this week we are focussing on defining our goals…
Exploring the difference between goals and intentions and habits and how they can help us reach our goals.
what are goals?
A goal is an aim or purpose. Goals are our aspirations. The small actions we take on a daily basis help us create success and achieve our goals. Achieving our goals happens because we make a daily commitment to adapting our behaviours, mindset and habits to work towards creating the change we want. Small, daily consistent changes and regular goal setting can lead to big results over time.
We can set short or long term goals, but to make them most effective, it is better to make them specific and measurable and set goals that:
Small, achievable and measurable over time
Have specific and clear outcomes
SMART Goal Setting Model
The SMART model is one of the most well-known and used models when it comes to goal setting. It has proven highly successful in its use for both individual and group goal-setting.
Here’s what SMART stands for:
Specific – Each goal must be specific and as clearly defined as possible. You can have multiple goals, but each one must be clear.
Measurable – Each goal must also have clearly defined metrics for how it can be measured – either for progress or the end goal
Achievable – It can be easy to get carried away when setting goals, but a goal that is ultimately not achievable will deplete your motivation. Keep goals small and achievable. You can always build on and add to them later.
Relevant – This is where putting some time in to plan your goals can pay off. There’s no point in pursuing a goal that doesn’t add to your core values or ultimate desires for your life. Make sure each goal is relevant to you.
Time-Bound – This links nicely with the achievable step. Make sure you set yourself realistic deadlines for each goal and it’s required steps to keep you focused and motivated.
The SMART model has been widely accepted as the go-to model because it can be applied to simple and complex goals, work goals, personal goals, individual and group goals. It’s a highly adaptable model with a very clear structure that can be used with other planning and business tools to achieve large goals.
goals and intentions
What’s the difference between goals and intentions?
Goals are focused on the future. They’re about a destination or a specific achievement. For example:
- I am aiming to take part in a trade show next spring.
- My goal is to represent Northern Ireland in the Startup World Cup.
Intentions are in the present moment. Intentions are lived each day, independent of reaching the goal or destination. They are about the inner relationship with yourself. For example:
Everyday, I’ve turned up with the intention to make a micro improvement in my business or creative work. No matter how tired I feel or how busy I am.
I intend to be positive, calm and focused in my creative work today.
what are habits?
Habits are behaviors we perform on a daily or otherwise regular basis. They’re not just any behaviors, though. A behavior is a habit if some component of it is at least somewhat “automatic.” Some studies estimate that habits make up 40% of our everyday behavior.Habits are the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day.
Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits. How in shape or out of shape you are? A result of your habits. How happy or unhappy you are? A result of your habits. How successful or unsuccessful you are? A result of your habits.
What you repeatedly do (i.e. what you spend time thinking about and doing each day) ultimately forms the person you are, the things you believe, and the personality that you portray. Everything from procrastination and productivity to strength and nutrition starts with better habits. When you learn to transform your habits, you can transform your life.
With a habit, there’s some cue that triggers a behavior. For example, if you eat at the same time every day, time is the trigger, eating is the behavior—that’s a habit.
Habits are reinforced by rewards. Sometimes the rewards are easy to spot. Take our eating example: the pleasure of eating food is the reward.
How to stick to good habits
1. Start Small
Want to commit to spending 3 evenings a week after work working on your creative business? Start with sitting down and turning on your laptop before you do anything else on the first day and spend 5 mins planning what you would like to work on. Then on day 2 maybe implement one short task from your list from day 1 e.g. do 1 social media post, or contact 1 potential supplier or customer. Day 3 increase the time spent on your business e.g implement 2 tasks on your list from Day 1 such as 1 social media post and contact 1 potential supplier or customer, or spend double the amount of time on a particular task but still keep it simple and attainable gradually build up to the level you would like and feel you need to make your business successful. Pretty soon, you’ll realize you’ve done everything you need to start the habit of regularly working on your business alongside your current jon.
Want to make your creative business a full-time activity? Start on Day 1 by getting up on time, dressed and showered and sitting down ready to start work by 9am and commit to spending 30 mins uninterrupted working on your business (picking 1 key task that will push your business forward). Commit to getting up and ready for work on a daily basis and gradually build your working hours. Until it is a habit to spend your working hours, working in a focused, productive manner on your creative business.
2. Focus your energy on just showing up
For example if you want to work on your creative business regularly, focus on sitting at your desk and turning on your computer regularly and that’s it. You just have to sit at your desk, you don’t have to worry about what work you do while you’re there. You don’t have to worry about doing anything at all other than just sitting at your desk! Just show up and sit at your desk. If you focus on just sitting at your desk, once you’re there, you’re much more likely to do something useful which takes very little extra effort once you’re sat down at your desk with your computer turned on. Getting their takes the most effort at first. So focus on that.
Or perhaps consider, organising your space and equipment in advance and just commit and focus on sitting down in that space with your equipment on a regular basis. The chances are once you are sat down with your laptop/materials in front of you, you will do something.
What you’re doing is focusing on the behaviors that enable your desired habit. If you put yourself in situations where you’re more likely to succeed you are more likely to succeed.
3. Focus on the Process not the goal
If you fall off track and you will don’t beat yourself up. The goal isn’t to be perfect. Those who develop solid habits do so not because they are 100% perfect in their execution, it’s because they’re able to consistently correct their course when they get off track.
It’s okay if you missed a workshop or event or an allotted evening or day working on your business. Try not to miss two in a row. It’s alright if you turned up to work on your business but spent the whole time on your social media. Try to make today different and pick something easy to get you back on track.
But even if you missed two or three evenings or days in a row working on your creative business that’s not an excuse to give up. You’re not broken, you’re not stupid, you’re not weak. You’re just early in the process. And that’s the point: it’s a process.
defining your goals
Now you know how goal setting can help you, it’s important to know how to actually set goals and stick with them. There are a number of formal and informal goal setting tools you can use to help you set goals and keep track of, and stay focused on what you’re trying to achieve. For example
Using a Journal for tracking your goals and smaller daily achievements
Using your mobile phone to set daily reminders or use goal setting apps
Place motivational notes and posters set around your home or work desk
Using visualisation activities e.g. mindfulness, affirmations and meditation
Accountability can help, tell friends and family what you’re working towards so they can offer support
Joining groups or meet-ups with like-minded people trying to achieve similar goals
Using goal setting software tools and apps
setting goals
Remember goal is an aim or purpose. Achieving our goals happens because we make a daily commitment to adapting our behaviours, mindset and habits to work towards creating the change we want. Small, daily consistent changes and regular goal setting can lead to big results over time.
We can set short or long term goals, but to make them most effective, it is better to make them specific and measurable and set goals that:
Small, achievable and measurable over time
Have specific and clear outcomes
setting intentions
week 5 book
Our book recommendation this week is 'Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World' by Cal Newport. Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there's a better way.
In Deep Work, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill.
A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Deep Work takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories-from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air-and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored. Deep Work is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.
WEEK 5 PODCAST
This week's podcast recommendation is 'How to Fail' with Elizabeth Day. This is a podcast that celebrates the things that haven't gone right. Every week, a new interviewee explores what their failures taught them.