Actual Achievement Part 1 – Goal-Setting
Actual Achievement Part 1
Sport is an excellent medium in which to explore the
mechanics of achievement. My own background is in
Whitewater Canoe Slalom, which requires power and
technique in a constantly changing environment. How is this
for a fitting metaphor for today's business environment and
life altogether? You need resources (power), like money,
people or things and use them in skillful ways (technique) to
adapt, grow and thrive in an ever changing and unfolding
environment.You may know exactly what you want (e.g.: Gold Medal),
even have a detailed and well researched plan or process
to get there and you will still encounter those factors that are
not under your control, factors you haven't accounted for.Even if we were to collect all the experiences ever made in
pursuit of this particular goal and were able to devise a plan
taking all these experiences into account, we would still not
be able to devise a fail proof plan.No plan, no map can ever be 100% indicative of what
actually happens! So how do we account for that which can't
be accounted for? Why am I actually stressing this fact? Isn't
it that 'we win some and loose some'? It certainly can be, if
you are OK with that?When I went to the Olympics I had just won the World
Championships the year before and I certainly went there to
win, as did a number of other competitors in my discipline. I
wasn't going to leave it to chance. Since I was 8 years old I
was competing in my sport and from about age 16 the
Olympics was my declared goal and passion. Now I am
here and NOW everything has to fall into place, or does it?!So, what is the answer? Not to make a plan at all? Or to
leave particular things open and unanswered, or to have a
number of plans (A, B, C, ?), or to 'do your best and don't
worry about the outcome'?Before I give my take on this, I want to stress the important
fact that at this point I was prepared to 'peak'. I went through
many troths to get to this peak and these 'down times', or
'basic training periods' are what provided the foundation for
the peak. When you truly take in the inevitability of this
principle you can use it to evaluate what benefits could be
had by periodising the activities of your company or by taking
account for times of action and replenishment in your life.There is also an important qualitative differentiation. What
you actually 'do' at your peak, the actual way (technique) you
use your resources may be very different to how you operate
at other times. This may have to necessarily be so, because
of the sustainability of the effort, due to physical or mental
strain. Again, taking this into account will give you more
energy when you really want it, when you need it to make the
difference to your competitors. When you always run on
what you consider 'high', where will you get the energy to go
to 'highest', or 'smartest', or 'most dynamic', what ever the
key quality is that you or your team need to excel.Also know that there is no growth without recovery. It's in
times of recovery and replenishment that our bodies and
minds grow and adapt. Understanding this and putting it to
work effectively, is a huge area of gain for athletes and
others wanting to grow and develop.In summary for now, Actual Achieving doesn't come from
nowhere, resources need to be build and techniques need
to be acquired. Peaking all the time is not possible and
much can be gained from positively understanding and
working with this.
This much for honoring the process! More in part 2.
Successful Goal Setting and Achievement – Goal-Setting
Successful Goal Setting and Achievement
The first step to success, of course, is to set a goal. You can't get anywhere if you're not heading in that direction. Intention is essential.The second step to achieve success is to persist. Many people do get down to setting goals, but they don't achieve them. Achievement can only come from persistence.A goal set in motion will be achieved...unless, you stop thinking and acting on it.It's that simple to be a success story.For some reason people believe that the size of the goal is what makes it more possible. They also believe that they have to have the resources to achieve the goal.This "realistic" thinking, however, has nothing to do with goal achievements.The history of goal achievers shows that almost anything is possible. Wealth, health, and a wonderful relationship are possible for anyone.People have overcome illnesses considered incurable; impoverished people, with no money, contacts, or opportunities, have become millionaires; and those with little or no observable talents have become world-famous performers.The only thing that stops a goal from realization is you. Goal setting will lead to achievement if you stay the course.When you understand even a little about quantum physics and how the brain works, you'll come to understand that nothing is impossible.Your thoughts are the most potent things on earth.If they are positive, they flood your body with the right chemicals to produce euphoria and energy.If they are positive, they attract the people, circumstances, ideas, and opportunity that you need.A carpenter longed to build skyscrapers. He learned how the subconscious mind can broadcast his goal until they attracted the right opportunity. One day, he went to work for a wealthy contractor. This gentleman became his mentor. He taught him how to raise capital, generate contracts, and all the other details of setting up lucrative projects. The carpenter prospered and eventually was able to move in circles where he was able to build skyscrapers.If you create the right mental environment, you will create the right physical environment in which you cannot fail.Resource BoxSaleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable lifeCopyright 2005 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this
article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or
newsletter. It's a shareware article.
On Achievement – Goal-Setting
On Achievement
If a comatose person were to earn an interest of 1 million USD annually on the sum paid to him as compensatory damages ? would this be considered an achievement of his? To succeed to earn 1 million USD is universally judged to be an achievement. But to do so while comatose will almost as universally not be counted as one. It would seem that a person has to be both conscious and intelligent to have his achievements qualify.Even these conditions, though necessary, are not sufficient. If a totally conscious (and reasonably intelligent) person were to accidentally unearth a treasure trove and thus be transformed into a multi-billionaire ? his stumbling across a fortune will not qualify as an achievement. A lucky turn of events does not an achievement make. A person must be intent on achieving to have his deeds classified as achievements. Intention is a paramount criterion in the classification of events and actions, as any intensionalist philosopher will tell you.Supposing a conscious and intelligent person has the intention to achieve a goal. He then engages in a series of absolutely random and unrelated actions, one of which yields the desired result. Will we then say that our person is an achiever?Not at all. It is not enough to intend. One must proceed to produce a plan of action, which is directly derived from the overriding goal. Such a plan of action must be seen to be reasonable and pragmatic and leading ? with great probability ? to the achievement. In other words: the plan must involve a prognosis, a prediction, a forecast, which can be either verified or falsified. Attaining an achievement involves the construction of an ad-hoc mini theory. Reality has to be thoroughly surveyed, models constructed, one of them selected (on empirical or aesthetic grounds), a goal formulated, an experiment performed and a negative (failure) or positive (achievement) result obtained. Only if the prediction turns out to be correct can we speak of an achievement.Our would-be achiever is thus burdened by a series of requirements. He must be conscious, must possess a well-formulated intention, must plan his steps towards the attainment of his goal, and must correctly predict the results of his actions.But planning alone is not sufficient. One must carry out one's plan of action (from mere plan to actual action). An effort has to be seen to be invested (which must be commensurate with the achievement sought and with the qualities of the achiever). If a person consciously intends to obtain a university degree and constructs a plan of action, which involves bribing the professors into conferring one upon him ? this will not be considered an achievement. To qualify as an achievement, a university degree entails a continuous and strenuous effort. Such an effort is commensurate with the desired result. If the person involved is gifted ? less effort will be expected of him. The expected effort is modified to reflect the superior qualities of the achiever. Still, an effort, which is deemed to be inordinately or irregularly small (or big!) will annul the standing of the action as an achievement. Moreover, the effort invested must be seen to be continuous, part of an unbroken pattern, bounded and guided by a clearly defined, transparent plan of action and by a declared intention. Otherwise, the effort will be judged to be random, devoid of meaning, haphazard, arbitrary, capricious, etc. ? which will erode the achievement status of the results of the actions. This, really, is the crux of the matter: the results are much less important than the coherent, directional, patterns of action. It is the pursuit that matters, the hunt more than the game and the game more than victory or gains. Serendipity cannot underlie an achievement.These are the internal-epistemological-cognitive determinants as they are translated into action. But whether an event or action is an achievement or not also depends on the world itself, the substrate of the actions.An achievement must bring about change. Changes occur or are reported to have occurred ? as in the acquisition of knowledge or in mental therapy where we have no direct observational access to the events and we have to rely on testimonials. If they do not occur (or are not reported to have occurred) ? there would be no meaning to the word achievement. In an entropic, stagnant world ? no achievement is ever possible. Moreover: the mere occurrence of change is grossly inadequate. The change must be irreversible or, at least, induce irreversibility, or have irreversible effects. Consider Sisyphus: forever changing his environment (rolling that stone up the mountain slope). He is conscious, is possessed of intention, plans his actions and diligently and consistently carries them out. He is always successful at achieving his goals. Yet, his achievements are reversed by the spiteful gods. He is doomed to forever repeat his actions, thus rendering them meaningless. Meaning is linked to irreversible change, without it, it is not to be found. Sisyphean acts are meaningless and Sisyphus has no achievements to talk about.Irreversibility is linked not only to meaning, but also to free will and to the lack of coercion or oppression. Sisyphus is not his own master. He is ruled by others. They have the power to reverse the results of his actions and, thus, to annul them altogether. If the fruits of our labour are at the mercy of others ? we can never guarantee their irreversibility and, therefore, can never be sure to achieve anything. If we have no free will ? we can have no real plans and intentions and if our actions are determined elsewhere ? their results are not ours and nothing like achievement exists but in the form of self delusion.We see that to amply judge the status of our actions and of their results, we must be aware of many incidental things. The context is critical: what were the circumstances, what could have been expected, what are the measures of planning and of intention, of effort and of perseverance which would have "normally" been called for, etc. Labelling a complex of actions and results "an achievement" requires social judgement and social recognition. Take breathing: no one considers this to be an achievement unless Stephen Hawking is involved. Society judges the fact that Hawking is still (mentally and sexually) alert to be an outstanding achievement. The sentence: "an invalid is breathing" would be categorized as an achievement only by informed members of a community and subject to the rules and the ethos of said community. It has no "objective" or ontological weight.Events and actions are classified as achievements, in other words, as a result of value judgements within given historical, psychological and cultural contexts. Judgement has to be involved: are the actions and their results negative or positive in the said contexts. Genocide, for instance, would have not qualified as an achievement in the USA ? but it would have in the ranks of the SS. Perhaps to find a definition of achievement which is independent of social context would be the first achievement to be considered as such anywhere, anytime, by everyone.About The AuthorSam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and the editor of mental health categories in The Open Directory, Suite101, and searcheurope.com.His web site: http://samvak.tripod.comFrequently asked questions regarding narcissism: http://samvak.tripod.com/faq1.htmlNarcissistic Personality Disorder on Suite101: http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/npd