When I was in school, I used to think that achieving success in life is a pretty smooth and straight forward journey. So writing goals had no significance in my mind. Honestly, I used to find it way too complicated and even laughed at those who used to keep a long list of goals. Actually, I was surrounded by the thoughts which advocated that writing goals restricts a person’s ability. Hence I wanted to be flexible in life or rather was looking for an excuse for not writing goals!
As it is rightly said, life is a journey and it teaches you lessons when you need the most.
As soon as i stepped into the real world after my high school, i was bombarded with “n” number of questions from relatives, seniors, & friends asking me things i want to aspire. Honestly, i had no answer to any of those fancy questions; all i wanted to tell them was that i aspire to live a super chilled out life, but that remained monologue. Things got tougher when i was served with the menu card of the top colleges in India with different variety of courses. And I had no clue which one to select, everything looked rosy with carrots thrown all around.
Fortunately I came across a fascinating case study conducted in 1979 by Harvard Business School where graduate students were asked “Whether they had set clear written goals with plans to accomplish them?
The result, only 3% had written goals and plans, 13% had goals but they weren’t in writing and 84% had no goals at all. Ten years later, the same group was interviewed again and the result was absolutely mind-blowing.
The 13% of the class who had goals, but did not write them down was earning twice the amount of the 84% who had no goals. The 3% who had written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% of the class combined!
Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – All had their goals written when they were 25.
This helped me to learn world’s most underrated yet most valuable skill … writing goals.
Since then I started off my journey and my level of achievement and motivation has gone up.
NOW the question comes – How do I start OR get more out of this golden wisdom?
Let me share what I have learned, a simple procedure that anyone can follow for a successful kick off!
a. Write down an exhaustive list of things that you wish or aspire e.g earn Money, good health
b. Filter down your list by narrowing it down on the scale of priority
c. Once you have a defined list in place – Try to be specific around each goal. Ask yourself a series of question until you drill down yourself to convert a raw thought into a crystal clean one. E.g. How much amount of money, time frame etc
d. Against each goal write down How you are going to achieve it. E.g Blueprint of your execution
e. Finally arrange them on the scale of time - 3 month, 1 year 5 year ( Short term, long term and very long term)
Wow! Isn’t it simple and interesting but now we have to make it a Habit? Again let me share the secret of how!
Here are few ways one can follow
a. Whenever you get a good idea, immediately write it down in your SMART mobile– This will help you to not lose on thoughts worth investing time into
b. Download applications, web based tools which offers user friendly platforms to write & track your goals
c. Make a habit of paying a visit to your bucket list on a regular basis
Of course, most of us don’t bother to write down our goals. Instead, we drift through life aimlessly, wondering why our life lacks that purpose or significance. Remember committing our goals in writing is not the end of the game rather it’s just the beginning!
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