Here we go, get ready! It’s that time of year again. Every article, social media post and email will be expounding the importance and desirability of setting goals (or ‘New Year Resolutions’).
And that’s good. Really it is. A big part of what I do is coaching leaders and business owners on their goal attainment. It’s always a great feeling of satisfaction when a client is jumping up and down telling me about their latest success.
However, here at Brighter Thinking we like to do things a little differently. So, we won’t be talking about goals right now: we’ll be talking about how to think about your goals. Or at least one way of thinking about your goals. A small distinction, but as you’ll soon discover, an important one.
The idea is this: whenever you set a goal, if possible, set two other goals: one ‘above’ the original goal, and one ‘below’. For example, suppose your goal is to spend 30 minutes a day weight training. Your ‘above’ goal might be to spend 1 hour training, while your ‘below’ goal might be to spend just 5 minutes. Your ‘below’ goal should be set at a level that you know you can accomplish. Just barely better than ‘getting started’. An absolute piece of cake.
Then all you do is commit, come what may, to achieving your ‘below’ goal. That’s all you tell yourself: 5 minutes of weight training, then I’m done.
But do you know what? Something magical happens. I believe it’s just the simple fact of getting started, and after you’ve completed 5 minutes, another 5 doesn’t seem too much effort, then another, and another.
Before you know it, you’ve achieved your goal. Fantastic! Well done. But you know what happens now? All that thought you put into your ‘above’ goal – well, that little seed is still there, germinating in your mind, encouraging you to push on and achieve it. Let’s face it, if you hadn’t thought about an ‘above’ goal, when you’d reached 30 minutes, you would have stopped, right? And of course, that still would have been okay, as you’ve achieved your goal. However, if your ‘above’ goal is well thought out, how great would it be to achieve that as well?
I’ve worked with some leaders whose ‘above’ goals have been quite astounding. Targets that have seemed completely out of reach. But the combination of the ‘below’ goal (which ensures they get started) and the ‘above’ goal (which plants a seed of ‘what if’ in their minds) has produced some amazing results.
I highly recommend testing it out – and please contact me to let me know how you get on (I love hearing about successes!).