How to set goals and carry out your plans correctly

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Surely, at least once in your life you promised to start a "new life" with the arrival of a new year (month, semester, week …). Everyone imagines "new life" in their own way. For some, this is a job in a managerial position, respectively, a large salary, impeccable appearance, competence, solidity, a different standard of living and relationships …

For a negligent student, a "new life" is to finally start attending lectures and seminars at the institute, look into the reading room more often and do all current work in a timely manner in order to approach the session with a clear conscience and without tails.

After all, you are familiar with the pleasant feeling of inspiration and enthusiasm from the realization of what has been planned, from the anticipation of the results achieved and reaping the fruits of your activity.

Every spring it is interesting for me to observe how, with the arrival of warm days, amateur athletes run out to the stadium early in the morning and joyfully "cut" circles. Life is good and life is good! Spring, warmth, the sun is shining, everything blooms, comes to life! I want to live, create and change, improve myself. But usually their enthusiasm is enough, according to my observations, for a maximum of a week. And only the most persistent athletes, as they ran before, continue to run in spring, summer, autumn and even winter, regardless of the weather and their own mood. After all, regular sports require great willpower from a person.

To achieve something in this life, no matter in what area (make a successful career, lose weight, enter a prestigious institute …), it is not enough just to set a goal. To achieve the goal, you need to work hard on it. And that means putting in effort, fulfilling commitments, and self-discipline. But at the same time, to see the goal means to achieve half of it.

In this article, I present some useful tips that will allow you to more successfully master the ability to set goals, and most importantly, always achieve what you have planned. After all, this is the key to professional and personal success. But first I would like to say the following. If a person has set a goal for himself, be sure: he has everything to achieve it. " Desires are given to us along with opportunities for their implementation."(Richard Bach." Illusions ").

Rule one: the goal should be stated in the affirmative.

Example.

False: "I don't want a similar incident ever to happen to me."

True: "I want things to work out in the future."

Second rule: Large goals should be broken down into smaller subgoals, then your goal will look more realistic and a definite course of action will emerge.

Example.

"I want to live a healthy life."

Splitting into subgoals:

I want:

- visit the gym three times a week and work out there for an hour and a half;

- eat properly;

- quit smoking - drink alcohol only on holidays.

Sub-goals can also be broken down into even smaller goals. For example, "eating right" includes:

- eat more fruits, vegetables;

- use green tea instead of black;

- drink more alkalizing liquid: fresh juices, herbal teas, green tea;

- instead of pork, there is fish and poultry (preferably boiled);

- cook soups in water, not meat broth;

- instead of buns, cakes and pastries, there are dried fruits, honey;

- try to daily use cottage cheese and dairy products enriched with bifidobacteria and lactobacilli!

Note that I am not indicating here that you should NOT eat sweets, fatty foods, etc. firstly, this goal is formulated in a negative form, and secondly, by prohibiting it, it is necessary to provide a person with something in return for what he cannot.

Third rule: you must take full responsibility for achieving the goal on yourself and be an active party. It is important to always remember that when the situation is completely under your control, you act with maximum efficiency. Make sure that you are in control of the situation, that the possibility of achieving the goal depends on you and not on anyone else.

Rule four: It turns out to be very useful and effective to present in writing the previously clearly formulated goals (as well as subgoals).

Example.

In the 1950s, Yale University conducted detailed research on how and why some students do better after graduation than others. Along with such indicators as gender, nationality, height and hair color of students, the influence of such a factor as the formulation of clear life goals was taken into account. Students were asked what their plans for the future are and how they approach making plans for life. Only 3% of young people from the group of respondents are used to formulating their goals in writing.

Twenty years later, the second part of the study was carried out. It turned out that those 3% of the subjects who set clear goals, moreover, in writing, achieved much more in life (including financially) than all the other 97% put together.

The fifth rule: it is necessary to take into account possible obstacles on the way to the goal. Do not lose sight of the fact that defeat can await you, you will not achieve your goal, something will interfere with you. All possible obstacles must be calculated and prepared for them in advance. In any case, a negative experience is also an experience, and one must learn from mistakes (both our own and those of others). In general, only a dead man is not mistaken. And he who does not try will achieve nothing.

Rule six: You must define the criteria for achieving success, which in your eyes will be evidence of the achievement of the intended goal. Use all the sensory information you have from your senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste). Your feelings and emotions can also serve as proof of your success. This will make your goal even more tangible, realistic, and therefore attractive.

Seventh rule: believe in a favorable outcome of your business and behave as if you are guaranteed success. You should be in a mood for a favorable outcome both in your soul and in your body. You have already completed all six previous steps: you formulated the goal in an affirmative form, broke it down into smaller sub-goals (or ways to implement your plan), checked that achieving the goal completely depends on you and took responsibility for its implementation, presented your goal in writing form, foresaw all the obstacles and prepared in advance ways to overcome them, clearly imagine the criteria for your success. Thus, you have programmed your brain to eventually get your way.

Now it's time to pay attention to posture, manner of speaking and gestures. To behave "as if" you are guaranteed success, it is useful to mentally create an image of the future as often as possible, in which you have already achieved the desired goal. Try to visualize yourself as "the future", having achieved everything you wanted. Once you visualize this picture, notice how you look, where you are looking, what you are doing or what you are going to do, how other people react to your actions. Maybe you will hear some sounds. Try to mentally enter your "future body", i.e.now see the picture not from the side, but as if with your own eyes. Become aware of your thoughts and feelings in your body. Doing this exercise will help you motivate yourself as it makes achieving your goals more realistic.