Welcome to our free Goal Setting and Time Management tutorial. This tutorial is based on Webucator's Goal Setting and Time Management Training course.
In this lesson, you will learn some key strategies and concepts to help you accomplish your goals.
Should you be persistent or flexible for successful goal setting or should you be both? This decision depends to a large extent on your commitment to your goal, the progress you make and your mental makeup.
Understanding what persistence and flexibility really mean and when you should adopt one or both approaches will help shape your mind-set and allow you to make smart decisions.
Lesson Goals
Persistence very simply means to not give up in the face of difficulty, challenges, and setbacks. In your goal setting journey, you will encounter those days where it is tempting to give up. You may feel:
This is when you need to be persistent and remember that persistence requires patience. Seldom have people succeeded without showing patience and persistence in the face of difficulty.
How do you persist when it gets tough? When pursuing anything worthwhile, you will eventually face challenges. Otherwise, you are selling yourself short by pursuing a goal that is too easy. Here are some steps to take:
Often the sheer size of your goal and the time it will take you to accomplish it can throw you off track and make you impatient. The key is to take small incremental steps toward it. Then before you realize it, you will be much closer to your goal.
Focus on the present. Speculating on what may or may not happen in the future is a waste of time. It serves no purpose. What matters is taking action as well as small steps toward your goal right now.
For example, if your goal is to get certified in a particular area of expertise by taking a three-part exam, make a plan toward that goal and begin with the first step in your plan.
Goal-setting journeys are much like life. You can do your best, but there are twists and turns that can throw you off. At times like this, consider taking some time off whether it be a short or long break. Here are some suggestions:
Recovering and recuperating will allow you to refocus your attention on your goal. Be cognizant of when you risk burning out and listen to what your body and mind are telling you.
Let's consider the following scenario: In pursuit of your goal, you have failed repeatedly. Despite persistence and patience, the results indicate that you will not be able to achieve your goal in the time frame and with the resources you have.
This is the type of situation where flexibility comes in. Smart decisions need to be made. Ask yourself the following questions:
Learn to embrace failure in your goal-setting journey. Failures are your best teachers. There is no quicker and more permanent way to learn than to try something and fail. Consider the following:
The idea is to fail earlier with lower costs invested rather than later, and use lessons from failure to build the next iteration of the product.
When you repeatedly fail in pursuit of a goal, ask yourself if there is another way or approach you should be using. Take a step back and assess what you are doing to achieve your goal and what specifically you need to change:
In this exercise, you will answer the following questions about persistence and flexibility.
In the course of goal setting, every small step successfully completed is a step toward a milestone for the goal. Every milestone reached is an important step toward the goal. Every failure successfully overcome is a victory in itself.
However, many people focus and dwell on all the work still needed toward the final goal. While looking ahead is important, celebrating small wins has much more potential to help you. Here's why:
A positive mind-set | Celebrating small wins can be as simple as commending yourself for successfully completing a small step. We are often our own worst critic. We are very quick to point out how we got up late, did not finish a job on time, or did not achieve what we set out to do. This kind of self-talk breeds a negative, critical mind-set. |
Motivation to continue | In long-term goals especially, it is necessary to feel motivated throughout the journey. Celebrating small successes along the way is an easy way to get that motivation. Be cognizant of every small accomplishment you have and use it to remind yourself how far you have already come. Use small wins and the thrill you get from them as reasons to continue on the journey. |
Support and encouragement from others | Celebrating small wins also involves sharing the news with family, friends, and your supporters. The more you recognize and share your smaller achievements the more encouragement and support you will receive from others. This can help you sustain through the inevitable challenges you will face in your journey. |
Focus on the present | Celebrating small wins helps you to stay focused on the present. |
In this exercise, you will answer the following questions about celebrating small wins.
Often we operate much below what our true potential is because we do not aspire to do something out of the norm. And if we do, we let obstacles stop us and we give up on our dreams.
Goal setting helps you get out of your comfort zone and expose yourself to circumstances, challenges, and emotions that you would not otherwise experience. We all have it in us to sustain through obstacles and keep moving forward.
We don't have to be somewhere else, in someone else's shoes with a different set of circumstances. We can be exactly where we are and continuously grow by following some basic guidelines.
Keep the following in mind:
No successful person has reached where he or she is today without setting goals. As you have learned in this course, goal setting will help you grow and lead a more fulfilled life.
Here are some tips to help you make goal setting a regular habit:
In this exercise, consider the idea of growing where you are planted when it comes to goal setting and respond to the following question.