Does Goal-Setting Improve Performance?

Think about climbing Mt Everest. Losing 50 pounds. Putting on 20 pounds of muscle. The list goes on.

Now imagine doing all of those things without setting goals.

Climbing Mt. Everest would be extremely dangerous, losing 50 pounds would take forever, and putting on 20 pounds of muscle will most likely never happen.

That’s unless you set goals.

So the answer to the question is, yes goal setting does improve performance, and for the rest of this post, we will go over why.

The Science Behind Goal Setting

The fact that goal setting increases performance is also backed by science. Here are some examples:

  1. Locke’s goal-setting theory of motivation, backed by hundreds of studies, asserts that specific, challenging goals outperform ‘do your best’ encouragements.
  2. Teams who set goals see a 20-25% uptick in work performance.
  3. Goal setting boosts motivation, self-esteem, self-confidence, and autonomy.
  4. Research shows goal setting is linked with self-confidence and autonomy.
  5. Even without financial incentives, goal-setting increased worker performance by 12 to 15%.
  6. Students perform better when they set clearer, more specific goals.
  7. Setting goals helps employees feel more connected to their organization, boosting job satisfaction and performance.
  8. A systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that goal setting in sports positively impacts performance and psychological outcomes.

The Benefits of Goal Setting

I thought before I started setting goals that it was just some cliche thing that everyone talked about. Setting goals has so many benefits.

Allows You To Build Up To Bigger Goals

This quote by Kevin Hart in this video is one of my favorites.

“I accept baby steps, you know, little baby goals, not big ones, but small ones. And oh, what I’m saying and I’m doing, I’m actually achieving, and the goals get bigger, they get bigger, get bigger, they get bigger and bigger. So, I found out that your worst enemy is you and your ability to stay true to the thing that you want to do. If you lie to yourself and cheat yourself.”

When you set goals no matter how small it allows you to see that when you put action to your words, there’s nothing you can’t do if you just take the necessary action. Kevin Hart explains it well in the above video.

Setting Goals Could Help You With Personal Development

Before I was goal-oriented when it came to personal development i really didn’t pay attention to the little details.

This has changed for me.

Now that I saw the benefits of setting goals in my work life, I changed the way I looked at every single aspect of life.

Reading books. Running. You name it, I created a goal for it.

Focus and Discipline

I know before I set goals, I would think about the things I would want to accomplish, but I wouldn’t take any action.

I was all talk.

Not setting goals combined with today’s social media apps that shorten your attention span, it’s easy to do nothing.

Once you set goals, and take little actions, your focus and discipline increase significantly. I went from not being able to focus for a straight 15 minutes to being able to work for two hours straight with no problems.

They Help You Track and Re-evaluate

Setting goals puts you in a position to track your progress.

You could see which actions give you the very best chance to succeed.

On top of that, setting goals teaches you more about yourself. It allows you to see what your strengths and weaknesses are and how you could change your life up to suit those strengths and weaknesses.

Just remember: no matter what goals you set, things will get hard. So don’t give up and switch up simply because it’s hard.

Long Term Vision

The last benefit I’m going to go over is how setting goals gives you a long-term vision.

Not only for your current goals but also further down the line.

You also need a long-term vision to set day-to-day steps.

How to Set Effective Goals

Now that you know all about how setting goals helps performance, I’ve written two resources that will help you learn a little bit more about doing so.

The first one is the overall importance of setting realistic goals.

The second one is how to set realistic goals and achieve them.

Conclusion

Now that you know the benefits of goal setting. What’s stopping you? If you feel like you’re confused about setting goals, go here and find out why and how you could get past it.

I’m interested in hearing stories as to how setting goals has helped you.

Let me know in the comments how, and what different strategies you’ve used to set effective goals.