Note: This is a digest version of a longer essay on goal-setting, the 3rd installment in a 4-part series. And here’s the previous installment in this series.
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To set process-oriented goals, you have to ask different set of questions than those you run through to set up result-oriented goals. With result-oriented, you consider the effectiveness, impact, and relevance of the goals you set. With process-oriented goals, you consider the path, the state you’ll be in while you’re pursuing your goals, and you make up your goals based on it.
Ask yourself these 5 questions as you ponder your goals:
- 1. How can you do what you love, starting now?
- Is it a finish line or a light house? A finish line is a goal you must reach, or face a failure. A light house, you walk/sail toward, but the point is not reaching it.
- Can you fail on your mission? If you answered yes to the question, then you’re putting too much emphasis on the goal.
- When will you reap the benefit? Result-oriented goals have the majority of the benefits waiting for you at the destination. Process-oriented goals let you reap most of those rewards the moment you start pursuing it.
- Does it excite you or overwhelm you?
I used to pursue my dream of becoming a famous rock guitarist by subjecting myself to play the game established in the industry. Like playing crappy gigs, going to parties I didn’t enjoy, trying to befriend people I didn’t like.
Nowadays, I just do what I enjoy — blog, write songs, make music mainly for my own pleasure (though it has value to other listeners, too).
By knowing and applying process-oriented paradigm to your big goals, you unlock the potential for joy and happiness immediately, instead of putting it somewhere in the future and having to walk a painful path.
All that said, in reality, the best approach combines or balances the two extreme. In the final installment, we’ll examine how to apply the concepts into real-world situations.
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