These are both great goals - to achieve both would make you healthy (losing weight) and professionally stronger (better communicator). However, a crucial aspect is missing: how will you achieve these?!
I bet you thought the missing part was "making them measurable". Agreed. These goals lack measure. But that is easily fixed. Lose weight: "I want to lose 25 lbs." Communicate better: "Demonstrate improved communication skills by presenting a well-rated presentation at this year's User's Conference." I'm flying past "making these measurable" because, to be honest, that isn't the hard part.
The hard part is setting up a plan to achieve these goals. That's because the foremost strategy for achieving a difficult goal is to attack it head-on. The challenge with the head-on strategy is it will feel like you're making an incredible sacrifice. Your motivation will waver and usually break because of two reasons:
- You're attempting to establish a new behavioral pattern that is less enjoyable than your old ways.
- Change in oneself takes time; slow progress will make you question and usually abandon the goal.
Let's take weight loss as an example. A head-on strategy would be a typical approach: diet, cardio, and resistance training. Diet is a sacrifice - let's face it, fries, chips, butter, soda, fast-food, all taste good for a reason - and you've banned them. Exercise takes time - and it hurts. So you're eating less delicious food and you're sore all the time. Your measure of progress is your weight scale. You get on the scale every morning - and progress is brutally slow. In as few as a couple weeks, you may start wondering, "All this sacrifice for 1 lb a week?!?!"
Here's my suggestion: choose a lateral, or indirect goal. The lateral goal you choose should have these qualities:
- The side-effect of the lateral goal will be progress against the main goal.
- Visible progress is easily made - this is critical!
Again, let's come back to weight loss. Here are some examples of lateral goals for losing weight:
- Eat "clean" for 21-days.
- The measure here is to count days.
- Train for a half-marathon that is nine months away.
- The measure here will be progress with the distance/time you're running.
- Enter a weight training regimen with the goal to bench-press, deadlift, and squat your bodyweight.
- The measure here is the amount of weight you lift.
I admit that a head-on strategy will achieve the same result as a lateral approach - and maybe even faster. But that is a surface-level perspective. If you break the surface, people who take a head-on approach are less likely to continue their endeavor - because the psychological "net worth of the investment" will be viewed as a loss. Progress came too slowly, and the sacrifice was significant.
On the other hand, a lateral approach has measures that are more quickly made. Even if you only run another quarter mile this week, or get another rep at 135 lb - you're seeing more progress more quickly. The psychological net worth will be viewed positively. As a result, you'll be motivated to continue.
I wager that most goals are in desperate need of lateral thinking:
- "I want to save more money."
- Lateral: read a book a week for a year (suggest the library). This would have multiple side-effects. Less electricity used (TV). Instead of going out to the movies, start a book club. Most importantly, learn something new (improve yourself professionally, earning more $$$).
- "I want to improve my relationship with my spouse."
- Lateral: ask him/her one question about their day, every day.
- "I want to make my product the best."
- Lateral: institute a corporate-wide emphasis on first-class techniques for hiring and keeping the best staff.
I'm a big believer in lateral goal setting - I've had a lot of luck with it! Good luck approaching your goals laterally!
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