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Goal-Setting 鈥� Video 2

Welcome to the second video on setting your goals. In the first video, you learned how to set effective goals. In this video, you鈥檒l learn how to frame your goals with effective targets.

Put a number on your goal

Once you鈥檝e set a goal, you need to decide on numerical targets: how much and how soon (for example, saving $10,000 within one year). Targets motivate us because they make it easier to monitor progress and because, once they鈥檙e set, we care deeply about meeting these exact numbers. If you set your target at saving $10,000, you鈥檒l be disappointed if you 鈥渙nly鈥� save $9,900. But saving $10,100 won鈥檛 make you much happier than saving exactly $10,000. Once a target has been set, you see anything below it as a loss, which you care deeply to avoid. In contrast, anything above the set target is a gain, which is nice to have but doesn鈥檛 seem necessary.

A numerical target runs the risk of undermining your motivation if it鈥檚 insufficiently ambitious鈥攊f you stop saving as soon as you hit your $10,000 target, for example. An effective target should therefore be challenging and somewhat optimistic. Indeed, when left to our own devices, we often set optimistic targets to challenge ourselves. You might plan to run a marathon in under four hours, even though you know that right now that is not achievable. But you do it because the target motivates you to train harder. When you challenge yourself, you choose to expect too much rather than too little.

A good target is also easy to measure. Consider the targets to excel at your new job, save enough for retirement, and get enough sleep. These targets are less motivating than completing a work project by the end of the week, saving $10,000 this year, or getting eight hours of sleep every night.

Effective targets are further actionable. Consider aiming to eat no more than 2,500 calories per day. For many, this is an optimistic goal with a precise measurement. Yet calories are hard to measure. When you look at a dessert, you may see chocolate, whipped cream, or caramel, but you don鈥檛 see calories. Instead of using calories, imagine a world in which food is labeled in terms of daily allowance鈥攆or example, a pasta dish could be labeled as 23 percent of your daily allowance. Or consider the traffic-light labeling system that tells you whether a food is good, mediocre, or bad. These labels could help you set targets that are more effective.

Finally, effective targets are self-set. Often, we rely on our boss, teacher, doctor, or trainer to set our targets. The risk is that we鈥檙e less committed to them. If your personal trainer asks for 10 more push-ups, you might sneakily try to do one or two fewer when she isn鈥檛 looking. But if you told yourself you鈥檇 do 10 push-ups, it would be harder to hide. When consulting the expert, ask for a set of options to choose from. This will allow you to own your target.

Beware of malicious goals

Setting goals that are too ambitious can cause you to stretch yourself too thin or work too hard. Recall that the first marathon runner was an Ancient Greek messenger who raced from the site of Marathon all the way to Athens to deliver the news of a Greek victory. After delivering his message, he collapsed and died. Realizing that your target is somewhat arbitrary is meant to motivate you and often the key to a healthy relationship with our goals.

Now that you know how to set effective targets, let鈥檚 test your expertise.