Motivational speaker Gavin Ingham interviews goal setting expert Andy Smith, part 2

I would urge people to think big and set long-term goals
that excite them, without worrying at first about how they
are going to get there. It really is a shame when people
limit their lives by telling themselves that what they
really want isn't realistic. The only way to find out
what's realistic is to go for it.

You also need short-term goals to aim at, to give you
something that's achievable and to give your unconscious
mind some behavioural reinforcement when you achieve them.
Psychologists have found (Ken Sheldon and Tim Kasser if you
want to look them up) that people are happier when they
achieve "vertical coherence" in their goal-setting - that
is, when your higher-level and short-term goals are aligned
so that achieving the immediate goal takes you closer to
the big one. 6. How should people go about setting
goals?

First, get yourself into a positive emotional state by
reviewing what's already working in your life, what you
like doing, what you've achieved already and what you're
proud of. This will help you find your direction, get you
thinking more strategically, and also help you to feel like
you deserve success.

Then clarify your values - what's important to you - in the
area of your life in which you want to set goals. Typical
areas might include work and career, relationships,
finances, health and fitness, and personal development.

Only then, when you're feeling good and you know what's
important to you, should you start thinking about specific
goals that will satisfy your values. Get clear about what
you want, get a clear sensory image of what it will look,
sound and feel like, and set a specific date for it in your
future.

7. What are your top 3 tips for successful goal setting?

Okay, the first one would have to be focus on what you
want, not what you want to get away from. If you don't know
what you want, how will you know if you're on the right
track, or recognise when you've got there? It may sound a
bit "cosmic ordering" to say that your unconscious mind
attracts what you focus on, but it's only another
expression of that principle widely recognised in business
that you are going to move in the direction of whatever
targets you set. "Towards" motivation gives you a
direction, it gets even stronger when you get close to
achieving your goal, and you feel good when you have it.
"Away from" motivation, by contrast, is undirected, it runs
out when you get far enough from the thing you want to
avoid, and it's stressful.

Next, form a sensory image of your goal - what will you
see, hear and feel when you have it? This is vital for
motivation. Most people are familiar with the idea that
goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic and timed - but you'll notice there's nothing in
there about whether you care if you achieve them or not.
Using your senses gives you that missing piece by providing
something to engage your emotions.

Finally - put a date on your goal! Until you have put a
date on your goal, it will keep getting pushed to the back
of your queue of priorities. Even if you say "in a year's
time", the goal will always remain a year ahead unless you
turn that into a proper date.

Why? Your unconscious mind acts like a good and faithful
servant, and it will do its best to give you whatever you
ask it for. But it will always take the line of least
resistance. If you don't put a date on your goal, there
will always be something more urgent to deal with. This is
why important but non-urgent tasks tend to be neglected,

8. What pitfalls do people new to goal setting have to
be careful of?

Three that I can think of straight away: firstly, not
taking into account potentially unwanted knock-on effects
of achieving the goal. If you don't consider all the
consequences of your goal - on your health, your family,
your friendships, and the wider community - you may end up
with something you don't want. The smarter way to set goals
is to take the consequences into account, allowing you to
make changes to your goal and/or your route to achieving
it. That way you stand a chance of getting the benefits of
your goal while avoiding unwanted side effects.

Second, taking too much on and getting discouraged. It can
be very easy to set a big, compelling goal - and then feel
overwhelmed by the effort you think it will take to get
there. The goal is so big, and so different from how things
are now, that getting there by the deadline you have set
will surely demand too much of you. And the more you think
about the legwork it will take, the more discouraged you
feel. The remedy is to break it down into smaller steps
that feel more achievable, and recognise each step as an
achievement. The key really is to get started - not
necessarily to "take massive action", but to take some
action to get you going.

Finally - and this is the biggest pitfall of all - not
knowing what you want. In the absence of some powerful
external motivation, like getting yourself out of debt or
meeting a deadline set by someone else, how do people
motivate themselves to even think about what they want - as
opposed to what they want to get away from? I've certainly
had large periods of my life when I was more or less
drifting. The way out of it is to think about what's going
well, what you are good at and what's important to you -
then it becomes easy to build a picture of where you want
to go.

9. Tell us a little about your book on goal setting and
how it can help people.

Well, Achieve Your Goals: Strategies to Transform Your Life
(Dorling Kindersley 2006) is a step by step guide for how
to determine what you want, how to set goals so they
happen, and how to keep yourself motivated on the way
there. It wasn't easy to write it to fit in with the
publisher's very exacting design standards, but it's
actually come out as twice the book it would have been if I
had just written it as a conventional textbook. I had to
collaborate with the designers to find visual ways of
getting the main points very concisely, and the result is a
beautifully designed and illustrated book that is a lot
easier to read for the busy person. It's something you can
work through from start to finish, or just dip into for a
quick fix if you run into a specific obstacle. Judging by
the number of five star reviews on Amazon (all the reviews
are five star at the time of writing), it's doing its job.

10. Is there anything else you would recommend people to
do, read or look at?

It's definitely worth taking a course like the four-day
'Create The Life You Want' workshop which is also the first
part of the NLP Practitioner training - it's one thing to
read about goal-setting methods, but you really have to
experience them in practice to get the best from them.

There's a lot of interesting research on goals and
motivation coming out of the Positive Psychology movement
at the moment - you can keep up with it on my 'Practical
EQ' blog.

And, if coming on one of our courses is not practicable for
you at this time, why not get together with some of your
friends and form an Achieve Your Goals book group so you
can support each other as you work through the exercises?
Social support is a key component of goal achievement that
makes it much easier for most of us - you don't have to do
it all by yourself!

As you can see, goal setting can form a key element in
keeping yourself on track and focused. If you want more
from Andy we also conducted an audio interview which will
be available from my shop in the next few weeks. In the
meantime, why not take some time out to review and revise
your goals? I look forward to hearing of your successes.

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For more on personal development and success visit
http://www.gaviningham.com now.