Goals: process vs. results

by Vanessa
(Tarzana, CA)

It is very important that you set goals in such a way that they support your continuing effort. I find it very helpful to set goals in terms of process rather than results.

When your goals are too results-oriented, it becomes easy to give up too soon when the results don't come right away exactly as expected.

Perhaps you have heard the saying, "Doing something once does not constitute trying."

Did you know that people learn to juggle by setting a goal for a certain number of drops? The juggler says, "I'm going to practice until I drop the ball 10 times." Of course, as skills improve, it takes longer and longer to reach that goal, so practice itself becomes a powerful motivator.

This works well for me with networking and generating leads. I set a goal to have a conversation with X number of new people per day. That way, I keep going, regardless of how the conversation works out.

I don't have to treat everybody as a "prospect" for my particular business. I feel successful just from talking to someone. So for me it's been very effective to set my goal as the journey rather than the destination.