Goals, Planning, and Real Change
How often have you been exhorted to set your goals down in writing? How often have you done it? How often have you immediately forgotten about them once you’ve completed the writing exercise?
Most of us have experienced the frustration of setting goals only see them fade away into nothingness. We never reach them. More than likely, we never think seriously about them after we’ve ‘established’ them. They make us feel good for a while but they’re really not something ‘that’s going to happen.’
That experience naturally leads us to ask whether goal setting is even an exercise worth our time and effort. Research by Dr. Peter Gollwitzer, Professor of Psychology at New York University, indicates that the answer is a resounding, “yes it is”—and an equally resounding, “no, it’s not.”
Setting goals in and of themselves will lead nowhere but to frustration and feeling guilt for not reaching them. Simply setting goals is fruitless because by themselves they result in no positive action. They simply state a wish, not a concrete objective.
In order for goals to be met, they must be accompanied by a definite, realistic action plan to reach them. In other words, knowing what your goal is will get you nowhere if you don’t know how you’re going to make it happen. Furthermore, according to Dr. Gollwitzer’s research, the very act of creating a detailed plan of action helps bring about the realization of the goal.
Allow me to quote a relatively lengthy summary passage of his research as presented in an article of his, “Metacognition in Action: the Importance of Implementation Intentions,” as published in Personality and Social Psychology Review. (emphasis added)
“When people furnish their goal intentions (“I intend to attain the goal X”) with implementation intentions
(“I will initiate the goal-directed response y when situation z arises”), the initiation of goal-directed
responses becomes automated. As this type of automaticity stems from a single act of will, it is referred
to as strategic automaticity. We report various studies demonstrating that the strategic automaticity leads
to immediate and efficient responding, which does not need a conscious intent. In addition, the situational
cues specified in implementation intentions seem to be easily detected and readily attended to. Further
research indicates that the strategic automaticity induced by implementation intentions also helps resist
temptation and fight bad habits.”
In other words, the act of creating a detailed, step-by-step action plan generates “immediate and effective responding” to the situation to implement the plan without the need of “conscious intent.” If your plan is well thought-out, detailed and actionable (that is not vague or theoretical, but concrete), your mind will initiate the next steps necessary to work toward attaining your goal.
Other research by Dr. Gollwitzer indicates actionable goal planning is the primary differentiator between top producers and average and below average salespeople and managers. There is no magic to becoming a top producer or a top manager. The key is knowing where you want to go and how you’re going to get there—in detail, in realistic actionable steps.
Paul McCord is the author of SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar, a detailed guide to creating a real, workable, actionable sales and marketing plan and Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals. Paul’s work has appeared in such business and industry publications as Forbes, Business Week, Selling Power, Fox Business News, and other leading business and industry publications. Visit his website at http://www.mccordandassociates.com or his highly popular blog at http://salesandmanagementblog.com. He may be reached at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com.
Great article Paul. Goal getting definitely comes down to the actions you take, however; there are also people who have written goals, they’ve translated them into actions, yet they still aren’t hitting their targets. What then? At that point I think it comes down to identifying the ultimate outcome achieving that goal will produce. And eliminating the obstacles preventing you from taking those actions.
Cheryl
Comment by Increase Sales Coach — March 24, 2008 @ 11:03 am
Cheryl,
Good point. There are folks that set their goals, establish in writing the actions they must take to reach those goals, yet still aren’t reaching them. Gollwitzer’s research goes beyond the statements above, of course. Although writing out the actions that must be taken in order to reach a goal will help implement the needed actions and eliminate “temptation and fight bad habits,” these are no guarantee of success. Understanding the benefit of reaching the goal, envisioning the results of reaching the goal, and establishing an accountability program are all necessary.
Comment by Paul McCord — March 24, 2008 @ 11:19 am
[...] things you can do to become a goal getter. Have you noticed how Top Producers seem to consistently hit their goals? Have you [...]
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This is an interesting post. You should submit it at yearblook.com/submit.php. Yearblook is a competition to find each day’s best blog posts. At the end of the year, the 365 best posts (1 from each day) will be published in a book (a real, printed book, you will find it on Amazon).
If you’re not ready to post your articles yet, browse around and see if there is anything you find interesting.
Also, since we’re just starting out, we would love any feedback you are willing to share.
Comment by Yearblook — March 30, 2008 @ 4:57 pm
Hi Paul,
My reading of the exceprt is also that you need to create and write down personal “autoresponse” commitments - for example: “if I fall below my target of making 2 client follow-up calls per day I will review my schedule and take action to reduce my other workload so I can keep my follow-up commitments”. In other words we need to think through in advance and create and commit to our own system of triggers and responses which then become almost automatic for us to execute when the time arises. That way we’re much more likely to respond positively to events rather than ignoring them or panicking at the time
Ian
Comment by Ian Brodie — March 31, 2008 @ 5:44 pm
Goals, Planning, and Real Change « Sales and Sales Management Blog
Discussion of recent research into how creating an intended action list when setting goals encourages the automatic action to reach goal.
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