Why Goals Help
Motivation
We are all motivated by different things. Some by money, some by power, some by chocolate . With all these things, we can be motivated in only one of two ways: towards the pleasure or away from the pain. Let's take the pleasure first.
Towards pleasure motivation
If you were motivated by money (I'm sure you're not, but just imagine it), and motivated towards money, you might say:
"I want to be rich."
or
"I want to be able to afford a big house and lots of expensive holidays."
or
"I want lots of money."
Away from pain motivation
The other way of being motivated; moving away from pain
You would say:
"I don't want to be poor."
or
"I hate not being able to pay my bills."
or
"I don't like not being able to afford any new clothes."
Why is this important?
If you have a clear goal, where ever you are you know which direction you need to move in to get closer to it. So you are always moving towards it.
If you have no goal, just something that you are frightened of or don't want, you will move away from it when it gets too close. You will move in any direction at all, just move away from it. You will only be spurred into action when the problem, pain or danger is close. Once it's gone away you will return to inaction.
How much does it cost, not having goals?
For me, this is the crucial point. I wouldn't say I was mean, just careful with my money. When I realised just how much more cost-effective it was to set clear goals, it changed my whole perspective on life.
Why not having goals costs you so much
Imagine you have no money in your bank account. You are motivated towards pleasure. You want lots of money. Are you motivated to get some? Yes, of course you are. Once you have some money, are you motivated to get some more? Yes.
Now imagine you are motivated to move away from pain. You have no money (lots of pain). So are you motivated to move away from that situation? Yes. Now imagine you have got yourself some money. So you have no more pain. Are you still motivated? No.
The motivation has gone so you don't focus on moving away from the pain - guess what? You end up in pain again and look what happens to your bank account.
Solving the same problem time and time again
This is what happens when you use away from pain motivation. You end up using lots of effort to solve the same problem over and over again. It's a very inefficient process.
You will see it in many areas - just have a look at some of your colleagues and some of the people you know.
The easy way
When you see this happening, the first thing to do is to ask yourself what you need to achieve. It's really worth spending half an hour on that. It will save you so much time in the end. Don't worry if you find it hard at first, you may have just got into the habit of always looking on the down side. Keep at it and you'll find things will improve.
For more help with motivation, get these two bookets at a special price of just £8
How to Motivate Yourself and Others
67 ways to make sure you get things done by Nancy Slessenger
Find out:
- What motivation is
- The easy first step that really helps in every situation
- Examples of different kinds of motivation and how to work with them
- How to keep people motivated once you’ve got them going
- How to deal with negativity and complaints
- How to motivate ‘negative’ people
- How to motivate highly creative people
- How to motivate people to be more proactive
- How to motivate people to do mundane jobs
- How to motivate people when you can’t increase their pay
- How to motivate people in redundancy situations
- How to motivate people to improve quality and accuracy
- How to motivate people to work well in teams
- How to motivate people to accept change
- How to motivate yourself when you lose interest
- How to motivate yourself to complete unpleasant tasks
- How to motivate yourself when you are stressed
And
How to Write Objectives That Work
55 tips and techniquest to help you write SMART objectives by Nancy Slessenger
- Easy ways to write your objectives from scratch
- The difference between objectives, behaviours and values
- The five steps you need to take in order to write your objectives
- How to make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bounded)
- How to avoid one of the biggest problems with writing objectives
- Eight dangerous words and phrases you must avoid and what to do instead
- The three ways to put time into your objectives
- Three examples of objectives people really struggle with including “Go on a presentation skills course” You’ll find out what’s wrong with that and how to write really effective development objectives.
- How to write objectives for Personal Development
- How to write really difficult Health and Safety objectives so they are meaningful and help you. All the examples are real ones. You’ll probably recognise most of them.
- The acid test to ensure your objectives are right
- How to measure your progress
- Seven things you need to do once you have written your objectives that will ensure success