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GOAL ATTAINMENT

For the longest time people have been talking about goal setting (long term, short term and intermediate goals). Few have talked about how to actually attain these goals. People set goals all the time and most goals never seem to be realized. Why? Motivation to achieve these goals may be low, or non-existent. They may have a low self-image or the goals are set way too high and therefore unattainable which brings on frustration.

By observing people who are goal achievers, basic perception seems to be the difference.

 

The achiever sees nothing but opportunities along the way as in the example above.

In contrast, the underachiever always finds obstacles (reasons why they can't do something) related to the goal and they usually do very little constructive to get past the obstacles they have placed in front of themselves. The diagram below is an example.

In the diagram below, there are 5 options in the goal attainment process.

The following options seem to be the most common that apply to divers.

 

 

 

  1. You can elect to do nothing. Some choose this option because trying something new will take them out of their comfort zone or they fear failure. It may be just simple fear of a particular dive because they have already pictured the outcome (Crash-Ouch!). In any case the diver has not moved toward the goal.
  2. You may elect to go around the obstacle, if that's possible. If there is a deadline, you will inevitably run out of time. In diving, there is no way to get around fear. It accompanies all new dives and must be dealt with if you wish to achieve the goal of a new dive.
  3. You may elect to give it a try. This attempt could be an all out or a half hearted effort. In any case the diver did not achieved the goal on that one attempt and quits trying. At this point he/she has stopped moving toward that goal.
  4. You elect to give it a try and find that you were successful. This diver has weighed the pros and cons, and has visualized a positive outcome and therefore attained the goal. Rather than focusing on a crash and all the pain that accompanies it, this person has focused on an opportunity or a challenge to his/her abilities. This could range from "this puts me up there with the big guys" to "I'll be the only one in the Conference, State or the World doing this dive".
  5. With this option, you may fail a number of times but the goal is so important to you that you regroup after each failure and try again. Eventually the right combination is found and you break through to your goal.

Special Notes


Of the five options presented, notice that four of the five lead the individual toward the goal. Of those four, three will take you to that goal. Of those three, only two are the most direct routes to your goal.

Success in goal attainment is related to your ability to follow through with those things that keep you moving toward your goal.

 

 

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