'If you don't know what you want, you'll get what you don't want'Although not strictly true (Sometimes we do accidentally hit on something wonderful that we would never have imagined we wanted - my first ipod was in that category!) he does make a valid point. Having clarity about both what we want in our lives and who we want to be in the world, makes us much more likely to achieve what we want.
Here are some tips around goal setting
- Always link your goals to your values - pursuing a value-laden goal is full of vitality and purpose
- Know the difference between performance goals and outcome goals and focus your energy on performance goals
- Performance goals are actions that you have control over; for example - eating 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day
- Outcome goals are what you are hoping to achieve, but you don't have complete control over whether you achieve them - being active and healthy at 80 would be an example
- Avoid 'dead men's' goals' - these are goals that a dead person could do better than a live person. Russ Harris writes about this in The Happiness Trap. For example a dead person is good at not smoking cigarettes, whereas a live person is better at noticing the craving for a cigarette and then drinking a glass of water instead.
