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How
Specific Should Your Goals Be?
By Peter Nguyen - Jan
7, 2008
If goal-setting is critical to success, then how big should your goal be?
This question is worth examining because if your goal is not big enough, you will not be excited nor motivated to pursue it.
However, if your goal is too big, then you might disbelieve it. That is, a goal that is too big might cause you to doubt whether you can actually achieve it.
For instance, a person who begins to study and practice karate should not aim for the black belt. The desire to achieve that level of mastery will EASILY be negated by the doubt or disbelief that one can achieve it.
So the karate beginner should rather aim for the yellow belt, then the orange belt, then the pink belt. Wait, I think there's no pink belt! Anyways, you get my point.
Many people want financial freedom, and many even want to become millionaires.
Nothing wrong with that. It's good to THINK BIG.
However, I recommend this formula: "Think big, start small, improve fast."
By starting small, you can experience success more easily, which will increase your sense of self-confidence and build your momentum toward achieving progressively bigger goals.
The key is to balance CHALLENGE and SKILL.
In other words, look for or design challenges that you are skillful enough to tackle successfully.
If you take on a challenge that is too far above your skill level, you will be stressed.
Alternatively, if you take on a challenge that is too low for your skill level, you will be bored. Worse yet, you will not grow as a person.
This sounds like common sense and you might wonder why I'm even mentioning it. Yet, most people either set up a goal or challenge that is too far ABOVE their skill level. An entrepreneur, for instance, might set up a goal that is too big or too ambitious. This becomes a recipe for failure, which inevitably damages the person's self-esteem and self-confidence.
Employees, on the other hand, often have goals that are too unambitious (for their skill level) and therefore, they experience boredom -- which means no personal growth.
The key is to understand that success comes from succeeding. And to succeed continuously, one must:
1.
Set goals that are big enough to excite and motivate you, but not so big that doubt or disbelief will enter your heart or creep into your subconscious.
2.
Design tasks and challenges, in the pursuit of that goal, that are appropriately matched to your skill level. If the task or challenge is too hard, stress will be the result. If the task or challenge is too easy, boredom will be the result.
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