Helping you to think your way to an excellent life!
Where Goal Setting Goes
Wrong
Goal Setting Summary
Achieving Goals and Feedback
Achieving Goals
When you have achieved a goal, take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of having achieved the
goal. Absorb the implications of the goal achievement, and observe the progress you have
made towards other goals.
If the goal was a significant one, or one that you had worked towards for some time, take the
opportunity to reward yourself appropriately.
Feedback: Failure
Where you have failed to reach a goal, ensure that you learn the lessons of the failure. These
may be:
- that you didn't try hard enough
- that your technique, skills or knowledge were faulty and need to be enhanced
- that the goal you set was unrealistic
- etc.
Use this information to adjust the goal if it was set too high, or to set goals to acquire new skills or
knowledge. Feeding back like this turns everything into a positive learning experience -
even failing to meet a goal is a step forward towards perfect performance!
Remember that the fact of trying something, even if it does not work, often opens doors that
would otherwise have remained closed.
Feedback: Success
Where you have achieved a goal this should feed back into your next goals:
- If the goal was easily achieved, make your next goals harder
- If the goal took a dispiriting length of time to achieve, make the next goals a little easier
- If you learned something that would lead you to change goals still outstanding, do so
- If while achieving the goal you noticed a deficit in your skills, set goals to fix this.
Remember too that goals change as you mature - adjust them regularly to reflect this growth in
your personality. If goals do not hold any attraction any longer, then let them go - goal setting is
your servant, not your master - it should bring you real pleasure, satisfaction and a sense of
achievement.
Links
References
Where Goal Setting Goes
Wrong
Goal Setting Summary
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