Successful people in the world are those who set goals and commit to achieving them. Before we examine the goal-achievement challenge, you need to understand the fundamental psychology of goal setting. That is to say, how it works.
Psychological studies on the highest achieving men and women demonstrate that people with clear, specific goals, immediately and by default, become psychologically Goal Oriented individuals. [No mystery there]. The pure act of setting goals will make you oriented toward the goals you have set for yourself. If you go to the trouble of developing well thought out, specific, and challenging yet attainable goals for yourself, the chances are that once you develop them, you will become attentive to the goals you’ve just set and, therefore, become goal-oriented individuals.
Since goals take place in the future, those with goals also by default become psychologically, motivationally, Future-Oriented individuals. You are already goal-oriented, meaning you are focused on the goals you’ve set. Now, you are also future-oriented because the goals you’ve set for yourself take place in the future. This is a great thing to be as a professional. You always want to be striving toward the future…. to be your better self. You will be looking toward the future, but instead of dreaming about it, you will be taking action-oriented steps to achieve your goals for your future.
Finally, we set goals because we want to achieve them; another automatic psychological outcome is we immutably become psychologically, motivationally, human-behaviorally, and actively Success Oriented individuals. Once we go through all the trouble of developing our well thought out, detailed, challenging yet attainable goals, we will be motivated actually to achieve them; thus, we will become success-oriented – working toward attaining the goals we’ve set for ourselves.
[To put that into perspective, we can all think of people we know who are naturally ‘Failure Oriented’ individuals]. They are either failure-oriented due to lack of planning, motivation, a can’t do attitude or a combination of these.
These hallmarks are known as the Three Unique Psychological Success Orientations – the stuff that governs everything we do in the present, the moment, the now, as we go about our lives putting people, places, and things together to affect positive outcomes in the future, as it relates to our goals.
The good news is, the simple act of reviewing our goals and activities daily serves, in and of itself, to ensure we don’t forget them – thereby keeping them fresh, clear, specific, and at the front of our mind.
Unforgotten goals quite naturally engender Unique Psychological Success Orientations that, by default, impact in a positive way our thoughts and activities as we go through our lives, focused undauntedly at the moment on things we wish to accomplish.
The Bottom Line: Those without goals, more often than not, find themselves directionless, relying mostly on things like luck.
Goal Setting is only the first step. Constant Goal Review is the activity that ensures Goal Achievement and Success!
