Simple question: Do you know what you are trying to achieve (in your education or just in life in general) - and why? Really think about that question. It's more important that anything. If you don't understand what you're trying to achieve or why you're trying to achieve it then you have absolutely no hope of getting there. Why? Well where are you trying to get to anyway? You haven't even defined it remember! So step one is to create a goal want to achieve and a goal you actually understand.
Once you have established the "what" and the "why", you can move to the next step - the "who". As in, who do you need to be to make sure that goal happens? What sort of actions do you need to take? How will you know if you are really on track or if you are just kidding yourself? Are you becoming the person you need to become to achieve the goal? Or are you just hoping that you can be exactly as you are now and still achieve the goal?
Let's look at this another way. What actions do you take each and every day in order to progress your skills and attitude to the point where your goal can become a reality? Are you taking any actions? Or are you just doing what you normally do but hoping that because you "set a goal" that something amazing will happen?
As people, we love to focus on events - not the process. What do I mean by that? Well, we love to step on the scales and see that we are four pounds lighter than we were last week - we don't love the training and the dieting! Do we? We love to watch and experience the Super Bowl, we don't love to watch the hours of practise and drills the players go through to perfect their on-field systems which allows them to make it to the big game. We love events - not processes.
Getting good grades is hard work. Being fit and healthy is hard work. Being a great musician is hard work. The process of achievement always weeds out the weak - and unfortunately it doesn't always reward the strong.
Passing school is hard and getting good grades is even harder. But the rewards (i.e. events) along the way, such as getting a positive report card, serve to reinforce the desire and attitude required to go through the process to see the ultimate event happen. It's survival of the fittest. When events don't happen, or the event seems too far away and out of each, the process becomes too much to handle.
So what does this mean to us in terms of goal setting and goal achievement? Given that we now know that we don't like processes and we do like events, it makes a lot of sense that we may enjoy setting goals such as "I want an A average in all of my subjects" but we don't like doing the hard work to make sure that the goals actually happen. The process is hard and can be boring and tedious. We want the event (A average for every subject) not the hard work!
So, when you set a goal you need to consider the process of how this goal is going to come about. If you decide that you want to get an A+ in Maths (and by the way rule number one of goal setting is to make the goal specific not airy fairy like "I want to improve in Math") then what you really need to ask yourself is "Who do I need to become to achieve an A+ in Maths? What actions do I need to take on a daily basis to achieve an A+ in Maths?"
Goal achievement isn't a result or magic or miracles (although many of us just wish it was that simple). It actually just comes back to understanding what you want, why you want it and who you need to be to make it happen. Once you have all that in mind, the process will take over and the event will take care of itself. But if you follow the trend and focus on the event, you can be sure you will struggle to reach it. Don't let that be you. Good luck!
Once you have established the "what" and the "why", you can move to the next step - the "who". As in, who do you need to be to make sure that goal happens? What sort of actions do you need to take? How will you know if you are really on track or if you are just kidding yourself? Are you becoming the person you need to become to achieve the goal? Or are you just hoping that you can be exactly as you are now and still achieve the goal?
Let's look at this another way. What actions do you take each and every day in order to progress your skills and attitude to the point where your goal can become a reality? Are you taking any actions? Or are you just doing what you normally do but hoping that because you "set a goal" that something amazing will happen?
As people, we love to focus on events - not the process. What do I mean by that? Well, we love to step on the scales and see that we are four pounds lighter than we were last week - we don't love the training and the dieting! Do we? We love to watch and experience the Super Bowl, we don't love to watch the hours of practise and drills the players go through to perfect their on-field systems which allows them to make it to the big game. We love events - not processes.
Getting good grades is hard work. Being fit and healthy is hard work. Being a great musician is hard work. The process of achievement always weeds out the weak - and unfortunately it doesn't always reward the strong.
Passing school is hard and getting good grades is even harder. But the rewards (i.e. events) along the way, such as getting a positive report card, serve to reinforce the desire and attitude required to go through the process to see the ultimate event happen. It's survival of the fittest. When events don't happen, or the event seems too far away and out of each, the process becomes too much to handle.
So what does this mean to us in terms of goal setting and goal achievement? Given that we now know that we don't like processes and we do like events, it makes a lot of sense that we may enjoy setting goals such as "I want an A average in all of my subjects" but we don't like doing the hard work to make sure that the goals actually happen. The process is hard and can be boring and tedious. We want the event (A average for every subject) not the hard work!
So, when you set a goal you need to consider the process of how this goal is going to come about. If you decide that you want to get an A+ in Maths (and by the way rule number one of goal setting is to make the goal specific not airy fairy like "I want to improve in Math") then what you really need to ask yourself is "Who do I need to become to achieve an A+ in Maths? What actions do I need to take on a daily basis to achieve an A+ in Maths?"
Goal achievement isn't a result or magic or miracles (although many of us just wish it was that simple). It actually just comes back to understanding what you want, why you want it and who you need to be to make it happen. Once you have all that in mind, the process will take over and the event will take care of itself. But if you follow the trend and focus on the event, you can be sure you will struggle to reach it. Don't let that be you. Good luck!
About the Author:
HelpMeToStudy.org is the best online resource for learning new study skills, transforming your study habits and discovering the best studying tips available. We will help change the way you think about study - and even better - we will show you how to study effectively: How To Study Effectively | How To Set Goals
No comments:
Post a Comment