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Goal setting success: Ignore your past at your peril
Before we get to goal setting, please review the first step in attaining success is to set your compass. That is: define your values.
Knowing what is important to you and critically WHY it’s important to you, sets your direction and helps you with major life decisions.
Do I start my business? Do I take the new job? Do I change my relationship status?
The worst thing you can do is suffer from “the grass is always greener on the other side”. It may turn out that it only appeared greener from your current perspective.
Knowing your values, understanding why they are important to you and happily accepting that they may limit you in some ways but enhance your life in others will enable you to live a better life. That is success.
This post is the first in a 3 part series on goal setting. You have your compass aligned, now you need to set your destination.
Today we look back to the results you’ve attained so far. Are you in a happy place?
Part 2 examines the creation of the spark that has the power to change your life forever.
Part 3 puts it all together to create your goals and produce a plan of attack.
Before goal setting: Let’s take a look back
First devised by the military and now used by companies around the globe, the After-Action Review (AAR) is a tool that enables the continuous assessment of performance to identify and learn from success and failure.
It is used after a military operation or a company project, but it can be used by us to see if our lives are on track.
If you have just left school or university, this strategy is of limited benefit right now, however, from here on in it’s an absolute must.
Your personal AAR can take place every 6 to 12 months. You should schedule it in your calendar and it only need to take 10 to 60 minutes.
This process first came to my attention after reading “Your Best Year Ever” by Michael Hyatt.
This series of posts dives deeper into my post on “Success in 4 simple steps” and provides a roadmap to head you in the right direction.
Remember this …
Not happy?
If you are not happy with where you are in life, it is critical to evaluate why.
Your thoughts and actions have led you to where you are right now.
Are you:
- Just drifting aimlessly along in life?
- Not in the financial position you had hoped to be in?
- In a job you hate?
- In a relationship that is not going the way you want?
- Overweight?
- Continuously thinking that you wish you had done something you had always wanted to do?
If you have allowed whatever you are unhappy about to go unchecked, I think it’s time to say enough is enough. If it’s taken you 1, 2, 5 or 10 years to get to this point, guess what, if you don’t change NOW, in 1, 2, 5 or 10 years’ time nothing will be different.
How does that thought make you feel?
Jim Rohn says that if you’ve done something wrong for a year, that’s enough, don’t do it wrong for another year just to prove a point.
If it’s not working, don’t keep doing it. Change something.
- If you’re not getting that promotion – spend time figuring out what you need to become to get it.
- If your business revenue is not increasing – what do you need to do to get it going in the right direction?
- If you’re not happy in a relationship – what can you do to make it better?
- If your health is not what you’d like it to be – what can you do to be healthier?
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” often attributed to Albert Einstein but it appears he may not have been the one to say it.
A lot of people like to lay the blame for their lot in life on external forces. It’s the government’s fault, the economy’s fault, my parents’ fault, etc.
But you can’t move forward in life until you take ownership of where you are right now.
Bad things may have happened and if that’s the case, I am truly sorry you had to go through that, but if that becomes the anchor that is holding you back then you need to address it before you can move onwards and upwards. You need to be free of it and the effects before you will be at peace with yourself and the world.
The After-Action Review
The AAR does not have to occur after a particular event or project when it comes to your own life. As I said earlier, you can do it every 6-12 months. If you have set yourself goals, you can use this to track your progress.
If you haven’t set goals, you can use this to evaluate what has happened over the last 12 months or whatever time frame you are looking back over. If you’ve just drifted through life over the last 5 years, then reflect back over those five years.
The AAR is a simple process that asks important questions ultimately designed to improve your personal performance.
Q 1. What did you want to have happen during the year (or whatever period of time)?
Remember that this question can apply to any area of your life, but for now let’s focus on financial and career matters.
If you are just drifting through life, chances are the start of the year was exactly the same as the end of the year. Hopefully not worse!
You are no closer to your next promotion or higher paid job. You have not done the personal development to make yourself more valuable to your employer, client or customer. You have not saved money for investing.
Do an honest assessment of your year. If you had no goals and nothing really changed then write down that you had no expectations for the year and that you got what you asked for. Which was nothing!
The point of this question is to wake you up to the fact that you can determine the outcome of your life.
If the fact that absolutely nothing changed throughout the year is acceptable to you, then don’t waste time here. Go back onto the internet to watch funny clips about cats or binge watch something on your device.
If nothing has changed in your life over the last 12 months and you are dirty on yourself for it. Great. This can be a defining moment in your life.
Q 2. What actually happened?
Write down and elaborate on your:
- Successes
- Achievements
- Disappointments
- Failures
- Regrets
Whether they are big or small. You got a promotion. You’re starting a new business. Paid off a loan. Finished an education course. Read 10 personal development books. Started to learn the guitar. Didn’t manage to save what you ideally wanted to save during the year. Screwed up at work. Still haven’t started to invest for your future.
It’s important to think about the good and the bad. All outcomes can produce information that can lead you on to bigger and better things.
Q 3. What are the causes of the differences between what you wanted to have happen and what actually happened?
- Progress towards opening my new business was stalled because ……
- I didn’t hit my savings target because ……..
- I’m doing the same work I did 12 months ago because ……….
- I experienced some obstacles along the way.
- Were they beyond your control?
- Were they within your control?
- How did you handle them?
- Are you back on track?
- Was what you wanted realistic?
- Were you sufficiently motivated?
- Were you just lazy?
You must identify the true reason(s).
Learn from your experience
If you don’t learn and grow from your experience you will be doomed to repeat your past. That is, the next 12 months will look like the last 12 months.
For the ambitious person this is a horrible thought.
Pleasure is a good motivator and teacher, but unfortunately pain and failure are better ones.
“I never learned a thing from a tournament I won.” Bobby Jones (20th century American golfer)
“The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate.” Thomas Watson (former Chairman and CEO of IBM)
“Failure provides the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” (Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company)
But both the positive and negatives of your year can yield insights to propel you forward.
You can summarise your learning outcomes into short sentences.
On my phone I have set reminders every day that highlight my goals or motivational points that assist in keeping me on track.
Adjust your behaviour
Changing your behaviour (no matter how small a change) is the essential action that must occur if the next 12 months are to be better than the last 12 months.
We are creating a feedback loop in that we have:
- evaluated the results.
- knowledge on what went right and/or wrong and why.
Now we need to take action.
You are the collection of your habits. If you want to be successful in your career, business or financially you need to spend more time on the habits that will boost these areas.
Are you spending enough time on developing these areas?
This can be achieved by official development courses at work, mentoring from your managers, business coaches, private reading or courses you take after-hours.
The Wrap
You are destined to repeat the past if you don’t look back and examine what went right and what went wrong. What did you do well this year and what do you need to do next year?
To break through, you need to address the hard questions and own up to the answers. All of these questions start with “why”.
Why have I not progressed?
Why am I unhappy?
Why do I watch 40 hours of TV a week?
What does it take for you to conclude – enough is enough? My new life starts today.
In the continuation of my series on Goal Setting, I will dive deeper into the goal setting process so the action required can be made clearer and create a driving force for greater achievement.
Up next …..
What do successful people have that you may be missing?
Take action in your life.
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