[30-Mar-2023 23:09:30 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function site_url() in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php on line 3 [30-Mar-2023 23:09:35 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function site_url() in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php on line 3 [30-Mar-2023 23:10:21 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Class 'WP_Widget' not found in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php on line 3 [30-Mar-2023 23:10:25 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Class 'WP_Widget' not found in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php on line 3 [07-Apr-2023 14:46:00 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function site_url() in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php on line 3 [07-Apr-2023 14:46:07 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function site_url() in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php on line 3 [07-Apr-2023 14:46:54 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Class 'WP_Widget' not found in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php on line 3 [07-Apr-2023 14:47:00 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Class 'WP_Widget' not found in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php on line 3 [07-Sep-2023 08:35:46 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function site_url() in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php on line 3 [07-Sep-2023 08:35:47 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function site_url() in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_constants.php on line 3 [07-Sep-2023 08:36:10 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Class 'WP_Widget' not found in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php on line 3 [07-Sep-2023 08:36:15 America/Boise] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Class 'WP_Widget' not found in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php:3 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /home3/westetf3/public_html/publishingpulse/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-upload/lib/wfu_widget.php on line 3 Goal Setting – Publishing Pulse https://www.publishingpulse.com The Heartbeat of Modern Publishing Sat, 17 Mar 2018 01:51:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.24 How to Smash Your Personal Goals Using The Goal Setting Theory https://www.publishingpulse.com/goal-setting-theory-personal-goals/ Tue, 13 Mar 2018 04:33:59 +0000 https://www.publishingpulse.com/?p=436 If you desire to achieve anything substantial in life, you must set smart personal goals. Then, of course, you must go out and achieve them. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you want Read more…

The post How to Smash Your Personal Goals Using The Goal Setting Theory appeared first on Publishing Pulse.

]]>

If you desire to achieve anything substantial in life, you must set smart personal goals. Then, of course, you must go out and achieve them.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you want to do; effective and smart goal setting is essential if you want to perform your best. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to clean your house, learn a new instrument, get in better shape, or win an MMA tournament.

And no matter what your goals are, we have an incredibly powerful goal setting method for you in this article. We’re going to teach you this method as quickly and effectively as possible.

In this article we will:

  • Discuss why smart goal setting is so important for personal success.
  • Briefly teach you about Edwin Locke’s Goal Setting Theory. As you will see, this is a proven theory and method you can use to accomplish your goals.
  • Tell you exactly how to put Goal Setting Theory into practice to create and conquer any of your personal goals.

This is going to be some very powerful stuff.

Are you ready?

Why Set Personal Goals?

If you have any desire for personal achievement, smartly designed personal goals are absolute game changers!

Sure, you can cruise through life not setting clear definable goals, or by setting general goals with no time frame. You may even eventually achieve these goals. But if you do, we can guarantee that it will be much slower and less effective than if you had a real goal setting method.

So you’re competing at something, or if you’re trying to get work done significantly more efficiently, or if you’re just trying to be the best you possibly can be at something, you must set personal goals. Plain and simple!

Well laid out goals, as we will discuss, will do the following for you:

  • Significantly increase your motivation: An achievable but challenging and clearly defined goal will significantly increase your motivation to succeed.
  • Make you learn more: Simply put, when you’re challenged, you learn a lot more about what you’ve been challenged to do. This is because you are put on the spot and you’re forced to use all of the resources and mental energy you have in order to succeed. This makes all the difference in the world!
  • Keep you focused: When you set a challenging goal that you take seriously, you become much more focused on the task at hand. Many people fail to achieve goals because they make them, then they only take them semi-seriously at best. If you clearly lay out your goals, you will be able to look at the list every time you feel that you’re losing focus. The mental benefit of this is huge for many people because it helps them stay focused.
  • Make you feel more alive: Proper goal setting gives you a purpose and a reason to live your life with more vigor! The feeling of vitality because you’ve been challenged is absolutely incredible. Many people shy away from a challenge but they don’t realize exactly how fun and rewarding it is while they’re in the process of overcoming a challenge that they have the ability to overcome.
  • Dramatically improve your chance of success: If you aren’t setting goals, you aren’t 100% serious about what you’re setting out to do. Plain and simple. The combination of all of the above reasons dramatically improves your chance of success.

A Brief Background of Goal Setting Theory

Now that we’ve discussed why setting personal goals is so huge, we can now discuss Goal Setting Theory.

The Goal Setting Theory was developed by psychologist Dr. Edwin Locke in the 1960s.

Edwin Locke primarily studied human motivation. In his research, he determined that people must set very relevant, challenging goals in order to reach their maximum potential.

In fact, he noted that as long as goals were relevant, attainable, and non-conflicting with other goals, the level of challenge of the goal was positively correlated to increased task performance.

His research led him to develop Goal Setting Theory. Goal Setting Theory is perhaps the most respected theory of motivation in all of industrial psychology. In case you didn’t know, industrial psychology is the subfield of psychology focused on improving people’s output in the workplace.

So we now know that Goal Setting Theory is widely considered to be powerful and effective. But how do we set these goals using this theory and method? We’re glad you asked.

How to Use the Goal Setting Theory For Smart Goal Setting

More than just a theory, the Goal Setting Theory does an excellent job of laying the framework for smart goal setting.

According to the Goal Setting Theory, your goals must have all of the following elements amongst them:

  • Clear: Your goals must be clearly defined and easily measured.
  • Challenging: Your goals must challenge you. However, they should not be so challenging that you cannot possibly achieve them. Edwin Locke and his colleagues noted that the level of challenge of the goal was directly correlated to the achievement, as long as the goals were achievable and non-conflicting.
  • Committed: You must absolutely be committed to the goals that you are setting. No exceptions!
  • Feedback: You must be able to get feedback on your goals. You can either get feedback from an accountability partner or during your own self-reflection. For instance, once a week you can self-reflect to see what you have accomplished thus far, and how to improve as necessary.
  • Considering of Complexity: Complexity of the goal must be considered. A complex goal will require a lot of time to accomplish, and it must be accomplished properly. Therefore, it may be best to break it down into separate goals. See the next section for an example.

Get the idea? We will show you an example below.

Example of Creating Goals With the Goal Setting Theory

Here’s a recent example of using the goal setting theory to create well-made goals.

A friend of ours, John, has been writing a blog. For the last six months, he has been blogging in his spare time after working 40 hours a week.

He has seen success with his blogging and has drawn a respectable audience for a short time.

However, he hasn’t been making as much money as he would like from his blog. Last month he made $120 a month, and before that, he made $105. Unhappy with his progress, John set out to make $500 the next month.

So here’s how he laid his goals for the month, using the principles of the Goal Setting Theory.

  • Clear: John set out to make $500 in a month. This is a clearly defined goal.
  • Challenging: The goal of $500 a month was challenging, considering John’s last earning was $120. But it was not out of the realm of possibility.
  • Committed: John was 100% committed to his goal of making $500 in one month in addition to his normal monthly income.
  • Feedback: John used one of us as an accountability partner. He a lso self reflected at the end of every week to determine whether or not he was getting there on time.
  • Considering of Complexity: John laid out his goal in steps. His overall goal was to make $500 for the month. He laid out smaller goals such as getting a Patreon, getting a Paypal, finding affiliate marketers, and so forth. All of these goals added up to the #1 goal of earning $500 for the month.

So as you can see here, John used the Goal Setting Theory very well.

This set John’s mindset in the right direction immediately. John realized that he had to get on the ball if he wanted to accomplish his goal. He immediately started Paypal and Patreon accounts, which were two things he was previously procrastinating on.

He found more affiliate marketers that pushed out products that he could personally recommend.

He also drove up his traffic by posting more blog posts and by promoting on social media.

And on top of this, John started an email list so he could keep subscribers on his site for the long term. Prior to this, John never considered an email list.

So we know what you’re asking. Did John succeed?

He missed his mark — but just barely. He made $472.53 that month!

But guess what, John is $472.53 richer than he was the month before. And had he not set the goal, he would probably have only made a couple hundred at most.

The goal setting provided huge motivation. John even reported that he felt more alive and determined than he had in a long time.

And this month, John is on track to earn $1000. He aims to make $1500 next month. His six-month goal is $3000 a month.

It’s very lofty, sure, but could you imagine where he’d be if he never set these goals?

Your Final Step: Develop an Accountability Partner

Now that you’ve set the goals that you desire, you should share them with an accountability partner to maximize your results. This will significantly increase your motivation and ultimately your success if done properly.

If you liked this article, be sure to check out our article on developing an accountability partner here. This article discusses exactly how to find an accountability partner, including what traits to look for, how to find the right type of partner, and how to develop your relationship.

We very highly recommend reading it.

Conclusion

We hope you learned a lot from this article.

If you liked this article, be sure to check out our books. We have several great books on self-improvement, motivation, destroying procrastination, meditation, and so on.

Publishing Pulse is a small publishing company oriented at education, self-improvement, and entertainment. We recommend that you follow us on Twitter at @pulsepublishing.

Be sure to sign up for our email list as well for self-improvement tips, new articles and discounts and promotions on our newest books sent directly to your inbox.

The post How to Smash Your Personal Goals Using The Goal Setting Theory appeared first on Publishing Pulse.

]]> Why An Accountability Partner Is Crucial to Achieve Your Goals https://www.publishingpulse.com/accountability-partner-personal-accountability-goals/ Mon, 12 Mar 2018 23:37:26 +0000 https://www.publishingpulse.com/?p=439 Your accountability partner may very well your best asset in your quest for success. Why do we say this? Because a good accountability partner (or accountability buddy, take your pick) holds you true to your Read more…

The post Why An Accountability Partner Is Crucial to Achieve Your Goals appeared first on Publishing Pulse.

]]>

Your accountability partner may very well your best asset in your quest for success.

Why do we say this? Because a good accountability partner (or accountability buddy, take your pick) holds you true to your word.

They share your struggle and can give you solid input on where you’re at with your goals. They significantly increase your personal accountability and help destroy your bad procrastination habits.

We’ve discussed accountability partners before, and now we’re going to discuss them again. Accountability partners are an incredible help to increase your personal accountability. Thus, they help you tremendously with goal setting and achievement.

Goal setting is absolutely essential to achieve your goals, and an accountability partner becomes the person you never want to let down. Believe us when we say you feel a lot worse if you have to tell someone else that you couldn’t achieve your goals instead of only yourself!

Now, before we start in detail: if you haven’t yet read our article on Goal Setting Theory, you should. We highly recommend it unless you have a lot of experience setting goals and you already have your goals set out. This article is essentially part two of a series on setting goals.

How Accountability Partners Help You Maximize Your Personal Accountability and Destroy Your Goals

The reasoning for developing a relationship with an accountability partner is simple. They will dramatically improve your motivation toward accomplishing your goals.

According to the world-renowned Goal Setting Theory, an important factor of goal setting is that you must have clear feedback on your goals. This is one of the five essential elements of setting proper goals, according to the famous psychologist Edwin Locke.

An accountability partner gives you clear feedback on your goals and thus increases your personal accountability.

So how do you go about finding an accountability partner, and what traits should they have? Let’s discuss.

The Required Traits of an Accountability Partner

When you’re looking for a good accountability partner, they should be the following:

  1. A go-getter. Someone who is very industrious and goal oriented.
  2. Ideally, someone in the same field as you or who is trying to accomplish a similar goal. If you’re trying to succeed at a sport, they should ideally be doing the same sport. If you are trying to become a successful blogger, they should be a blogger as well.
  3. Selfless enough that they legitimately want to see you succeed.
  4. Someone who cares about their own personal success.
  5. Somebody who will hold you accountable if you don’t reach your own goals. “Tough love” is the buzz phrase. At the very least, they shouldn’t just brush things off if you weren’t able to accomplish what you set out to do and should offer suggestions for improvement.
  6. Somebody who is available enough that you can talk to them relatively frequently. This depends on the relationship you two want to develop, but on average, several times a week works best for most people. If you rarely talk to each other, it’s very difficult to for them to help you develop your personal accountability.
  7. Someone who has seen at least some success with what they’re doing. Don’t become accountability buddies with people who don’t seem like they’re going to go anywhere.
  8. Someone that you personally get along with. There’s no sense in developing a relationship with someone you don’t click with very well.

You want them to have as many of these traits as possible.

So in short, you just need to find someone who is goal-oriented, available, ideally in the same field, caring about your success, and someone who you get along with well personally.

Other traits of the relationship can be encouraged. For instance, you may have to encourage them to hold you accountable if you fail. Even if they don’t have these at first, traits like this can often be developed over the course of the relationship.

Where to Find Your Accountability Partner

There are two primary ways to find your partner: through your social circle and online. We will discuss both methods.

1) Your Social Circle

Generally, it is best if your accountability partner is already a friend of yours or in your social circle somehow. This is because in most cases, you already know them well and you can make face-to-face contact with them.

Pick a friend who meets the above criteria as much as possible, and who you can talk to as much as you think is necessary. For most people, this will be several times a week.

Some of your friends will not be good accountability partners, and that’s fine. If they don’t have the traits listed above, don’t pick them as a partner. Some friends are simply better for hanging out with than trying to help you increase your personal accountability.

So pick your company wisely. As they say, you’re the average of the five people you hang out with the most!

If you can’t figure out anyone who can do this in your social circle, you can look online instead.

2) Online

You can absolutely find an accountability partner online.

This is doable when you are achieving goals that can be measured and shared either online or on the phone. Since your partner is probably not going to meet you in person, it is crucially important that you are open and honest with them.

You can start your search by publicly posting on Facebook, Twitter, or a message board on a site about your interest (such as blogging, bodybuilding, overcoming stress, etc).

State that you’re looking for an accountability partner, and state what your criteria are. Mention your goals and why you want a partner to help achieve them. In fact, you should link them to this article so they know what you’re looking for.

Depending on how many people are interested, it’s likely that you’ll get a handful of “applicants.” Go through the list of applicants to see what kind of person you think is best to be your accountability buddy. You can even interview them.

Then, figure out how you’re going to contact them. Ideally, you should give them your number and talk to them on the phone to touch base with them.

Most life goals can be shared by someone online. This might be a little worse for certain athletic goals. You may want to share pictures or videos as proof of your accomplishments or talk on video chat through a program such as WhatsApp or Viber.

Overall, finding an accountability buddy online is a great alternative if you have nobody in your social circle willing or able to help you.

The Next Step: Lay Out Your Goals

After you’ve touched base with your accountability partner and made the criteria clear, you must both lay out your goals.

Go over your goals for the time period. We generally encourage monthly goals as a good start. They can be broken down into weekly goals as well.

Then listen to their goals. Provide input on how they can best achieve their goals based on your own experience. Encourage them to set challenging, measurable, and attainable goals, and help them as much as needed.

If you’re both looking to accomplish a goal in the same field, then help them with what you know about the subject. In most cases, the closer you two work together, the better.

The most important thing is that by the end of this, you both have set challenging, attainable, measurable goals and you have a clear idea of what each other’s goals are.

Develop and Maintain Your Relationship

After you’ve laid out your goals with your accountability partner, you have to actively develop and maintain your relationship.

Any relationship based on personal accountability requires commitment, honesty, and good communication. You must make sure that these elements are a strong part of your relationship.

You must also add value to the relationship. Add whatever knowledge you can to what they’re doing.

It doesn’t matter if the knowledge is related to the subject you’re setting goals on, or if it’s related to motivation and goal setting, or something else. Just make sure you’re legitimately adding value. You should be able to clearly state what they are getting out of the relationship.

A good accountability partner will discuss your goals with you at the end of the goal period. You should always have this conversation! At the end of your goal period, you should discuss:

  • What goals you achieved.
  • Which goals you haven’t achieved, if any.
  • What you learned from the process.
  • How you could do better in the future, and possibly set even more challenging goals.
  • What goals you plan on setting for the next period.
  • Anything else the accountability partner wants to discuss about their own goals.

If you do this, you and your accountability partner will have an excellent relationship.

As a final note, we will say this: if something isn’t working out, such as your accountability partner just isn’t responsive or helpful, then politely end the relationship and look for someone else.

There’s absolutely no shame in this. You want to make sure you’re spending your time and energy on the right people.

But if not, feel free to enjoy the relationship and continue to achieve your wildest dreams!

Conclusion

Seriously, everyone, we cannot say enough about the importance of accountability partners. As we’ve said plenty of times, they dramatically enhance your personal accountability and help you achieve your goals.

So get out there and find your accountability buddy. Let this article be your guide. Be sure to bookmark it and refer to it as many times as necessary. And if you think you know someone who you should send it to, make sure you share it with them!

PS: If you found this article helpful, you’ll love our email list. We will send you actionable self-improvement tips, plus discounts and promotions on all of our newest books directly to your email.

Also, follow us on Twitter at @PulsePublishing for a lot more self-improvement tips designed to enhance your life.

And finally, be sure to check out our books here. We have many titles you will love on topics such as meditation, procrastination, copywriting, and more.

The post Why An Accountability Partner Is Crucial to Achieve Your Goals appeared first on Publishing Pulse.

]]>