Incase you have been wondering just how important the role of actually writing down your goal is to you achieving it, then take a look at this research that was conducted at Harvard in 1976.
The then MBA graduating class was asked by a group of researchers if any of them had set any clear written goals for the future. “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?”.
Only 3% of the group had clearly written goals and plans for the future. The other 13% had unwritten goals while 84% had no goals at all. Ten years later when this group was tracked down, it was recorded that the 13% with unwritten goals were earning twice as much as the other 84% with no goals. The amazing part of it is that the 3% with written goals were actually earning 10 times more than the other 97% combined.
With this, we all can agree that clearly defining your goal and actually writing them down plays a major role in you achieving them. I am not saying that writing down goals automatically equals achieving them. There is a place for planning. visualizing, adjusting those goals, rolling up your sleeves and working your fingers to the bone to achieve them. However, clearly defining your goals will give you focus, direction and drive you need to work on it and stay with it till achieved.
While everyone is assumed to be working so hard on a daily basis, having a clear goal will guide you on where or what to focus your time and energy on because you have a specific target in mind. Motivation, creativity and drive are other upsides of having a clear outcome in mind and paper. Imagine being the fastest runner to arrive at nowhere.
Having said that, here are 7 challenges of not having clearly defined goals or outcomes.
- Lack of Focus & Direction: Having a clear intention, purpose or goal, sets you on a path. You have a direction and a specific thing you are looking to achieve at the end of the day. However, when you do not have one, then you are all over the place and trying to chase the next shiny object that pops up. Just as Lewis Carol said “if you don’t know where you want to go then it doesn’t matter which path you take”.
- Loss of Energy/ Motivation: When you are all over the place in trying to achieve anything and everything, there is a high chance that your energy will be depleted very quickly. This is because you are spreading yourself thin and not really focusing on the things that really matter to you, in this case your desired goals or outcomes. Even incases where you are working on a job or project, you tend to loss motivation pretty easily. The job may then get boring or the project tiring. In some way, this is partly because you haven’t defined what you are looking to achieve from the job or project. Clearly defining what you truly desire actually guides you on knowing when to walk away from certain job, businesses or partnerships.
- Lack of Growth: Achieving your desired outcome at the end of the day is a great feeling but what is equally or more important is the person you become in the process of achieving those goal. You get to grow and develop certain aspects of yourself, you build or improve your network, you build character and habits that support the achievement of the goal. Maybe you get more resilient, or learn to stay focused even when doors have been shut in your face a couple of times. You will not be determined or focused to stay through or grow through the process unless you have clearly defined what your desired outcome is.
- Stress and Frustration: I guess everyone may have experienced frustration at some point in their lives, maybe in a job, relationship, business or other areas. In other words, stress and frustration occur sometimes in life but if happens ever more rapidly if you don’t know where you are heading, what you are looking to achieve or even for what purpose. It is like walking out of your house and flagging down a taxi with no direction in mind. You will be frustrated because the taxi may stop at first and ask where you are headed but when you responds is “I don’t know” I bet they will always drive off leaving you frustrated or thinking you have lost it. Take the time to think through and write out what you want to achieve.
- Creativity Suffers: When you really desire to be, do, have or create something. Your creative juices go all out. You begin to have ideas on how to go about achieving them. You may even be surprised at how much you are able to do or achieve. But when there is no guidance or direction towards which this creativity could flow, then even your creativity becomes stifled.
- Miss Out on Opportunities: Have you found yourself in a position were you truly desired to own something? lets say a particular brand of phone or a particular color of car. At the time you were making this decision, it probably seemed like a new item and only very few people had them. But once you have set your mind on getting it, then you begin to see it everywhere. It almost feels like this things just appeared out of thin air but the truth is, they had been there all along you just weren’t looking for them. Where your focus goes, energy flows!
- Not Achieve Desired Outcome: It was Lewis Carrol who said “if you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you you get there” In this case, this is pretty literal. Because you actually don’t have a clear idea what you want to achieve, you will have no clear way of telling when you have achieved it.
You can watch the live conversation we had on this topic below. I am excited to hear your thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment.