Most people don't get what they want. Yet you can tell even at your first impulse of desire whether or not you're likely to succeed.
What follows are a number of simple tests which you can use to apply to your outcomes so that you can ensure that you have the best chance of getting what you want. These tests have been modelled from successful business professionals and community leaders.
The more you practice this procedure, the easier it gets, until it becomes automatic.
Unless you consistently want your goal wholeheartedly, then you have an ill-formed outcome and your chances of getting what you want are seriously diminished.
You do not need to know exactly how you will achieve your goal, but you need to have some idea of what to do next (even if it's merely thinking) whilst being motivated to do it.
You may also have doubts about your ability to achieve your goal, or whether it is even possible. Obviously these will be serious barriers to progress.
Most goals are also sub-goals towards achieving more important goals. Each goal in the hierarchy needs to be well-formed. The quickest way to do this is through focussing on the highest goal that you are incongruent with.
People can often become so focussed on achieving something that they have forgotten why it's important to them.
A purpose for having goals might be to take our lives in the direction we want. A purpose for having a computer might be to communicate with people all over the world. A purpose for having money might be being able to acquire what you want.
What are the purposes for your goals?
Is your goal only one way of achieving what you really want? Is it
a subgoal?
Ecology is how well something fits your life. If you had already
achieved your outcomes, how might those changes affect everything that is
important to you? How might they affect your friends, family,
career, ambitions, hobbies, health etc? What are the possible drawbacks
of the outcome?
For each concern modify your outcome eg. being a non-smoker whilst being
happy to let others enjoy smoking and being patient with the people around
me.
What motivates you to achieve your goal needs to be positive
rather than negative. Everything in your goal needs to be in terms
of what you want rather than what you don't want. When described,
words such as no, not, should, shouldn't,
try, without etc should not be used.
eg. rather than I don't want to panic or I want to stop panicking when people
get angry, a better formed goal is to want to feel calm or respond appropriately
when people get angry.
Where possible you will want to know when you're making progress towards your goal or moving further away from it. Only with feedback does adjusting your behaviour to move towards your goal make any sense.
A good metaphor is the accuracy of modern missiles. When missiles
are fired from thousands of miles away, the initial inaccuracy when fired
and variable wind speed might mean the missile misses its target by 50 miles!
Modern "cruise" missiles are constantly guided using Global Positioning
Satellite information and therefore know how to get back on track.
They even contain maps so that they can fly around street corners.
What are the first indications that you can get to show you which direction
you're headed? What might you do in response? What evidence
will definitely mean you've achieved your goal?
Most people need generally pleasant feedback in order to stay motivated.
Even as your skills improve, many things are out of your control.
Your bank manager, despite your best presentation, may still refuse to loan
you money. You need to acknowledge what is outside of your control
and concentrate on doing the best YOU can.
eg. instead of helping people, your goal might be doing whatever you reasonably
can to help people.
If you are more congruent after all these checks, congratulations. If not, you should at least have some idea what you need to work on.