Reinventing Yourself with The Duchess of York by Sarah Ferguson The Duchess of York

Author:Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.,
Published: 2001-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Right Way to Set Goals

You might have a mission or a guiding vision of what you want for your life, but how does that translate into action? Dreams alone aren’t going to help you improve your life. What you need is a clear description of your goals, because it’s your goals—individually and collectively—that will deliver you to your chosen destination in life. Once you’ve mapped out your goals, you can begin to take giant steps toward making your dreams become reality. Research with athletes has found that simply setting concrete goals can help them improve their performance considerably.

When it comes to formulating your goals, it’s important to couch them in positive, active terms. Instead of setting goals that begin with “Don’t …” or “I will not …” consider the essence of your desired situation or outcome and structure your goal that way. But also think about what it will take on your part to make that goal happen and present it in a statement that begins with “I will …” or “I’m going to …” If you want to gain a promotion at work, for example, you might tell yourself, “I’m going to write a first-rate report that will catch my supervisor’s attention.” If you want to improve your health, you might say, “I’m going to quit smoking” or “I will start exercising for 30 minutes at least four times per week.”

If you keep your goals specific, well defined, and upbeat, you’ll be giving yourself clear direction and something precise to focus your efforts on. That’s because, phrased in these terms, your goals become proactive or action-oriented, rather than passive or results-oriented. This places the burden on you to achieve the desired outcome, which is how it should be. If, up until now, you’ve expressed your dreams in terms of your desired results, don’t be discouraged. You don’t have to start from scratch; simply forget about the result for the moment and focus instead on what you can do to achieve that goal and what’s within your control. It’s a slight shift in perspective—from “Save money” to “I’m going to put aside $50 from every paycheck,” from “Improve my marriage” to “I will set the alarm clock 30 minutes earlier so that we can start each day by having breakfast together.”

Before reading any further, take some time to contemplate the outcome you desire, then reformulate your goals in terms of concrete steps you can take to achieve those results. A chart (see page 119) can be a useful tool.

The language behind your plan of action should tell you exactly what you need to do to get the results you crave—and your goals should be measurable. Ideally, the goals you set should be hard enough to be challenging but not so hard that they’re virtually unattainable. There’s no reason to strive for Mission Impossible when Mission Reasonable would be much more beneficial for your life and your sense of well-being. On the other hand, goals shouldn’t be so easy that you don’t have to work hard for them.

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