How to Set Process-Oriented Goals and Be a Success Now (Digest)

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.

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. 1. How can you do what you love, starting now?
  2. 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.
  3. Can you fail on your mission? If you answered yes to the question, then you’re putting too much emphasis on the goal.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

One Comment

  1. Pingback: Our Best Version | 5 Roles of Process-Oriented Goals: Setting up Infallible Success (Digest)

Comments are closed.