Stop Working Without Concrete Goals

The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can't let yourself be beat because of lack of effort.” - Michael Jordan Our goals give us direction. They give us something to shoot for. They also show us the culmination of our efforts. For example, if you’re for a promotion at your job, being awarded that promotion is evidence your efforts were worthwhile. Goals also make us accountable. If we fail to achieve them, we’re given an opportunity to acknowledge our failures and look for areas in our workflow that warrant improvement. Our goals give us a gauge by which to measure our progress, and the impetus to make adjustments as needed. That’s empowering. Working toward concrete objectives provides ongoing feedback. In the event we fail to achieve them, the feedback prompts us to look for problems or to reevaluate our expectations (or both). Surprisingly, many people work without goals. They have no vision regarding where they want to be at any given point in their lives. Or, if they have such a vision, it’s little more than a fantasy. They lack a strategy for making it a reality. Instead, they live day to day, hoping for good fortune, and never truly feel in control of their fate. There’s even a movement that caters to that attitude. It proposes to work without goals, claiming that setting them does nothing for one’s productivity or success. Proponents argue that setting goals is useless since doing so suggests an individual has control over events that are, in reality, beyond his or her influence. I disagree with that fatalistic line of reasoning. Moreover, I suspect many people rely on it as a way to rationalize their lax attitudes toward goal-setting. They neglect to set them out of laziness, and excuse their inaction with the delusion that setting them is a waste of time. As you’ll see in the following section, working without clear purpose impairs your ability to work efficiently and manage your time effectively

 How This Bad Habit Hurts Your Productivity 

Neglecting to establish well-defined goals negatively

impacts your productivity in seven ways. First, it robs you of direction. I mentioned above that our goals serve as a gauge of our progress. Without them, we have no reliable way to know whether we’re on the right course. As philosopher Thomas Carlyle once said, “A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.” Second, it wears down your motivation to optimize your workflow. Without explicit objectives, there’s no sense of urgency. Without urgency, there’s little inducement to seek improvements in our productivity. Third, a lack of clear-cut goals lessens your focus on end results. Without that focus, you’re more likely to be distracted. That, in turn, leads to forfeited momentum and wasted time. Fourth, you’re prevented from benefiting from the valuable feedback loop made possible by goals. Suppose your efforts fail to effect a specific outcome. You need a mechanism that informs you of that failure. Only then will you be made aware of potential problems in your workflow. And only then are you likely to seek a solution to those problems. Failure isn’t necessarily bad. It’s merely feedback regarding your current approach. It tells you that something you’re doing isn’t generating the desired results. Without goals, you miss the advantage of that feedback loop. A fifth consequence of working without goals is that you never feel as if you’re making any real progress. Despite working hard and devoting considerable time, you never get the impression that your efforts are moving things forward. There’s no accurate gauge by which to evaluate the results of your labor. Sixth, without goals, you lack the ability to create a roadmap toward high-priority outcomes. For example, suppose you’re 40 years old and would like to retire early. Retirement at any age under 65 requires that you have a significant amount of money saved, ideally in safe, income-generating investments. Suppose, however, you don’t know the precise age at which you hope to retire (i.e. you have no clear objective). That being the case, there’s no way for you to develop a reliable plan for amassing the needed savings. Instead, you’re left to sock away money haphazardly and hope for the best. Can you imagine how that “strategy” might result in your disappointment? The more explicit your goals, the more refined your plans for achieving them. The more refined your plans, the greater the likelihood you’ll accomplish what you set out to do. So it is with having goals related to your productivity. Lastly, without goals, you have no reliable way to measure your effectiveness. After all, as mentioned above, you don’t have the advantage of a feedback loop. Consequently, you have no way to know whether you’re truly competent and skilled in your work, or need to improve in one or more areas. The result? You’ll suffer a decline in self-confidence. That increases your aversion to risk, which makes you less likely to try new things. If you’ve been neglecting to establish firm, explicit goals related to your workflow, now’s the time to start. Use the following five action steps to make doing so a habit.

Action Steps 

1. Brainstorm where you’d like to end up concerning every area of your life. Think about your long-term objectives related to your career, family life, financial position and physical health. Consider your mental well-being, attitude toward life and general happiness. For example, suppose you work in your employer’s marketing department. You hope to one day be named your company’s Director of Marketing. Or suppose you’re 40 years old and have $250,000 in savings and investments. You aim to amass $1 million by the time you retire. Do this exercise with the end in mind. You’ll find it’s a fun activity that will clarify what you hope to achieve in every aspect of your life.

2. Break down your long-term objectives into small, bite-sized goals. The goals we defined in Action Step #1 are lifelong. That being the case, they’re difficult to contemplate in the context of your daily routine. For example, you might know that you need to save $750,000 before you retire, but what specific actions should you take today to move closer toward that goal? By breaking down your long-term aspirations into short-term aims, you’ll be able to more easily formulate a plan for achieving them. You’ll know what you need to do on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. For example, if you aspire to become your company’s marketing director, you’ll need to turn in good work on time and regularly do so in a way that exceeds your boss’s expectations. You may also need to present innovative, workable solutions to the marketing problems your company faces. Once you break down your lifetime goals into daily and weekly tasks, you can add those tasks to your to-do lists. Your goals thus become actionable.

3. Create each small goal using the S.M.A.R.T. system. A “SMART” goal is one that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-sensitive. Assigning those characteristics to an objective gives it more weight and relevance. By way of illustration, let’s return to our long-term goal of saving $750,000 before you retire at age 65. Assuming you’re 40 years old, you’ll need to save $30,000 a year for 25 years, or $2,500 a month. (For simplicity, I’m ignoring the capital appreciation of your current investments.) That goal is specific. It’s also measurable. If you only manage to save $2,000 next month, you’ll know immediately that you’re behind schedule. Whether saving $2,500 a month is attainable depends on your income level. Your goal is relevant because it is focused on allowing you to retire with a specific amount of money in the bank ($750,000). Lastly, it’s time-sensitive. You have a monthly deadline. You know when the deadline expires each month. This is a far different approach to goal-setting than the one followed by most people. Most people have dreams. They have aspirations with no clear-cut plans to achieve them.

4. Prioritize each small goal. Do so in the context of how important your long-term aspirations are to you. For example, suppose that in addition to becoming the marketing director for your company, you also want to become a proficient yachtsman. The first goal may require you to work on weekends (climbing the corporate ladder can be brutal). Unfortunately, weekends may be the only opportunity you have to improve your nautical skills. It is only by prioritizing your short-term goals according to the importance you place on your long-term aspirations that you can choose which tasks to focus on.

 5. Pay attention to your performance, not whether a specific short-term goal is achieved. This Action Step might seem to contradict the ideas we’ve discussed thus far. But it’s important to focus on things you can control. Let’s return to our example of wanting to become your company’s Director of Marketing. As we noted, that long-term goal entails turning in good work on time and consistently exceeding your boss’s expectations. You control the quality and timeliness with which you deliver your projects. But you have little control over whether your boss likes you enough to promote you. Definitely establish objectives that steer your daily workflow. But don’t get too engrossed over whether you’re able to achieve them when they’re influenced by factors beyond your control. Instead, focus on your personal performance.