Some Research
Locke and Latham's (1991) research into task performance lead them to conclude that the “…explanation of why some people perform better than others is because they have different performance goals” (p. 213). This really drives home the importance of goal setting, it is crucial to success!
High Performance Cycle
Locke and Latham (1991) go on to speak of a High Performance Cycle: the achievement of challenging goals leads to reward and increased satisfaction, which in turn encourages commitment and a willingness to accept new challenges (Locke and Latham 1991: 233). Achieving one’s goals encourages further success!
Personal Context
Reflecting on the path of my life I have been remiss on creating clear life goals. Aside from why this may be, I have fallen prey to circumstance, decisions made in the context of others, bouncing from one thing to another. The effect of this has been to cause frustration, anxiety, and insecurity. Embarking on an MA in UX design has in large part been to rectify this situation. I am committed to gaining clarity of aspiration, identifying professional goals, and improving my skill sets.
Aspirations & Goals
Some of my life aspirations or goals are to provide well for my family, to be of benefit to the world, to achieve a sense of purpose and success, to be happy, to attain self-actualisation and realisation.
Aspirations can been seen as goals, something being reached for, a striving, motivating action. There seems to be a difference however between these aspirations and the goal of, for example, to complete a 2000 word article in 5 days. Aspirations on the whole seem to be long-term, i.e. in the distant future, while goals are more focussed and in the near future. Here is below is a useful rubric:
Aspirations are emotional and feelings based.
Goals are fact based and unemotional.
David Kirkaldy puts it well:
"Aspirations are attained over time on the bedrock of many goals."
SMART Goals
With this in mind let's take a look at what makes a goal SMART:
Specific: the goal must be precise, leaving no room for ambiguity or misinterpretation. This characteristic is supported through research by Locke and Latham (1991), stating that specific goals lead to a higher level of performance as opposed to vague or when no goal is set. (p.215) Further, when given specific goals people spontaneously formulate plans and task strategies to help reach the goals. (p.228) There is a caveat however, in the early stages of learning a new complex task, specific goals may hurt performance. (p.229)
Measurable: the goal must be quantifiable and progress trackable. In this way you know how you are doing and it provides the marker of when a goal is achieved. Locke and Latham (1991) speak of this as "feedback", that it provides motivation for high performance. (p,225)
Achievable: a goal of beating Hussain Bolt in the 100m sprint is more than likely unachievable! Jordan Peterson (video embedded below) suggests to measure achievement by comparing yourself to how you performed yesterday. One important aspect raised by Locke and Latham (1991) is that while goals should be achievable they should also be challenging - the harder the goal the higher the performance. This is because people adjust their effort level according to the difficulty of the task, simply they try harder! (p.214)
Relevant: relevance relates perhaps to aspirations mentioned above in that the goal should contribute to a broader overarching goal. For example, if my goal is to move to France in 5 years, my goal to learn 20 new French words every week is relevant to the larger goal. Locke and Latham (1991) find that goal achievement is increased when people are convinced that achieving the goal is important or appropriate. They are more committed to the task. If I were merely tasked with learning 20 French words without context, it seems understandable that I would not be committed to the task, it would have no wider meaning.
Time-bound: Locke and Latham (1991) found that when time limits were imposed, difficult tasks induced people to work harder and faster. (p.228) This lends weight to importance of setting a time element to goals.
Examples of SMART Goals
In context of my aspirations as well as goals for embarking on the MA in UX design, here are a couple of SMART goal examples:
By the start of the next study module I will find out what study materials are available in the fields of Web3, blockchain technology, and augmented reality, to find out how my current interests and skills align as well as identifying skills I need to acquire. I will document my findings, further goals, and actions in my CRJ.
During the planning phase of the project, I will identify and implement practices and methodologies, e.g., sprint, delivery, reflection, which align with Agile values and principles. At each stage of the design and development process I will monitor progress in light of work efficiency, and document this in my CRJ.
Proximal vs Distal Goals
Aspirations tend to be long-term, often vague and difficult to define. Reflecting on further reading into goals in general and SMART goals in particular, being specific with goal setting has an added benefit of breaking larger goals into smaller, more achievable goals. Locke and Latham (1991) speak of a distinction between proximal goals (perhaps a nod to Vygotsky's theory of the "Zone of Proximal Development"), those that are nearer at hand, and distal goals, goals which much further away. They found that when goals are broken down into manageable proximal sub-goals people persisted in their task significantly longer than those faced with an overarching goal. Further achievement of sub-goals boosted confidence in capability to complete the task, and ultimately to achieve the overarching goal. (p.237)
Video References
In the video below, Jordan Peterson provides some excellent advice on setting appropriate personal goals. A new concept for me was the "Pareto Principle", that is, that approximately 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. This principle was echoed on reading about Agile principles, when considering what work to prioritise, what goals to set, focus on tasks that provide 80% of the value.
Also drawing my attention was a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) from his Twilight of the idols, or How to philosophize with a hammer (1889):
"If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how."
This speaks to aspirations and the means of attaining aspirations.
John Doerr explains why the secret to success is setting the right goals. I will be further investigating his writings about OKR's or Objective Key Results.
References
KIRKALDY, David. 2022. ‘What Comes First: Goal or Aspiration?’ Musings on the Mundane [online]. Available at: http://www.davidkirkaldy.com/what-comes-first-goal-or-aspiration/ [accessed 02 Jul 2022].
LOCKE, Edwin and Gary LATHAM. 1991. ‘A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance’. The Academy of Management Review 16. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232501090_A_Theory_of_Goal_Setting_Task_Perf ormance/ [accessed 02 Jul 2022].
VYGOTSKIJ, Lev Semenovič and Michael COLE. 1981. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Nachdr. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press.
