Motivation and Goal Setting

There can be no motivation without goals or desires. Goal setting is therefore intrinsic if a person is ever going to be able to push himself forward.

For goal setting to be effective, the goals must be clear and well defined. Having a bunch of goals in your mind just won’t do. Neither is a lengthy list of goals any measure of success. Take the time to prepare a set of short term and long term goals to help with your progress, and to motivate you to achieve your objectives. A long term goal, for instance, could be making your first million dollars. A short term goal would be to reach a certain achievable monthly sales target. This target will in turn help you reach your long term goal of becoming a millionaire. Trying to reach your long term goals at the very outset can lead to disappointment if you haven’t been successful within the first couple of months. Proper goal setting therefore is essential, if you are to motivate yourself towards your desired result.

Goals can be compared to maps. Say, you’re on the road alone and you’re trying to get to Phoenix. You won’t find a map that takes you directly from your house to Phoenix in one single swoop. Instead, you’ll have a road map that demarcates the entire journey from your hometown to Phoenix into several points - Point A, Point B, Point C and so on with Phoenix being the final destination. These points or stops are short term goals that help you reach your final destination.

In the same way, a goal setting exercise will allow you to break down your target into achievable sections which are possible for you to reach.

Say for instance, your biggest goal in life is to have a successful business with an annul business turnover of $10 million. Identify why this goal is so important to you. Having greater business success will mean

•	A better lifestyle for you and your family
•	Increased financial security for your future
•	Prestige that comes with wealth
•	As far as possible, avoid letting the date drive you back home. Return home either in your own vehicle or ask a trusted friend to pick you up. Don’t let the date stretch too late into the night.
•	The ability to take risks in your business and finances without worrying too much about the negative fallouts.

All of these can be seen as the benefits of achieving the main goal, and these serve as your motivating factors.

However having a goal like that can be intimidating, and may seem hard to achieve. Now, break down that goal into a series of easier goals which won’t take that long to achieve. For instance, set a goal of reaching a certain amount of sales turnover in this month. This is easier to achieve. Make efforts to reach this goal. When you have reached a certain figure a month, you will enjoy a sense of accomplishment and achievement, and this feeling will in turn goad you to reach your larger goal of $10 million. Goal setting is as simple as that.

The benefits of goal setting in motivation are manifold. Do remember however that goal setting can help in motivating you only if the goal itself excites you enough. If the goal doesn’t fill you with passion, you can try all you want, but you will never be able to motivate yourself. The keyword in motivation is desire. It’s impossible to motivate an individual who doesn’t desire his goal.

Take for instance a couple who’s having trouble in their marriage. Both of them desperately want the marriage to work, and towards this end they take steps to help the relationship survive. They attend marriage counseling sessions and undertake couples therapy, all in an effort to save their floundering relationship. Here, negative motivation is at work – the couple doesn’t want to go through a divorce and this is the motivating factor that pushes them to look for solutions to the crises in their relationship. The defining point here is that both the partners should have an interest in, and desire to make the relationship work. However, what if one of the partners – either the husband or the wife - is not really interested in saving the marriage? Then the efforts are doomed to fail. For the entire exercise to be a success, both partners must be equally invested in making the relationship work. They must desire the survival and enhancement of their relationship. If the husband or the wife is not really interested in what happens to them as a couple, then all marriage saving exercises are doomed to fail. Motivation to save the relationship will determine whether the goal is met or not. Motivation is therefore part of every facet of our daily lives.