But when you focus exclusively on outcomes, you are pretty much guaranteed to underperform. Your brain needs help to stay focused on what it is supposed to focus on, like maintaining form. It needs to be reminded and be told what to do RIGHT NOW! Turns out, you can’t actually fully control the outcome. That depends on a number of factors that you can’t completely control. It could just turn out that the world’s best 1500 meter swimmer decided she was going to be competing with you on this day, and so your probability of winning got a little smaller.
Also, as soon as your brain gets feedback that your goal of winning is not guaranteed, like when Joanna fell behind the pack, it tends to do one of two things. It puts you into a panic, which only makes you waste valuable energy and underperform even further. Or it tells you that your goal of winning is probably not going to happen so you might as well give up.
Our brains are really good at thinking in black-or-white or all-or-nothing terms. We’ve all seen this happen in sports and in our own lives. When we focus on outcome goals at the wrong times, we underperform. What we need is highly articulated and specific processes to focus on.
That’s why process goals are essential. Process goals are things you are going to do on a week-to-week, day-to-day, minute-to-minute, and even second-to-second basis to get you to your outcome goals, or to help you live in line with your values. Process goals are the exact things you need to do or focus on at a particular time, or how you want to think and act based on your values.
For example, if your outcome goal is to write a book, then a process goal could be to write for three hours every day. You may also value authenticity and being real in your interactions with the world. So you may also have a process goal of “letting my true voice come through” when you write every day.
If your outcome goal is to master a particular skill or subject area, your process goal could be to practice that skill or read about that subject three times a week for 60 minutes each. You see how this is specific and instructional? Our brains can get easily overwhelmed and stressed when we over-focus on the longer-term outcome like making the Olympic team or publishing a book. We need to provide our brains with very specific information as to what to do and when to do it.
Our brains also like it better if we tell it what we should be doing as opposed to what we shouldn’t be doing. So if your goal is to write a book in six months, then your process goals should not be “Don’t waste time watching TV and surfing the Internet.” Telling yourself not to do something or not to think about something usually only makes your impulse to do it stronger, or causes your mind to become fixated on it.
For example, one of the most debilitating Anxiety Disorders is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD. OCD is characterized by having unwanted thoughts, impulses, or images pop into mind, which often lead to compulsions to perform a behavior to reduce the anxiety associated with the unwanted mental events. Although OCD is a complicated disorder, one thing that can happen is sufferers have an unwanted thought.
For example, one of my former patients who lived on the 10th floor of a condominium building repeatedly had the thought “what if I lost it and jumped off the balcony!” The patient became fixated on the fact that they had such a terrible thought. Patients then do their damnedest to suppress the thought and even start avoiding situations that may trigger the thought. In this case, my patient started avoiding her balcony altogether.
But this ends up having the opposite effect by making the thought come back stronger and more frequently. The reality is having such thoughts is pretty common in people without OCD. But the act of trying to suppress the thoughts makes them stronger. For most of us, when we have such a thought we think it’s odd, but then realize that our minds are just weird like that and we move on and forget about it. So telling yourself not to do something or not to think of something usually has the opposite effect.
So instead of setting process goals such as “Don’t waste time watching TV and surfing the Internet”, your goal should be: “Write for three hours each day.” Or if you are a hockey player who gets checked off the puck in the corners because you tend to keep your head down, you should NOT tell yourself “don’t keep my head down.” You should tell yourself “Keep my head up!” Our brains like to have simple instructions as to what we should do, not what we should not do.
In Joanna’s case, instead of focusing on her outcome goal of winning, I helped her develop process goals and focus. Joanna came up with simple instructions that she went over with herself before and during the races. During the races she shortened these instructions down to single cue-words such as “pace” to remind her to pace herself and conserve energy over the long race or “left…right…left…right…” to help focus her brain on the technique of the front crawl.
Without outcome goals, you will be aimless and paralyzed. Without process goals, you will have no plan of action to achieve your outcome goals. I can’t emphasize this enough. You need to clearly articulate both types of goals if you are going to succeed.
SMART Goals
Talking about SMART goals is getting a little cliché. But there is a reason why SMART goals won’t go away. It’s because setting goals that are not SMART is simply stupid.
Keep in mind that some of our goals are more expressions of our values or how we want to conduct ourselves. Although these are harder to quantify, you can usually still break them down into SMART goals.
While different authors have slightly different ways of defining some of the aspects of SMART goals, below is what I believe are the basic key factors in setting goals. SMART is an acronym for:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-Bound
So let’s go into each one in more detail.
Specific: The goals you set should not be vague. They need to be specific. A vague goal would be: “Be the best wrestler I can be.” A specific outcome goal would be: “Place #1 in my division.” A specific process goal would be: “Run for 45 minutes every morning.”
Measurable: You need a way to know whether your goal has been met. To do this, you need it to be measurable. The above outcome goal of “Place #1 in my division” is measurable, because, if you end up fourth, you know you didn’t reach your goal. Similarly, the process goal of “Run for 45 minutes every morning” is easily measurable. If you only ran twice this week, you know you didn’t achieve your goal. Making your goals measurable ensures you’ve specified exactly what you want.
Achievable: This is where you get real with yourself. I’m all for dreaming up big goals, but I’m not into setting people up for failure. If you’ve invested years of training but still can’t sing worth a dime, a goal of becoming an opera singer is not achievable. Or if you have a record of 0 wins and 27 loses in your wrestling division, having the goal of placing #1 in your division in a few months is probably not realistic or achievable and will set you up for failure. Having the outcome goal or “Winning at least twice this season” is much more achievable. So make sure you set big and ambitious goals that are still achievable.
Relevant: Your goals should be in line with your personality, values, strengths, interests, passions, and purpose. They need to be relevant to you, and what’s important to you. The exercises in the previous chapters helped you determine whether the goals you set for yourself are relevant and important to you.
Time-bound: As Milton Erickson noted, “A goal without a date is just a dream.” Giving yourself a deadline is essential. If your goal is to “Place #1 in my division” you should add a deadline. So it would be better to say: “Place #1 in my division by the end of next season.” Having a deadline will provide you with a sense of urgency and propel you into action. If you keep making goals without a deadline, your chances of achieving them is greatly reduced.
So when setting your goals later in this chapter, make sure they are SMART goals!
How to Pick Your Targets
A goal without a plan i
s just a wish.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery
If you’ve been doing the exercises outlined so far in this book, you’re ready for goal setting. Remember Napoleon Hill’s quote at the beginning of this chapter, “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” This is where you turn your dreams into a plan of action.
But also remember what you learned about yourself throughout this book. You want your goals to be in line with your Basic Personality Tendencies, values, strengths, passions, and mission or purpose. In other words, you want to make sure you set the right goals for you.
The first step is to decide on some long-term goals and then work your way back. You then set medium-term goals, such as 10-year goals, and then work your way back to 5-year, 1-year, 6-month, 1-month, 1-week, and then even daily goals. This is not an easy task, but is the best way to take yourself from where you are now to where you want to be.
Also, make your goals as SMART as possible. They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. You’ll notice, however, that it is much harder to meet all the criteria for SMART goals when setting your long-term goals.
You may notice that there is a blending of your values, mission, and purpose with your long-term goals. Sometimes our goals are more expressions of our values or how we want to live, and these are harder to quantify using the SMART method. That’s ok. Your goals will become SMART-er as you work your way backwards.
Without setting goals, life will set them for you. So if you want to steer your own ship, you need to decide which goals you are willing to commit to and then take consistent action to bring yourself closer to them. Tony Robbins said it best: “The path to success is to take massive, determined action.”
At the same time, your goals are not set in stone. Both your outcome and process goals can change over time and that is why you will review them regularly. Some of your process goals may need to be repeatedly tweaked to make sure they are bringing you closer to achieving your outcome goals. To quote Tony Robbins again: “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”
Identifying Your Destination
Now you are going to figure out what your long-term goals are. And I really mean long-term here. For this exercise, I want you to think about what you want to achieve by the time you retire in the main areas of your life that are important to you.
You may have noticed that some of the categories provided below may not seem all that important to you at this point in your life. But believe me, when you retire, you better hope that you took most of these areas pretty seriously. You may also have additional areas of your life that are important to you that are not listed below. You can put these under Other Goals.
For each of the categories, I want you to think of at least two outcome goals with at least one process goal for each outcome goal
Remember, outcome goals are the things you want to achieve, or milestones you want to hit, that give you something specific to target. Process goals are things you’re going to do on a regular basis to get you to your outcome goals, or help you live in line with your values. So make sure your process goals complement your outcome goals.
Also, when you write down your goals, put them in the present tense and in the first person. In other words, write them as if they are happening right now. For some of the long-term goals, you can use past tense as you will see in the example below. But do your best to keep them in the present tense. There is some research that suggests writing out your goals this way is more effective.
Also, each goal should be stated in terms of what you want to achieve, not what you don’t want to achieve. So instead of stating a goal like this — “I am NOT sick and crippled” — you should write “I am as healthy and fit as possible.”
Below is an example of the long-term outcome and process goals of a young entrepreneur client of mine for illustrative purposes. Like all of the examples in this book, the name and details have been altered to protect her anonymity.
Sonia’s Long-Term/Retirement Goals
Family Goals
Outcome Goals:
I have happy and healthy children and grandchildren.
Process Goals:
I’m a loving mother and grandmother that is there for my children and grandchildren emotionally, physically, and financially.
I have a happy and fun-loving family.
Process Goals:
I am putting my family first.
I try my best to make my family laugh even in tough times.
I play with my family every chance I get.
Career/Sport Goals
Outcome Goals:
I have built up a company that continues to thrive even though I’ve semi-retired.
Process Goals:
I work 20 hours per week.
I did and do everything I could and can to be the best CEO.
I make decisions that are in the best interest of the company.
Friendship Goals
Outcome Goals:
I have lots of friends that like to have fun.
Process Goals:
I’m fun to be around and I’m always myself with my friends.
I have close friends who I can turn to when I need them.
Process Goals:
I’m loyal to my good friends.
Physical/Mental Health Goals
Outcome Goals:
I’ve gotten through my career and maintained my health.
Process Goals:
I listen to my body and give it what it needs.
I’m healthy and strong.
Process Goals:
I exercise for at least 30 minutes every day.
I eat food that is good for me every day for at least 2 of 3 meals.
Personal Development/Growth/Spiritual Goals
Outcome Goals:
I’m the best I can be with whatever I’m focusing on.
Process Goals:
I read at least 30 minutes per day.
I keep an open mind and learn as much as I can every day.
I’m connected with a higher power.
Process Goals:
I pray daily and attend church weekly.
Financial Goals
Outcome Goals:
I’m financially independent.
Process Goals:
I live below my means.
I invest my money wisely by taking the advice from trusted sources.
I’ve provided for my kids so they can feel free to pursue their dreams.
Process Goals:
I live below my means.
I invest my money wisely by taking the advice from trusted sources.
Now it’s time for you to write down your Long-Term/Retirement Goals. Fill in the form below or download printable goal sheets at FriesenPerformance.com/Achieve-Bonus-Materials.
Family Goals
Outcome Goals:
1. _________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
2. ________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
3. _________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
4. ________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
Career/Sport Goals
Outcome Goals:
1. _________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
2. ________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
3. _________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
4. ________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
Outcome Goals:
1. _________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
2. ________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
3. _________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
4. ________________
Process Goals:
________________
________________
Physical/Mental Health Goals
Achieve Page 13
