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Go-getter’s grit

Have you ever wondered how your colleague could lose weight while you could not, your neighbour could get a cushy job with one of the Fortune 500 firms, your co-passenger in the metro train got a hike he had been pining for? What is it that makes people attain what they aimed for? The answer is simple — they set goals and work towards them- tirelessly, incessantly and ceaselessly.

Go-getter’s grit


Gauri Chhabra

Have you ever wondered how your colleague could lose weight while you could not, your neighbour could get a cushy job with one of the Fortune 500 firms, your co-passenger in the metro train got a hike he had been pining for? What is it that makes people attain what they aimed for? The answer is simple — they set goals and work towards them- tirelessly, incessantly and ceaselessly.

A whole generation, is trying to find a way into the wilderness called life, trying to create a relative space for itself. It is said, “Your life is not what you think it to be, it is what you are and what you are today depends upon the goals you set for yourself yesterday. It may sound clichéd but understanding the importance of goal setting and knowing how to set goals for yourself is crucial to accomplishing great things in your life.

Goal setting hinges on the idea of turning your gaze inwards and in the belief that if you take right steps in the right direction at the right time, things will happen.

Chopping up

Now, in this slug fest of warring needs and desires, how do you put relatively different set of goals in the right slots:

Long-term goals: Long term goals define what you wish to be. They carve a roadmap for you. Are you satisfied with the career you are in? Do you look forward to go to work every Monday? If not, you did not set your long-term goals properly when the time was ripe.

Long-term goals are your photograph in the future. For setting them — Visualise. Visualise as long as five-seven years. In today’s work world, careers take numerous twists and turns and the future is often murky. Five years, in today’s environment, is very hard to predict. Most businesses don’t even know what’s going to be required in two or three years.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • What are my values?
  • What are my priorities?
  • What am I willing to do to get there?

For example, you may say that your long-term goal is

“To be a marketing manager in the FMCG sector and be involved in the comprehensive topline activities of the company through my hard work and constant interactions with counterparts from the same industry”.

Short-term goals: Long-term goals chopped into simple, doable, measurable steps form short -term goals. In order to help accurately determine your progress, create smaller short term goals that can be measured. When setting short-term goals think of measurable steps such as: how many, number of times, how long, and so forth.For instance:

“To take up MBA in Organised Retail from the Indian Institutes of Management in the next two years”.

Immediate goals: These are the steps that need to be taken to successfully complete each short-term goal. They always relate to a larger goal. Each short-term goal can be broken down into a plan to meet that goal. For example, if a short-term goal is to pass courses, immediate goals might include: attending all classes, doing all assignments on time, and studying for exams. For instance;

“To do all assignments in time and clear the CAT with a good percentile”.

How to set goals

You may ask, “Why is it important to set goals?” It is important because in order to make something happen, we need to be able to envision it with clarity before we can make it a reality. What do you want? Ask yourself, what would I go for if I knew I would be successful? Once you have an idea in mind, you can make things happen:

Introspect and identify: To identify what specific goals make sense for you, begin first by writing down what specific things you want in your life. How much money do you want to earn? What is more significant for you — lucre or fame? Do you want a challenge in your career everyday? Are you happy doing a routine job as long as it pays the bills? Would you like to take a vacation every year?

Identify who you are,decide what you want, and set your goals…

Aspire and be inspired: You set a goal for being one of the greatest HR consultants, what do you do after that? Let it sit? You need to constantly aspire towards it. In order for a goal to hold attention, it must inspire you, generate a feeling. Once you have determined what you want, practice feeling what it will be like when you achieve your goal. Attaching a feeling to a goal makes it real. Now, mentally rehearse the feelings you will have once you achieve it. Is it joy? Happiness? Relief? Pride? Remember, your desire to achieve that feeling is why you have this goal. You need to shed the limitations you have set unconsciously.

Try turning your limiting beliefs into questions. If you put the words, “How can I …” in front of the problematic belief, you turn it into a direction for action. You can replace “I don’t have the time” with “how can I find the time?”

Aspire, ascend and achieve…

Adapt and flex: Setting goals for yourself is one thing and feeling obsessed about them is another. You need to be flexible enough to change or tweak a little as per your circumstances.

Sometimes we are afraid to set goals because we are afraid of disappointment or failure. Failure is just an opportunity to redefine our goals. We need to have flexibility to notice that as we move in the direction of our goals, there are sometimes more worthy goals that are revealed.

Adapt, redefine, and restructure…

Chop and drop

Chop your goals down to specific bits. For example while choosing a career, always identify the sector you wish to be in first. It might be Financial Services, Organised Retail and the like. Once you have identified the sector, identify the industry for instance, banking, insurance etc. Then it is time to zero in on a specific firm within the industry, eg ICICI, HDFC within banking industry. Once you have chopped down the goals, ask yourself, “What needs to happen to make this happen. Continue to break down all of the action steps necessary. Once you have broken down the action plan to the lowest level, you know exactly where to start and exactly what needs to happen! You have created “mini goals” to help you reach your main goal. You may also need to drop some goals which may seem irrelevant now with the passage of time.

Transform Insurmountable mountains into walkable hills…

Edit and look back

If you want things to change, you have to decide to make things change. Just as we need to establish what our goals are, we also need to make a commitment to those goals. You must set goals that are important to you, and then you need to identify the steps necessary to accomplish them. What can you do now that will move you towards your goal? What kind of edits will lead you to the attainment of the goal?

Also, look back and re-evaluate your path. There’s something extremely humbling about looking back on a goal you set for yourself six months, one year, or even five years ago and realising that you were supposed to accomplish a lot more than you actually did. It’s a concrete sign that whatever you’re doing isn’t working, and you need to make real changes if you want to get where you want to be.

Look rear, change gear and move on…

Lock in and stay tuned

By setting goals you stay away from distractions and stay focused. To get a better idea, imagine this. Your best friend is moving to the USA and his flight takes off at 9:00 PM. You leave right after work at 8:30 p.m to see him off and you know it’s a 20-minute walk to get to the airport. So you make it a goal to reach the airport in 15 minutes by jogging so that you can have more time to spend with one another. Would you stop for a break or a snack? Would you stop by your house before going to the airport? I bet you answered no for each question and at the end of the day this is what a goal gives you. FOCUS. No matter who you meet along the way or what you see your goal allows you to stay locked in.

Lock it in.

Getting there

Now, that you have set your goals, you have to go out there and make them happen! Achieving your goals takes commitment and focus — but with a properly planned route and realistic, manageable steps, you will get there.

— The writer is a Punjab-based career consultant


Chopping up

Now, in this slug fest of warring needs and desires, how do you put relatively different set of goals in the right slots:

Long-term goals: Long term goals define what you wish to be. They carve a roadmap for you. Are you satisfied with the career you are in? Do you look forward to go to work every Monday? If not, you did not set your long-term goals properly when the time was ripe.

Long-term goals are your photograph in the future. For setting them — Visualise. Visualise as long as five-seven years. In today’s work world, careers take numerous twists and turns and the future is often murky. Five years, in today’s environment, is very hard to predict. Most businesses don’t even know what’s going to be required in two or three years. 

Ask yourself these questions:

What are my values?

What are my priorities?

What am I willing to do to get there?

For example, you may say that your long-term goal is

“To be a marketing manager in the FMCG sector and be involved in the comprehensive topline activities of the company through my hard work and constant interactions with counterparts from the same industry”.

Short-term goals: Long-term goals chopped into simple, doable, measurable steps form short -term goals. In order to help accurately determine your progress, create smaller short term goals that can be measured. When setting short-term goals think of measurable steps such as: how many, number of times, how long, and so forth.For instance:

“To take up MBA in Organised Retail from the Indian Institutes of Management in the next two years”.

Immediate goals: These are the steps that need to be taken to successfully complete each short-term goal. They always relate to a larger goal. Each short-term goal can be broken down into a plan to meet that goal. For example, if a short-term goal is to pass courses, immediate goals might include: attending all classes, doing all assignments on time, and studying for exams. For instance;

“To do all assignments in time and clear the CAT with a good percentile”. 

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