Published February 2002

Establish inner core
for goal-setting success

Q. I have established a personal goal this year of doing all that I can to be promoted to a manager’s position. My previous efforts at establishing and achieving goals have been less than successful. Can you provide some advice on how to achieve goals?

A. Setting and achieving goals sounds easy but often proves elusive. People often confuse their “dreams” with goals.

For instance, many of us dream of being so fabulously wealthy we wouldn’t have to work another day of our lives. Unfortunately, winning Lotto is not the same as achieving your goals.

You may have many different aspirations — to be tops in sales, employee of the year, promoted to management, to quit smoking, to lose weight — but you can only put yourself into the position to achieve them by effective goal setting.

Look around you. Identify people who continually make progress in their work and personal lives — those who have that extra spark of energy.

Their difference? They have a clear idea of precisely what they want to accomplish. They are people who thoroughly know themselves — their strengths, their weaknesses, their special talents. They know precisely what they want to accomplish and have a plan on how they will get there.

They have developed a strong inner core. Establishing goals without this context is like praying without clearly establishing a basis for your personal faith.

Once, while speaking to a middle-school class, I was asked what propelled me into a career as a writer. Simple, I told the students, I had an eighth-grade teacher who admired my writing and asked that I join the school newspaper staff.

Then, innocently, another student asked how I continue to motivate myself. Simple, I said, I love to write, and I want to continually build on that talent so that I may enrich the lives of others and to be rewarded for my efforts so that I can lead a comfortable existence with my family.

This is my personal career mission. Call it your mission, philosophy or vision, it makes life a lot more enjoyable when you’re excited about who you are, what you do, why you do it and how you do it. Without it, any goal-setting exercise is a waste of time.

Once it’s established, your goals will fall into place because they’ll naturally complement the bigger picture.

Experts such as management consultants Susan and Jonathan Clark, authors of “How to Make the Most of Your Workday” (Career Press), urge that goals be:

• Written (so that they are not forgotten).
• Measurable (“I will make 15 cold calls each month” instead of “I will increase my cold calling”).
• Timed (monthly, weekly or daily).

So, your long-range goal of positioning yourself to be promoted to management this year should have several shorter-range components.

Goal: I will complete two management-level night classes within six months.

Goal: I will volunteer by month’s end to take on two administrative duties my boss finds time-consuming and disruptive to achieving her mission.

Goal: I will join a Toastmasters club and attend each meeting to polish my communication skills.

Goal: I will tell my boss immediately of my overall goal and of my progress during each semiweekly, one-on-one session.

Make your goals achievable. Review and alter them as necessary to conform to changing circumstances. If your goal is to become assistant manager of your group and management eliminates the position, immediately substitute a new career goal and support it with steps to achieve it in a reasonable time frame.

Eric Zoeckler operates The Scribe, a business-writing service. He also writes a weekly column appearing in Monday’s Economy section of The Herald. He can be reached at 206-284-9566 or by e-mail to mrscribe@aol.com.

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