Goal Setting | Lesson 1 – What’s a Goal?

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Video Transcript
Hi, Jason Seiden here!

You are viewing lesson 1 in my program on Goal Setting. I appreciate your business!

This lesson takes you back to the very beginning and ensures that you understand what a goal is in the first place.
We’re going to ask the question, “What’s goal?” and we are going to answer that question.
Ready?
Here we go…

We start by setting a baseline: there are many ways to get goal setting wrong. The mistakes can be grouped loosely into three categories:
-Tasks that are disguised as goals
-Excuses disguised as goals
-Wishful thinking disguised as goals
Tasks include things like complying with bureaucratic rules, or getting through your “to do” list.
Excuses include activities that fill your day that you use to pretend like you’re incapable of doing more. These are the things you tell your boss to explain why you can’t pick up that new project.
Wishful thinking includes things like rationalizing why whatever you’re doing now must be right… even though it’s not working for you.
Don’t worry if you see yourself in some of these. Researchers have discovered that for a variety of reasons, we all have a tendency to make mistakes like these. It’s hardwired into the human condition. No matter how much we may not want to admit it, every one of us has to fight a natural tendency to fall into one or more of these goal setting traps.
That’s what this program is about: giving you the tools to avoid these traps.

Goals are where you are going when you are actually moving.
When you get in the car, to drive somewhere, you have a goal. It’s where you’re about to drive to.
It’s not the errand you need to run along the way. (The errand is a to-do list item.)
It’s not the traffic you deal with along the way that fills your attention. (The stuff you do minute to minute, like stop and go and change lanes and avoid accidents, are your activities.)
It’s not the places you’d like to visit someday. (The places you’d like to go makes up your wish list.)
Your goal is where you’re actually headed right now.
That’s your goal.
“But what if I don’t have a goal?” There’s a whole psychological answer to this question that could delve into whether that’s really true, or if you’re lying to yourself… but I’m not going there. If you don’t have a goal, then whatever you’re doing right now, dive into it and really focus on it. That focused attention will help your goal come to—you won’t even have to think about it.

Goal setting is: finding the path to what you want. What many people don’t realize is, the path to what you want and the process of finding that path are the same thing.
Goal setting is big. Goal setting consists of engaging in a set of concrete activities that leads to a specific outcome.
Goal setting is a process that
Ensures teams get their BONUSES.
turns jobs into CAREERS
gives ALL-STARS a way to shine
puts drama on ICE
Lets you SIMPLIFY your life.
Do you have a job? Would you like a career—by which I don’t mean job security at one company, but a skill that ensures continuous employability? Have you ever thought of your goals as being the difference between having a career and having a job?
Can you figure out why goals and “drama” have an inverse relationship? The best goals have tension, but no catfights.

Chubby Yaya is our resident expert here. Yaya says, “Results come from performance. Performance comes from trust, and trust comes from competence. Competence is born from goals.”
And she’s right: without goals, you can’t get good.
Without goals, it is very, very difficult to develop competence.
Imagine trying to train for a swimming meet by going to the pool and just swimming laps, with no goals… maybe you swim some front crawl, maybe some breast stroke, maybe you take some breaks… whatever. Then you get to the meet and discover you’re up against Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer.
It doesn’t matter how naturally good you are, you’re toast. Without goals, you cannot see what might be coming next, so you can’t plan for it, so you don’t get good.
Managers, you need to be especially good at goal setting, because you have to do it for both yourself and your team!

Homework Assignment
Download the activity worksheet to help you identify your goals (below). In the left column, list the first 5 or 6 things you think of when you think of your goals. Then, put a check in the column that best describes your goal, according to these definitions: GOALS are things you work toward where the path is clear; EXCUSES are things you want in order to avoid having to deal with other people; TASKS are things you want done as part of a routine; WISHES are things you work toward where the you do not yet fully understand how to earn that thing. WISHES includes anything you feel entitled to.

HINTS:
The reason WISHES includes anything you feel entitled to, or that you feel is due to you, is because the category includes anything you do not feel you should have to work for.

To test and see if something is truly a GOAL, see if you can list the specific action steps required to achieve it (to make sure it’s not a wish), that achieving it will bring more than just a feeling of relief (to make sure it’s not a task), and that it does not terminate when someone else makes a decision to change his/her mind (to make sure it’s not an excuse).

Downloads
Lesson 1 Presentation from Video (Full)
Lesson 1 Presentation Highlights
Lesson 1 Activity Worksheet
Activities Companion Download (contains samples for all exercises)
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Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.