Goal setting is a powerful tool that is way, way too undervalued.
In this post, I share:
~ Details of a Harvard business study
~ Fact or fiction?
~ Details of a more recent study
~ 6 additional benefits of goal setting
~ Free quarterly and yearly goal setting planner
A Harvard business study found that 3% of Harvard MBA’s make 10 times as much as the other 97% combined.
Excuse Me WHAT?!?!
Let’s start with the fact that Harvard only accepts 15% of applicants into their MBA program. They are the cream of the crop even before they start University. Yet, a study found the students at the top of their graduating class end up earning significantly more than their peers.
Let’s Dig A Little Deeper
The study asked a simple question. “Have you set clear written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” And these were the results:
- 84% didn’t have specific goals
- 13% had goals but not written down
- only 3% had clear, written goals with a plan to accomplish them
The Results
10 years later, the same class was interviewed again. And the results are staggering:
- the 13% who had goals, earned twice as much as the 84% that didn’t have any goals
- the 3% who had clear written goals earned 10 times as much as the other 97% put together
How This Helps You
What we can conclude is that the very process of writing down your goals with a plan helps you to make the necessary daily decisions in order to get what you actually want.
Fact or Fiction?
There has been some debate on whether this study is actually true. The reason being is that there is apparently another study out of Yale that had the EXACT same results! So, are either of them correct?
A more recent study done by Dr. Gail Matthews PHD, from the Dominican University studied the benefits of having goals vs. writing them down vs. having a plan vs having accountability. And the results COMPLETELY SUPPORTED THE RESULTS OF THE YALE/HARVARD STUDIES!
The MOST IMPORTANT Results
- Set specific written goals with a deadline for their attainment.
- Develop a specific plan, with action steps for the accomplishment of the goal. It doesn’t matter if the plan is not perfect. You must begin taking action!
- Set up weekly accountability with someone that will hold your “feet to the fire.” If you want to almost GUARANTEE that you’ll accomplish the goal give yourself a punishment if you don’t get it accomplished.
- This one is the most important step and was not tested in the report but has been validated by many individuals that have used the principles in Think and Grow Rich: “Read a statement of your goal with the deadline and some of the action steps that you must take on a daily basis to accomplish the goal – – every day, out loud and with as much emotion as you can generate.
Additional Benefits
1 – Stay Accountable
By having set goals, you can track your progress and keep yourself accountable. We all lead busy lives and are pulled in a myriad of directions throughout each and every day. By having a specific goals, with a step-by-step plan of how you will achieve them, you are also able to see exactly where you are in the process. If you fall behind, you can re-assess and adjust your plan accordingly.
2 – For Productivity
Yes, it will take time to create a plan. However, as you progress from setting your yearly goals, to breaking down into quarterly goals, you will know EXACTLY what needs to be done.
You can then set aside segments of time to complete each set task. During that block of time, you ONLY work on that particular task to get it done. It always amazes me how much can actually be done in a day, if only we stayed focused!
3 – Builds Self-Confidence
As you complete each daily task, you build momentum to keep going and complete the next step. Overtime, you continue to build self confidence knowing that you are in control or setting and completing steps towards your final goal for the year. The more self-confidence you build, the more you will get done and the greater the end result will be. With self-confidence comes the vision to build the life you want instead of just living on auto-pilot.
4 – Makes The Impossible Achievable
An average person dreams of wealth and success without much effort into making it happen. The reason for this is that as a whole, it seems impossible. However, as you break it down into smaller, more achievable results, the impossible suddenly becomes achievable.
For example:
Let’s say that I want to earn $100,000/yr from my blog. Since, I’m starting from scratch, am a non-techie and have no idea what I’m doing, this seems impossible. However, broken down into a 5 year plan, I can now set my year 1 income at $15,000, year 2 @ $30,000, year 3 @ $50,000, year 4 @ $75,000 and year 5 @ $100,000.
Now, I only have to focus on the 12 months of year 1 to earn $15,000. So, for me, I would set months 1-3 at $0. I want to grow my list, focus on content and gauge what my readers want and need. Month 4 @ $500, month 5 $800, month 6 $1,200, month 7 $1,600, month 8 $2,000, month 9 @ $2,400, month 10 $2,700, month 11 $3,200 and month 12 @ $4,000. Yes, that adds up to over $18,000 but now I have broken down my goals into manageable small pieces. I’m so much more driven to work towards each months goal. And if I overshoot, I’m more likely to hit my actual yearly goal of $15,000. Even if I don’t hit each month’s goal exactly.
Related: 24 motivational quotes for when you feel like quitting
5 – Don’t Waste Time On “Busy” Work
I often find myself spending hours and hours of time working on something that’s plays a minor part of the big picture. With a predetermined plan, I know exactly how much time I have to complete that task. If I go over a little, it’s not a big deal. But, this allows me to choose exactly how much time I want to spend on a specific task. For instance, I have seen people spend hours on a single pin for Pinterest. While it’s important to create something that is “clickable”, you will want to test different pins to see what your readers find more enticing. And those hours could be spent writing new blog posts that generate new content which Pinterest and Google love.
6- Helps Develop And Improve Yourself
We all have personal habits and behaviours that we would like to improve or overcome. By setting goals, you quickly realize that you need to focus on those behaviours to accomplish exactly what you set out to achieve. In fact, by acknowledging your flaws you can start to work on overcoming them. Or do you have any bad habits that you want to change? With goal setting you can break those bad habits. For example: a weight loss goal would mean overcoming the bad habit of NOT exercising or oversleeping.
Goal Setting For Success
Every successful person takes the time to set goals and plan out how they will accomplish it. You can start right now by downloading The Ultimate Goal Setting Planner. Make this your BEST YEAR EVER!
The research is clear, you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down.
Stop dreaming and start planning now with
my FREE Goal Setting Planner
Interested in starting your own blog? It’s so much easier than you think. Check out my post on how to start a blog for less than $5 a month