How to set and achieve your goals
Develop a routine that takes you closer to your goals
Tell me in a sentence
Use the Objective and Key Results framework along with a daily routine and review to reach your professional and personal goals.
Tell me in an image
Tell me more
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to”, said the Cat.
“I don't much care where-- “, said Alice.
“Then it doesn't matter which way you go." said the Cat. -Alice in Wonderland
Goals make you think about where you want to go, which then helps you make the right choices.
Objectives and Key Results(OKRs) is a useful framework to use when setting up goals - both professional and personal.
Objective
‘Objective’ captures the spirit of the goal. Make it as specific as possible. Discuss your personal ones with your spouse or friends. For your work goals, discuss them with your team and manager.
Why
Think about the Why for your objective1. Thinking about it and explaining it will help you inspire your team. For your personal goals, thinking about the why will help you stick with them.
Key Results
Key Results help you to quantify your objective. How would you know that you have achieved your goals?
You may have noticed that both the Objective and Key Results are in the future. But all of us value happiness today more than tomorrow. The solution here is to write out the How. What will you do every day to achieve your Objective?
How
I would argue that How is the most important piece since if you implement the How, Objective will take care of itself.
Get a calendar and every day when you complete the How you cross out the day. Then the days will develop inertia and all you have to do is not break the chain. And every day you get a sense of accomplishment.
Review
Review weekly to assess if you are progressing towards your goal. If any of the Hows is not working, put in new ones. If something is working better than you expected, celebrate that win.
Let us look at 2 examples
Professional OKR
Objective - Reduce the time taken to deliver new features to customers
Why - To win customer trust, appreciation, and reference
Key Result - Deliver X, Y, and Z features to the customer by Q2 2023
How - I will ensure that the stories for X, Y, and Z will be ready by Q1. I will help communicate other features that are prioritized. I will track the development of the features weekly.
Personal OKR
Objective - Become more healthy
Why - You know why
Key Result - 202 pushups in a single set by July
How - I will find 10 minutes before breakfast to do pushups and I will start with 5 pushups.
Storytime
This a good story3 if you need an extra nudge to define your goals and review them periodically.
It was the final of the Annual Lumberjack Competition, and after days of chopping, sawing, and tree climbing, only two competitors remained. One was an older experienced lumberjack and the other was a strong fellow about twenty years his junior. The rules of the competition were quite simple. The two lumberjacks would be sent into the woods and the one who could cut the most trees in eight hours would be the winner.
The younger lumberjack was full of enthusiasm and went off into the woods and started cutting trees immediately. He worked all through the day, barely taking time to catch his breath or to grab some food and water. He felt more and more confident with every tree he felled because he knew that he had superior youth and stamina than the older lumberjack. He also felt sure of his win since he could hear the older fellow working in another part of the woods, and at regular intervals throughout the day, the noise of falling trees coming from the other man would stop. The younger lumberjack naturally assumed the older guy was taking more frequent breaks because of his age and lesser strength. He was confident his youth and stamina would win him the competition.
When the final whistle blew, the younger lumberjack felt confident he had won as he looked out over the piles of trees he had cut. He made his way over to the podium for the medal ceremony and climbed to the platform confident of his victory. The older fellow was there, actually looking much less tired than he did. When it was time to announce the winner, the younger lumberjack was waiting to hear his name but was devastated when the older man was declared the winner.
The younger man turned to the winner and asked, “How can this be? I heard you taking breaks every hour while I worked continuously. I am younger, fitter, and stronger than you. How could you possibly have beat me?”
The older man smiled and said, “Son, I was not stopping to rest. I was stopping to sharpen my saw.”
Sharpen your saw by setting goals and reviewing your progress.
Good luck with your goals and happy new year.
“You must ask why(*Explicit language alert*). Because if you know why you are carrying out your mission when things go sideways…, you will know how to achieve, what you set out to achieve, in a different way”
Any resemblance to my actual goal is purely coincidental
This is a favorite story of mine. If I feel a vacation is a waste of productive time, I refer to this story. If I feel I should not take a sick day, I refer to this story. If I am too busy to exercise, I refer to this story.