Why Achieving Goals is Frustrating

Goals are frustrating. They appear to be so easy when you say them. It’s when you attempt to reach them that it’s as if you plunge into an enormous trap teeming with details that yell for your attention and issues that thrust themselves in front of you as if challenging you to try to get past them. Because of this assault your goal suffers and you have to deal with the painful truth either that you will never reach it or that succeeding will take immensely more commitment than you had planned for.

Let me give you an example. Suppose that you have this goal:

I’m going to build a new company offering a coffee service to local offices.

There you have it. One sentence. Easy.

What do you need to do to reach this goal? Well, you’ll need to get some coffee machines and some supplies, then start knocking on doors. You may not get enough business or sign up enough buyers to turn a profit, but the goal is simple.

Truly?

We’ll take another look.

You are going to offer coffee. What kinds? Regular? Bold? Decaf? Flavored? What flavors? Are you going to offer hot chocolate? Fat free as well as regular? How about tea? Regular? Herbal? Oriental? And which because there are so many? What about powered soups? What flavors? Dried noodle bowls? Which? Will you include packaged snacks such as chips or chocolate bars? Okay, which brands? Sizes? Flavors? You’ll need to provide sweetener. Sugar? Synthetic? Diabetic? How about creamers? Liquid? Powdered? Non-dairy? Reduced fat?

If you’re discouraged, we’ve just begun. All of these details relate to the service itself, but there are others that cope with getting the service going. For example, you’ll need a business license. Will you incorporate? Do you need an office? A warehouse? Office equipment? Shelving? Software? Contracts with suppliers? Contracts with customers? Delivery schedules? A website? Do you need financing? A loan? An investor? Will you advertise? Where? Who will design the ads?

And for all these details, every one presents you with two problems.

In the first place, most of them require a decision. Take packaged snacks. Will you provide them? You could, but will you? More important, how can you make this and all of the other decisions in a manner that’s best for you , your clients, and your business without resorting to tossing a coin?

The second problem is where do you start? Imagine that it’s now day one and you are sitting at your desk, full of energy and excitement at the vision of your goal. What do you do first? Research providers? Incorporate? Reserve a web site name? Start writing a business plan? Research the competition? Where do you start and what do you do next?

Now, I’m not attempting to discourage you. I am not counseling that you desert your goal and fall back into your present job, but would it not be terrific if there were some proven way to deal with these details? Some well used process to tame them and to develop a day-by-day plan to take you from now to your goal.

Well, there is. It’s called “project management,” and it’s now available for personal goals.

Jolyon Hallows is the creator of The Systematic Goal, a system for setting, planning, and achieving goals. He’s a seasoned
project manager, author of two books on project management, an instructor in a university diploma program, and has personally trained over a thousand project managers worldwide.

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