{Sep 22, 2011

Don’t forget to send your preferred email address so you can have an account created for you. Projects for this week must be posted to this site, and you will need an account to do so. If you don’t see your name listed on the site when you click on the icon of the 2 people, you don’t yet have an account. I’d like everyone to have an image associated with their profile, via Gravatar, in time for the next class meeting. Also, you should change your password once you get your account.

f Christopher

If you are having difficulty getting started on setting your goals, here are a couple of readings on the topic that might help inspire you:

The book Write it Down Make it Happen cites several stories of goal setters who turn into celebrities after they write their goals down. Apparently Jim Carrey wrote himself a check for $10 million and Scott Adams of Dilbert wrote “I will become a syndicated cartoonist” 15 times a day, long before either came true. Although this is perhaps a simplistic view of the steps these individuals took on their road to success, the author spends 250 pages arguing for the power that writing a goal down can have.

I mentioned the often cited study of Yale’s class of 1953, which claims that the 3% of polled graduates that had set goals were more successful than the other 97% combined.  Fast Company seems to be making the claim that they debunked this myth, but Yale also has an official statement on their website stating “It has been determined that no “goals study” of the Class of 1953 actually occurred.”

If that doesn’t make you skeptical of the benefits of goal setting, there are plenty of articles that try to do just that. The Boston Globe has an article that reads like a cautionary tale against letting goal setters get out of hand (warning – it loads slowly). The article cites a paper titled “Goals Gone Wild,” whose author, Adam Galinsky, says, “Goal setting has been treated like an over-the-counter medication when it should really be treated with more care, as a prescription-strength medication.” Sounds Dangerous. The New York Times also has a post in their “Idea of The Day” blog, that touches on, and links to more content on the trouble with setting goals. In the end, I think, like all things, moderation is key. As long as you maintain an awareness to your greater situation, keep an open mind, and set S.M.A.R.T. goals, I think you will be better off having set goals than you might be otherwise.

Elsewhere in the New York Times, the owner of a furniture company outlines some of his near term goals for his business. Although he has an impressive list, these goals read more like a to-do list than “goals” as we have been discussing them. And another article in the New York Times has some exercises you can do to help figure out what your goals might be. It’s focused specifically on single year goals and was written to help with new year’s resolutions (from 2007), but it might be useful anyway.

If you are looking for some scholarly research on the topic of goal setting and motivation, try Motivation: Theory and Research, a report that was funded in part by the Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. Perhaps most relevant in this text is Chapter 2 “Goal Setting Theory”, written by two pioneering researchers in this field, Edwin Locke and Gary Latham. Another approachable text that covers some of the same territory is Goal Setting and Task Performance: 1969-1980, also co-authored by Locke.

If you are still stuck, below are some questions you can ask yourself to help get in the proper mindset (adapted from the book Professional Practice for Interior Designers) :

• If you were going to interview for an opportunity tomorrow, what specific career goals would share with the interviewer?
• What could you do now to improve your chances in pursuing the opportunity you desire the most?
• List three of your biggest successes
• List at least 3 things that drew you into your field
• List 3 people you most admire, include a few sentences explaining why
• Which of the following is most important to your career: money, recognition, self satisfaction, creative expression
• What do you think you need to change to make yourself happier in your career?
• What frustrates you most about your pursuit of your career?
• What do you like most about the working in your field?
• When are you at your best?
• Do you prefer to work in a group or independently?
• What do you want to be remembered for, what will your obituary say?

Another exercise adapted from the same book:
On a sheet of paper make 2 columns, one with the heading “problem” and the other “solution”. Under the “problem” column, list things that are holding your back, then write a potential solution to the problem in the “solution” column.

If you find anything else helpful or interesting, share it with the group here.

f Christopher