Win in 2010: Too Many Goals So Little Time!

This is the second in a six part series called Win in 2010 designed to help readers stick to their goals and make the most out of the New Year.

In the book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, the author, Ram Charan, list a shocking statistic. Basically, he’s illustrating the point that the more goals you have, the less likely you are to achieve them.

• If you have 2 – 3 goals, you will accomplish 2 – 3 goals.
• If you have 4 – 10 goals, you will accomplish 1 – 2 goals.
• If you have more than 10 goals, you will accomplish ZERO!!!

When it comes to goal setting, it pays to be focused. The more goals you have, the more unfocused you become. You are running here and there and everywhere and although you are doing a lot, often you are accomplishing very little.

In our fast-paced, multi-tasking society, it’s good to be busy. We admire those people who ‘burn the candle at both ends’ or who ‘keep too much on their plates.’ So, it stands to reason that we would want to set 15 goals for the year.

I used to be guilty of that. I’d start the year with a few goals but then I felt like a slacker, so I’d end up with at least 10-12 goals and sure enough, I would never achieve all of those goals. The ones I did achieve were the few I chose to focus on. The rest, well, they just sort of fell by the way side.

Charan is showing us is that focused and targeted effort is more effective than a whole lot of busy. And darn if I didn’t prove that as true in my own life!

So what I suggest is to pick your three most important goals and start with those. Once you get them accomplished, you can add a new goal. For goals like saving money, reducing debt and losing weight that might take a while, get it going, establish some good habits and once you feel comfortable that you are on the right track, then add a new goal.

What do you want to accomplish most this year? When you are getting all gussied up and ready to go out and ring in 2011, and you pause briefly to reflect on the year that was, what do you want your most recent accomplishments to be? The first few things that come to mind, are probably the things that should make up your first three goals.