, as a result, you will experience more success, and feel more competent and satisfied about yourself.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, what are the main purposes of setting goals? Aside from being a professional challenge, a goal will teach you more about yourself, about your boundaries and capabilities. A wisely chosen and implemented goal will bring benefits to your everyday activity and to your long-term plans for the future likewise. Also, within a business, the way you set and handle your goals can definitely benefit your whole team and even increase productivity for the entire company.

At TRISOFT, we set out goals high because we have this awesome team whose prior, common goal is to spoil our clients with the most professional, very best services in the software development industry.