Many people describe goal setting as the key to success. Setting goals has many advantages including direction and focus, motivation, clarity, measurement, and personal development. However, like anything else, there are negative sides to setting goals. In this article we’re going to dive into those disadvantages by talking to multiple experts on the subject. Let’s get into it.
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Being To Attached To The Goals You Set
“The problem with people who set goals, based on my more than 47 years of business experience, is that they get too wedded to them, and don’t recognize when great opportunities come their way that would be highly beneficial to them, but might not exactly ‘fit in’ with their goals.” – Paul A. Dillon (www.dillonconsult.com)
Paul recognizes that when we set goals, it is easy to become too attached. This attachment can lead us to miss out on potentially great opportunities and experiences because they don’t fit our exact goal. Although this is a big downfall to many people, there are many things you could do in order to make sure you keep your eyes open to more opportunities. Here’s a list of some of those things:
Practice daily reflection: Self reflection is extremely important when it comes to achieving goals. Not only does self reflection allow you to see your weaknesses but it also allows you to see your strengths. Taking a few moments out of the day to think about what you are trying to accomplish can help keep you focused and open-minded to other opportunities and strategies.
Have Flexibility Within Your Goal Setting: Let’s say you set the goal to get more blog traffic through social media. If you find that email marketing or SEO is more effective for your business, don’t be afraid to make changes within your goal setting process. Having flexibility and the ability to go with what works best for you can help guide you in a successful direction.
Don’t Ignore Changes: Right now with A.I things are changing in many aspects of life and business. Don’t ignore the things that are changing. Instead embrace them, learn about them, and see how those new things could help you get to your goal faster.
The Perils of Perfectionism in Goal-Setting
“Perfectionism can create disadvantages in goal setting when a person is not willing to do a step imperfectly, or is not willing to try an approach and fail learning from that to try again. Perfectionism can stall us out indefinitely on our path to pursuing our goals.” – Jennifer Alumbaugh, MS
Jennifer Alumbaugh, a Neurodivergent Executive Coach and Consultant explained to me that perfectionism can create problems when we get so fixated on doing things the right way that we’re unable to do anything at all. This is something that I fell victim to for many years and recently have been able to get over. Let’s dive into a couple things you could do in order to get rid of this perfectionist mentality:
Set Realistic Goals: It’s common for perfectionists to go out and set goals way too high and then get discouraged when they are unable to reach them. When goal setting make sure to set realistic goals (which is extremely important for the goal setting process in general). If you want to read on how you could set realistic goals, check out this blog post.
Learn From Failure: Another thing that may be common for perfectionist to do is give up when you fail. This isn’t the way to go as failure is a normal part of growth, progress, and success. It’s important to not be too hard on yourself when you fail and instead learn from that experience so that you can do better next time.
Just Do: It’s important to not think about the past or the future and JUST DO. Do things to help you stay in the moment and enjoy the process. Doing things like meditation, going for a run, or even listening to music can help you stay in the present and appreciate what is going on around you.
Setting Goals Can Make Us Lose Sight Of Everything Else
“However, when the sole focus of your efforts is placed on that solitary goal, you miss the forest for the trees. You fail to see the multitude of opportunities that lay before you at every step of your journey, and run the risk of being stifled by your own lack of vision!” – Coach Lain Lee
Coach Lain Lee explained the perfectly. In short, by being solely focused on a goal, we can become so consumed that we forget to appreciate the journey and everything else.
For example, if we become overly obsessed with reaching our goals, we may lose sight of our relationships, health, and wellbeing. This can lead to be unsatisfied in other areas of our life even after we reach the goal that we’re originally seeking. Here are some things you could do to avoid this:
Set multiple goals, in many areas of your life. You don’t want to have a great career, but a terrible relationship with your wife. Create goals in every aspect, and make them work around each other.
Make sure you take the time to experience new things. The one issue when it comes to being overly focused on your goal is that you become stuck in the same routine. Take some time out of your busy schedule to try something new, and appreciate that experience.
Never stop building relationships. Being overly focused on one goal could also lead to you cutting people out of your life. This is the last thing you want to do, as being open to new relationships could lead you to opportunities you never thought were possible.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while goal setting offers many advantages, it is essential to recognize its potential drawbacks. Experts highlight the risks of becoming too attached to goals, succumbing to perfectionism, and losing sight of everything else in life. To overcome these challenges, give yourself a list of tasks to do outside of your goal in order to be more well rounded. This things may include.
- Seeking out relationships
- Picking up a hobby
- Things that keep you in the moment like meditation or going for a run
- & More
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[…] todays day and age, many people take pride in how hard they work. However, one of the disadvantages of setting goals as a hard worker is that it can lead to an unbalanced work life. For some, having a balanced life […]