Why setting goals for the year ahead must be taken seriously

People with written down goals are more likely to be successful than those without. PHOTO | FILE 

By CANUTE WASWA

In 1984, the late Mark H. McCormack wrote the bestseller What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School. It was about a research study conducted at Harvard between 1979 and 1989.

In 1979, Harvard MBA graduates were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” Only three per cent had written goals and action plans.

Thirteen per cent of the graduates had goals, but they were not in writing. The other 84 per cent had no specific goals.

A decade later in 1989, the researchers again interviewed the students from the 1979 class. They discovered that the 13 per cent who had unwritten goals were earning on average twice as much as the 84 per cent who had no goals at all.

The truly amazing finding was that the three per cent of students who had written clear goals when they left Harvard were earning more than 10 times the other 97 per cent.

What is a goal? It is simply a personal set of instructions, that when followed, yield a selected and predetermined result.

Immediately after university, I took up sailing as an Outward Bound instructor.

Sailing is a marvelous experience. You navigate your boat through the water in harmony with the wind. You use a rudder to steer, and you want to make sure you have a centreboard properly in place.

Without the rudder, you would have no control and without your centreboard, your sailboat would be at the mercy of the wind. You would literally be blown from side to side.

To sail, you also need a plan to get from one place to another successfully. As the Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca once said, “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.”

Seneca was right, and not just about sailing. I’ve found sailing to be an important model for life.

In sailing, your plan to get from point A to point B needs to be zigzagged since you won’t travel in a straight line. You’ll need to tack and jibe to get where you’re going since the wind only blows in one direction, and it might not be the direction you are planning to go.

Sometimes you’ll move with the wind, other times against it, and often have to make adjustments to reach your goal.

As you get into 2015, you will need to let go of some things. They may be tasks, habits or even people. Be aware what depletes you.
Delegate or outsource your energy-draining tasks and replace them with those that energise.

Recognise habits that move you forward in your goals, such as getting regular exercise, so you’re able to perform at your optimum level.

You’re in charge of your life and business. Design your business around the life you want to live and watch your achievements grow.

Cut your goals into bite-sized portions. Milestones direct efforts and raise levels of persistence above standard levels of operation. Milestones foster conscious problem solving and creative innovation and they are the critical link between goals and performance. They can be likened to ‘mini-goals’ or ‘goal facets’.

Above all, be sure your goals are attainable. Goals must be set within your ability level or else they will fail and damage your self-confidence.

In everything you achieve, take satisfaction from your efforts, perseverance, mental strength and judgment. And always acknowledge the contributions of family members and friends upon whose shoulders you stand.

Happy New Year.

Mr Waswa is a management and HR specialist and managing director of Outdoors Africa. E-mail: waswa@outdoorsafrica.co.ke.