Everywhere you turn people are telling you to set goals. You must set goals if you want to be successful. It’s all about the goals. Yada. Yada. Yada. Goals are not the answer. Goal setting is totally overrated. It is about the habits.
I have been teaching seminars and webinars in the field of productivity and effectiveness for over twenty years. (Yes, I started when I was 12.) It is no surprise then that I have done a little research and tried a ton of techniques to be more efficient, effective, and productive. And in the process, I have been to a lot of training classes, read a lot of books, even listened to a lot of podcasts. And they all seem to talk about goal setting. And that you must make them SMART. (I am so tired of that acronym, what about you?) I have set goals to clean my garage, to lose weight, to net a certain income, to walk a 5K. Some of them I have achieved and others I have not. Why? I set the goal, shouldn’t that mean I will succeed? No, it doesn’t. And that is why goal setting is overrated.
I set a goal recently that I was going to clean out my Tupperware cabinet in my kitchen. Does anyone else have one of those out of control cabinets? I am totally convinced every time someone loses a sock in their dryer it appears as a Tupperware lid in my cabinet. But I digress. I was fed up and going to get that darn cabinet organized. And I met that goal and my cabinet looked amazing! And now, two weeks and one family gathering later, and it is a mess again. Why? Because I never changed the daily habits that would keep it clean. The goal was achieved but the habit stayed the same.
Goals without the habits do nothing. I can get really motivated to clean out my kitchen cabinets but if I continue my poor habits of throwing stuff back in them when I unload the dishwasher, then have I really been successful? It is the habits I do everyday that create the success.
I have been reading the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, and I am loving it. (I totally recommend it, by the way!) Clear says “Goals restrict your happiness.” (I am guessing there are a lot of people that are going into cardiac arrest as they read this!) He explains it this way. Goals are the plan. But the habits-- or the action steps-- are the systems that get you there. I have been teaching something similar for years.
The next time you are thinking about setting a goal, go for it. But don’t stop there. Break it down and identify what the small every day action steps you will need to take to achieve it. If I want to walk a 5K, I need to walk a little at a time before then, right? Maybe a block today and two blocks tomorrow. Whatever it is. What are you going to do every day to get there? What habits will you create for yourself? Growth happens in small steps.
There are 3 things I do to create new, positive habits. Maybe they will help you too.
First, schedule it. I can’t stress that enough. Treat the task like it is a priority, because it is! Not just the week you will do it but the time during the day. Make an appointment with yourself. If you had an appointment with a colleague or your boss, you wouldn’t just blow it off. You would show up. Even if you didn’t want to. So, treat your habit with the same respect. This is something you are supposed to want to do!
Second, do it first thing in the morning. Yes, first thing. Before you check email, before you work on that project, or you make that phone call. Make that appointment with yourself for first thing and know it out. So many of my workout fiend friends say they are committed to it and do it first thing in the morning. And it works. Make it a priority and do it first.
Third, make it easy. This just means make is accessible. If you want to start making a smoothie for breakfast every day, then put the blender on the counter and cut that fruit the night before. When the tools are easy to get to you are more likely to do it. Lay out your running clothes the night before if running is your thing. If you want to grow your sales get your call list out and out it in the middle of your desk. Make it easy and accessible.
I hope this gives you a couple of ideas and maybe a little motivation to create those new habits. I understand this isn't brain surgery, but who knows? Maybe this will help you and you will achieve those goals in the process?
Now, if your goal is clean your Tupperware cabinet, good luck. I can’t help you with that. It is just a black hole of lids. Or at least mine is.