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Set Goals

Bestselling author, Stephen Covey, wrote a book called 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  One of his “habits” is to “begin with the end in mind.”  Throughout my years working in the corporate world, and while personally reflecting on his simple advice, I have grown to embrace this idea in many aspects of my life.  This article will focus on setting your own specific goals and applying them in your everyday, young professional life.

The idea of “beginning with the end in mind” requires you to have an ultimate goal that you want to achieve.  These goals might range from a simple task to a life-long objective.  Beginning with the end in mind and setting goals are critical.  If you don’t proactively set a goal, how will you know you have achieved something that you want?  Some goals are obvious, but others are not so obvious and require a lot of thought.  Once you’ve determined your goal, then you can determine how to best achieve your goal.  But before you do so, let’s really evaluate what a goal needs to be.  According to Covey, goals need to be S.M.A.R.T. – which is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

Tackling the first word, goals need to be specific.  You might want to be healthy, but that goal is not specific enough.  Losing weight is a more specific goal, but it is not measurable.  You might want to consider the goal of losing 20 pounds.  Make sure the goal is achievable, because if you don’t have the training to achieve your goal of losing 20 pounds, you will find yourself frustrated.  Your goals must be realistic.  If you don’t have 20 pounds to lose, you are never going to reach your goal.  If you do have 20 pounds to lose, it might be unrealistic (and unhealthy) to lose that weight too quickly.  Make sure you have a time frame to achieve your goal.  If your goal is to lose 20 pounds, but you don’t have a date to do it by, then your goal could be never-ending.  Set a specific date to achieve your goals, and hold yourself accountable to that date.  Once you’ve got the end in mind, then you can strategize on how to reach your goal.  You can even set goals within goals, and track your efforts.  That may include going to the gym 4 days a week, completing your journal when you are at the gym, and eating healthy every day of the week.

Applying this as a young professional

1. The best and most effective presentations have a specific takeaway for their audiences.  But the best way for your audience to stay focused on the objective is to tell them at the beginning of the presentation what your objective is.  If you don’t tell the audience the specific takeaway, the audience might feel confused about what they are listening to.  The content of the presentation is important, but make sure your objective is clear when you begin and end the presentation.
2. I’ve seen a manager walk into a room, and before our meeting even started, ask, “What is the purpose of this meeting?”  The meeting organizer fumbled with his answer and the manager walked out of the room.  Make sure you know the purpose of every meeting you facilitate.  To expand on that, make sure you know the purpose of all of the tasks you take on.
3. Another application for a young professional is to consider your career path.  Do you have a specific title or level you want reach?  Do you want to make a certain amount of money by a certain year?  Being clear on these end goals will be critical to what actions you take in your career now.  If you are unclear about your career path, continue to think about it and continually refine your thoughts.
4. If you are coaching your kid’s basketball team, the basketball coach’s end goal is to score more points than the other team to win the game.  The coach has to strategize how to achieve that goal and relay that to his team so that they can execute.  The coach’s strategy might be to control the rebounds, prevent “easy baskets” from the opposing team, and to hustle after every loose ball.  Setting these goals for the team will teach the kids to set their own goals on the court and give the team a greater chance of winning.

Make sure you are thinking about the end game and setting clear goals for yourself in the beginning.  You can then celebrate your success along the way, and hopefully realize your dreams.  But, it all begins with the end in mind!