Avoiding The Two Biggest Mistakes Leaders Make When Setting Goals

"If you don't know where you're going,

Any road will get you there."

-The Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland

It is not exactly a pearl of wisdom that we need to know what our destination is before we set off on a journey. Even the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland knew that. Goals can be thought of as the destination in the most important journey you will ever take – your life. And yet the process that we often use to set goals is highly ineffective. So much so, in fact, that many people have given up setting goals and just float along through life hoping for the best.

One way to help you determine what you do want is becoming crystal clear on what you do not want. What do you not want to continue in your life? 

Go ahead, take a few minutes and list the problems and challenges that you do not want to have to deal with in the future.

Alright, now that you have that list, I want you to seperate those challenges into two different groups:

1. Those you have NO control or influence over, and

2. Those you have SOME control or influence over.

Take the list that you have NO control or influence over and throw them in the trash.

Take the list you have SOME control or influence over and make a decision that they need to change. These will become the raw material for your goals.

At this point most people are thinking - I don’t know how to address those challenges. I’ve already tried, and I haven’t been able to figure out how.

I have found that most people are reluctant to set a goal if they do not know HOW to achieve the goal.

This may be the most important piece of advice I have ever received:

You do not need to know HOW to achieve a goal to set it as a goal.

The mistake that many leaders make is, they try to figure out how to achieve the goal, before they set it as a goal.

In fact, if you do know how to achieve a goal then it is probably not going to be very inspirational to you and you will not be passionate about it’s achievement. 

It is critical that you are passionate about the goals that you set, otherwise you will give up when you encounter obstacles to their achievement.

Now that we have a clear idea of what we do not want, we need to decide what we do want. 

One of the most important ideas to remember is that you should never set a goal around what you do not want.

This is another crucial mistake many leaders make. Goals should always be written in the present state as if they have already happened, and they should focus on what you want.

For example, if one of your frustrations is that you end each day exhausted and feeling like you do not know where your time went, it may be tempting to set a goal to not be exhausted at the end of the day. 

Instead, set a goal around what you WANT. It might look like this:

At the end of the day I am energized that I have accomplished my most important priorities.

Remember, you do not need to know HOW to accomplish the goal, but you must be passionate about it’s achievement!

Now it’s your turn: What are your goals?

In the meantime, if you look at the bottom of this post or the email you received, you will see a place to sign up for a complimentary webinar we are doing called The Myth of Time Management - How to Create a Plan that Maximizes Productivity.

In this webinar we're going to explore some of the other myths around time management and some very specific actionable strategies that you can accelerate your progress toward the results that you truly desire.

I look forward to seeing you then.

Register now!