I was at an event recently sharing some insights into successful leadership and attaining our goals, when I was asked the question ‘What lessons do I follow in achieving my goals’?
Having just come back from a motorcycle track-day in Sepang Malaysia, I shared a personal story on some of the guidelines I follow, which you may find of use.
Set Goals That Motivate You
When we set goals for ourselves, it is important that they motivate us: this means making sure that they are important to us, and that there is value in achieving them. If we have little interest in the outcome, or they are irrelevant given the larger picture, then the chances of us putting in the work to make them happen are slim. Motivation is key to achieving goals.
I had the goal of improving my track time, for those that may be into Motorbikes I’m riding a 2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale. I went to my first track-day in October 2017 and my lap time was just over 3 minutes around the 5.4km track. The thrill and experience was amazing and maybe I could have patted myself on the back, given myself a well done and accepted my time will be around the 3 minute mark, after all that not a bad time. However, being a competitive person and seeing other people achieving much better times, I wanted to do better and went about setting myself a goal.
It’s important to set goals that relate to the high priorities in our lives. Without this type of focus, we can end up with far too many goals, leaving us too little time to devote to each one. Goal achievement requires commitment, and it needs to be realistic, there was no way I was going to set a goal of reducing my time by 1 minute to the level of a world winning GP rider by the next track-day. But because hobbies are a high priority in my life I needed to set a goal that firstly was realistic being within mine and my bikes capability and secondly one that was achievable, so what guidelines did I follow?
Tip:
To make sure that your goal is motivating, write it down. Ask yourself, “If I were to share my goal with others, what would I tell them to convince them it was a worthwhile goal?” If you tell people what your Goal is, you’re making a public commitment to it and reinforcing your desire to achieve your goal.
Set SMART Goals
We have all heard of SMART goals already. But do we always apply the rule? The simple fact is that for goals to be achievable, they should be designed to be SMART. There are many variations of what SMART stands for, but the essence is this – goals should be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time Bound
Set Specific Goals
Goals must be clear and well defined. Vague or generalised goals are unhelpful because they don’t provide sufficient direction. We need goals to show us the way, to make it as easy as we can to get where we want to go by defining precisely where we want to end up. For example, my personal goal (having done some online research and talked to others) was to get to a time of 2:20, and that to break this down I would attempt to shave off 5 seconds every track day until I got to my target of 2:20. I shared this with all my friends and colleagues, alongside asking for advice on how I could achieve this. One great piece of advice I received was from an experienced rider saying simply that there are 14 corners around the track, if I manged to shave off 1 second in each corner, that would improve my lap time by 14 seconds. This made is easy for me to set a target each track-day to choose 5 corners each time that I needed to improve my time on.
Set Measurable Goals
If we set a specific goal, we then need to Include precise amounts, dates, and so on in our goals so we can measure our degrees of success. If my goal was simply defined as “To reduce my lap time” then a measly 1 second would achieve this, but could I say that that I’ve really achieved my ambition and been successful? Well yes, I guess, but would it really have been a goal worthwhile setting? So, by setting a target of reducing 5 seconds at each track-day, then by my 8thtrack-day I should have achieved my goal. By knowing when the track-days are and which ones I can get to, I would know exactly (on paper) when I should achieve my target.
Set Attainable Goals
We need to make sure that it’s possible to achieve the goals we set. If we set a ambition that we have no hope of achieving, we will only demoralise ourselves and erode our confidence. After all, one of the biggest reasons why people don’t set goals is the fear of failure. The more we know, the less we fear. As an example, the more I learnt about riding a bike around a track, the more I understood and the less I feared, which meant many hours of watching videos on YouTube on how to improve my riding style, best techniques etc… (just avoid the motorcycle crash compilations – that won’t help). My goal was going to be a challenge, it wasn’t going to be easy, but it seemed realistic and achievable. We need to resist the urge to set ambitions that are too easy. Accomplishing a objective that we didn’t have to work hard for can be anticlimactic at best and can also make us fear setting future goals that carry a risk of non-achievement. By setting realistic yet challenging targets, we can hit the balance we need. These are the types of goals that require us to “raise the bar” and they bring the greatest personal satisfaction, something that we can be proud of.
Set Relevant Goals
Goals should be relevant to the direction we want in our life and career. By keeping goals aligned with this, we will develop the focus we need to get ahead and achieve what we truly want. Relevant personal targets can provide long-term direction and short-term motivation. Keeping our life ambitions clearly defined and updated as ourcircumstances change and evolve is one of the most powerful ways to keep ourselves motivated throughout life. I personally like to try new hobbies, they expand my mind, provide me new skills, allow me to meet new people and importantly destress. Studies have shown that engaging in leisure activities not only helps people be happier and less bored but is also a great way to increase one’s productivity and even help people stay in shape. People are more likely to lose weight or stay fit when they take up a physical hobby, which can be both rewarding and fun.
Set Time-Bound Goals
Our goals must have a deadline. If we don’t set a deadline, then our goals may never be achieved. If our goal at this stage is Specific, Measurable, Attainable and Relevant and we have a Timeline to achieve this then we will know when we can celebrate our success of achieving it. When we are working to a deadline, our sense of urgency increases, and achievement can come that much quicker. Of course, life is not perfect and not all plans work out as we intend, so we have to be prepared for setbacks. I had one in August 2018 when I only shaved off 3 seconds during one track-day and not my target of 5. Did I give up? Of course not, I reviewed what mistakes I made, what I could do better, what I needed to do next time differently, then reviewed my Goal again to ensure it was still attainable by the date I set and to go about working on it again.
Tip:
Post your goals in visible places to remind yourself every day of what it is you intend to do. Put them on your walls, desk, computer monitor, bathroom mirror or refrigerator as a constant reminder. Publicly share your goals if appropriate, let people know what your Goals are and why you want to achieve them
Goal setting is much more than simply saying that you want something to happen. Unless we clearly define exactly what we want and why we want it, the odds of success are considerably reduced. By following the SMART rules, we can set goals with confidence and enjoy the satisfaction when we achieve what we set out to do.
So where am I with my Goal, well currently I’m at 2:24, my next track-day is coming up shortly and if I hit my goal as planned, I’m sure you will hear about it as I’ll be sharing and celebrating my success on social media….