Stake Your Claim on a Task or Goal

There’s a common misperception that a goal you undertake has to be your own, devised by you, set by you, and pursued by you. Oust that thought. Studies have shown that it’s entirely possible for one person to set goals for another and to have the entire process work. In fact, this happens every darn day in sales organizations, where sales managers develop quotas for the sales staff, and it happens as often elsewhere.

The key element here is to have the person for whom the goal is set adopt the goals as his or her own. It’s okay; it’s not stealing. This is welcome news for parents, managers, or anyone else who has responsibility for the performance of others.

On a daily basis, when you claim ownership of the goal to complete a task or project, you organize yourself in ways that support that goal. When a goal is yours, you don’t need as many external motivators, such as deadlines. Besides, for many of the long-term and continuing goals that you set for yourself, waiting until a minute before the deadline would be foolhardy. You can’t accumulate vast sums of cash, lose huge amounts of weight, or finish writing all your reports at the last minute. (Well, not yet, at least…)


Stand Up to the Challenge

If it’s easy for you to slough off the blame, disassociate yourself, and pretend you didn’t have any input – all easily perfected skills – chances are you were never committed to a project in the first place. When you’re willing to take responsibility for the outcome, whether good or bad, the project is yours. If others come along and ask who’s responsible and you tell them that you are, then, for sure, the project is yours.

A wonderful gauge for determining whether or not you are steadfastly committed to your project is to think about a situation in which the goal is taken from you. Suppose you could no longer proceed down your chosen path. Suppose all activity in pursuit of a goal had to cease. Would you be outraged? Would you object? Would you fight for your right? Would you call in the SWAT team? If so, it’s your goal.

Alternatively, if you could take it or leave it, if you wouldn’t be that upset, if it all would be forgotten by the next day, if it won’t keep you awake at night, chances are it’s not your goal. If you haven’t claimed ownership, procrastination is predictable.

If a goal or a simple task or assignment was not originally your creation, perhaps you have some leeway in shaping it. There are plenty of things you can do to make it your own goal. You may choose to begin with some easy entrance point. Perhaps you can tackle the job one section at a time. You might devise other methods for proceeding that enable you to retain some amount of control and sanity.



Regards,


Timben