Success
How to Set the Wrong Goal

(This is an excerpt from the Wisdoms Edge newsletter, if you like it go to www.wisdomsedge.com for more down to earth biblical based wisdom articles.)

Goals are important. But they attain their full importance only when we reach them.
Total Quality Success requires us to have a goal, perhaps more than one. And it's imperative for us to set them well.
Consider the effect long-term goal has on us. The goal might be getting a better job or more money, or it might be taking an overseas trip. This kind of goal is something that's in the distance.
But that's the problem. It's so far in the distance that getting there takes a long time. It demands an extraordinary amount of desire, motivation and self-discipline to get there. And not everyone has such stamina to make it.
But what would happen if our goals were numerous and shorter term – and therefore smaller and much more achievable? For one thing, there might be less discouragement if people achieved more of their goals. With each smaller achievement, there's a reason to express enjoyment and satisfaction at a job well done. And such enjoyment can be experienced time and time again if our goals are numerous, small, and eminently achievable.
So long-term goals, while good in a broader sense, can have a negative impact unless we break them down into smaller achievements.
For example, when I teach a student the piano, the long-term goal is clearly to have the student play the piano well. But this is achieved only by the student learning a lot of music and playing it well. Each piece of music, however, is an incremental step along the way. So each piece successfully learned is a reason to celebrate victory.
But if we are to apply Total Quality Success principles to the piano student, then each piece he learns must incrementally improve in quality so that there is a constant record of continuous improvement. This is all it takes to create great pianists – plus time each day to put in the practice.
And this is how our aims and goals must govern our lives. We need a number of small goals that are thought of in terms of quality. When we do our next activity, there should be some kind of improvement in its quality, and the time after that, another improvement in quality. This is how you get Total Quality Success in the long run.
It's been said that a long march is achieved one step at a time. So, too, is quality in our lives, whether it'sin regard to business, family, or other activities.
– Ian Hodge, PhD
(Dr. Hodge is author of the book Making Sense of Your Dollars: A Biblical Approach to Wealth.)