Smart Goals and Pygmalion effect

A goal is a dream with a deadline.
Napoleon Hill

Goal is not only about an objective, it is also about having a well defined plan to achieve that goal that was the inspiration of Dr.  Locke, who studied goal setting for about thirty years. He  speculated that purpose can cause action; thus, He researched the impact goals have on individual activity and on its time performance.

In everything the ends well defined are the secret of durable success.
Victor Cousins

If goals are well defined, it results in more directed efforts to achieve it which also includes forming of a strategy to achieve the goals.

Consider the example of Mahabharata, When Dronacharya asked his disciples to mark the eye of bird with their arrow, he asked individual that what were they seeing; some said they were seeing a bird. Some elaborated it, saying that they were seeing a bird on a tree. It was only Arjun who said, I could see only the eye of the bird and he was the only one who qualified the test.
How to set a goal  

Goal setting should be SMART ,it should serve  the following tests.

Specific:. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who:      Who is involved?

*What:     What do I want to accomplish?

*Where:    Identify a location.

*When:     Establish a time frame.

*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.

you set.

When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……

How much? How many?

How will I know when it is accomplished?

Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal

Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic- To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a time frame, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

T can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing.

When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

Pygmalion Effect or Golem effect-

The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, is the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, the better they perform. The effect is named after Pygmalion, a play by George Bernard Shaw.

Our goal setting should be done in such a way that one should rate ones potential as unlimited. One should benchmark a target below the potential target. His achievements should be lower than marked target while the historical target should be below the achieved one. If the following trend is not followed and achieved target is above the marked one than the aspirant will not find motivation to achieve a goal he will not strategize his plan which in turn affect the individual as well as group’s performance.

In sociology-Pygmalion effect creates a cyclic effect-Our beliefs about ourselves influence our action, our action toward others influences their beliefs about us. Their beliefs influence their action towards us which in turn enforces our belief about us.