The gist: Goals act as a guiding compass, providing focus, motivation, and a structured approach to defining success. You may even learn how to overcome challenges and navigate choppy waters. Goal setting fosters a proactive and resilient mindset.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Can you imagine an improved future state or a desired outcome? This is a goal taking shape. It could be anything. Make more friends. Build a house. Lose weight. Goal setting starts with the identification of what you want to accomplish. Then, outline a plan to make it happen. This plan must clearly define what victory looks like, and it is often personalized to the goal setter. This is, perhaps, the most critical component to goal setting: it has to matter to you.

Goal setting theory is well-established, researched for 25 years before the first major study was released by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham in the 1990s¹. At a basic level, Locke and Latham found that setting goals leads to higher performance with one caveat. These goals need to be specific and difficult to achieve to see the most benefit.

In this article, I will cover the role of goals in personal growth and professional development; the inherent benefit of goals and how they relate to one’s wellbeing; and summarize practical tips for goal setting. This will lay the groundwork for a multi-part web series on goal setting, giving you practical tools and the knowledge to be successful long-term.

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The Role in Personal Growth

Goals act as a guiding compass, providing focus, motivation, and a structured approach to defining success.

If you desire personal growth – where you simply want to improve—it starts with setting challenging goals. This is backed by a significant amount of research. But, these studies sometimes overlook the relationship between challenging goals and articulating what success looks like. I believe this link is incredibly important. It’s one thing to set a goal and another to set a goal that will help you achieve a dream or your life’s purpose.

The simple act of writing a goal down is known make a difference. In fact, written goals are 42% more likely to be achieved². Once written, we can set milestones that bring visibility to incremental progress, creating a feeling of accomplishment at each milestone. This feeling generates self-sustaining motivation that can further increase the odds of successfully completing your goals. Similarly, milestones can indicate when you are falling behind. For example, I have a goal to lose 12 pounds in 6 months. If I lost only 1 pound at the end of the first month, I see that I am behind. In order to achieve my goal of losing 12 pounds, I need to step up my game to get back on track. This is a simple example, but it can be extrapolated to any number of situations.

The Role in Professional Development

Let’s extend what we’ve learned about goal setting for personal growth to a professional setting. Career advancement hinges on quality performance and memorable impact. By setting the right goals, you can meet this high bar.

The goal setting process is nearly identical (i.e., define what success looks like, describe specific and challenging goals, and create a plan to track progress). However, in a professional setting, we want to consider potential barriers in the planning process. These are things that are out of your control. Company policy. Management decisions or strategy. Coworker behavior. By acknowledging these barriers, we can focus the planning process on what’s within your capacity. For example, you may not influence broader strategic decisions of your organization, but you can control how you develop your skills and competencies within this predetermined framework. If your employer implements a new technology platform, then you can look to enroll in relevant training courses or certifications. This can support your long-term career ambitions.

Setting professional goals allows you to steer your career path proactively.

By tailoring the goal setting process for a professional setting, the planning process will be more effective and aligns to the realities of your professional environment.

There are countless professionals who navigate their careers without setting professional development goals. Instead, these individuals often find themselves working within a framework of objectives or tasks assigned by their organization or management. This approach to professional development is more reactive and less proactive, as these professionals focus on meeting the immediate requirements set before them. This can lead to a structured work environment where expectations are clear and day-to-day work becomes prescriptive. But, it may limit one’s ability to explore and develop in areas that are of interest or that deviate from the company’s immediate goals. This can potentially lead to a sense of stagnation or a lack of fulfillment in one’s career.

While it is common to prioritize the objectives or tasks assignment by one’s employer, it is equally important to consider professional goal setting as a complementary process. Setting professional goals allows you to steer your career path proactively.

Psychological Benefits of Goal Setting

High-quality goals can increase productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency. And, there are a number of psychological benefits to goal setting. For example, the act of successfully completing a goal creates a mastery experience—an influencing source of self-efficacy. If you can complete this goal, you can complete the next. There is now a positive loop that reinforces behaviors for future goal setting. Tackling challenging goals can also reduce self-doubt and a fear of failure, which so often holds people back. Even if you are unsuccessful, you can learn from the experience. You can see what failure looks like, identify where errors occurred, and understand how failure affects you. This is all good intel for future goal setting.

Goals act as a guiding compass, providing focus, motivation, and a structured approach to defining success. You may even learn how to overcome challenges and navigate through choppy waters. Goal setting fosters a proactive and resilient mindset.

Goal Setting and Overall Well-being

Arguably, a well-rounded individual balances personal development, professional growth and much more. This reflects one’s overall well-being. Goals in different areas of life such as home ownership, relationships, starting a business, volunteerism, etc. means that we are evolving in a more complete way and may find long-term satisfaction and fulfillment. It requires total honesty, particularly when evaluating our lives, identifying opportunities for growth, and setting specific and challenging goals.

Practical Tips for Effective Goal Setting

Goal setting is a powerful tool. In the multi-part web series, I will explore a variety of goal-related topics and offer advice to make the most of goal setting. For now, here is a quick list of practical tips covered in this article.

1. High-quality goals are specific, challenging, and within your capability.
2. Write down your goals to increase your odds of success.
3. It’s ok to feel a little bit of pressure! Adding a due date will supercharge your goals.
4. A plan towards success means that you can monitor your progress.
5. Find balance in life by applying the goal setting process to all aspect of your life.

Concluding Thoughts

This was a simple introduction to answer the question, why are goals important? I invite you to join me for a multi-part web series to take a closer look. The next installment, “Types of Goals,” we will investigate the nuances of goal setting, exploring the distinctive characteristics and impacts of short-term versus long-term goals, personal versus professional ambitions, and the subtle—yet significant—differences between performance and learning goals. This next article promises to be a treasure trove of insights, offering you practical wisdom that you can apply both in your personal life and professional endeavors.

I know that you have unique aspirations and challenges. Beyond these educational articles, my executive coaching practice can be of great value. My expertise lies in guiding you to not only set impactful goals but also in creating a roadmap to achieve them. Through my coaching, you’ll gain deeper insights into your leadership style, learn how to navigate the complexities of small business ownership, and/or develop strategies to lead with confidence and clarity. My coaching is designed to be a catalyst for your growth, helping you unlock your full potential. I look forward to hearing from you.

1. More on the evolution of this research can be found in “New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory” published in the Current Directions in Psychological Science Journal 2006 Volume 15 Number 5 ↩︎
2. This is from research conducted by Dr. Gail Matthews at the Dominican University in 2007 ↩︎