Setting goals is not new, and the first record found mention its origin in the early twentieth century by Frederick Winslow Taylor, the father of scientific management, also known as Taylorism. Taylor wore the goals as a way to increase the productivity of factories and enterprises, the method according to studies, proved to be very effective to business reality.
Goal setting personal life in parts has points in common with the business world, since both work with the efficiency and productivity of their workers and athletes, therefore, the establishment of corporate goals could be transferred to the personal reality where you can guide the way to go in training, acting as an essential intervention technique to regulate motivation, and positively influence the variables: concentration stress / anxiety, self-confidence and group cohesion.
A survey conducted in the eighties with US athletes showed an interesting aspect to the subject we are dealing with:
Ten athletes jumped a stick that was the time limit that each used to achieve. Of the ten jumps, eight were successful; two failed. In another day and under the same conditions, it was requested that these ten athletes jumped again. Should jump in the best possible way, aiming to overcome the earlier mark. But now there was a difference: it was not put any stick to set the height. Instead, sensors detected the height reached. This time, the result was contrary to the previous step: only two were successful; eight failed. What is the difference between the two situations? What made the results were so different? The significant difference was that in the second stage, athletes, however, strove not had their clearly defined objectives.
If persistence was considered the fuel of the people who are successful, no doubt the goals are your engines. When you have a real goal, this causes us to have the courage to overcome the greatest adversities.
We should stand out that to have an important goal, and we must remember a few ingredients:
M: Measurable – If you can not measure the result, how do you know if you succeeded in reaching their target? “To have the maximum possible customers” is not a goal, after all, how much is the maximum? If you consider this as a goal, any value that reaches will find that this is the most …
E: specific – again, leave as clear as possible where you want to get it helps us find the way and focus our efforts. Saying “I’ll have a computer” is far less powerful than saying “I’ll have a Pentium III of 500mtz and a 17-inch monitor.” Be careful if you set a goal for the first example you can get a 286 …
T: time – another powerful weapon in setting goals is the deadline to achieve them. Do not set a time limit does not help us organize and generally takes longer than necessary to achieve the goal. After all, if we have time, we will have a lifetime to try …
A: Attainable – the goal must be something tangible. To establish that I will visit Mars until my next birthday certainly not motivate me shall seek ways to realize such a dream. On the other hand, set a goal that is not challenging also mobilizes efforts to achieve it. The goal must have a personal meaning. Something that causes you to lift the morning bed with “poke” to walk another step in the path that brings you closer to its realization.
“There is no favorable wind for those who do not know you’re getting at.”
Would you like to read more about this topic? This book might interest you: Goal Setting.