What Is Goal-Directed Persistence?

What is goal-directed persistence??

Goal-directed persistence is simply creating a small, meaningful, practical goal that is both observable, measurable, and leads to an outcome.

The brain skill of creating a goal that is practical, easy to achieve, and observable is a unique and essential skill.

For example, in business it is important to know how much business items will cost and how to account for expenses. In education, it is important to break down an objective for a goal if teaching the letter “a” sound. In entrepreneurship, it is important to know how many people you want to connect with for an upcoming project in place.?

You can set a personal development goal of getting up earlier in the morning to begin a workout routine, meal prep routine, or a writing routine.?

Setting a goal that you can achieve takes time. For example, working with many clients, it is easy to attempt to set a goal of running a marathon in a month without running a mile. See how that could be a very lofty goal?

Rather, it is important to set goals that are achievable. Let’s stick with the marathon goal. At first, the client can set the goal of walking 1-2 miles 3-4 times per week for a few weeks. Next, it can be running a mile at a specific timeframe for 1-2 weeks. The goal can change as the person remains consistent. Did you notice how your body felt reading the first goal in comparison to the second goal? Hopefully, it felt more relaxed and doable.

It is important to have vision and also to make small steps toward this goal. However, most people overarch and overreach the goal and then think that it is not possible to accomplish.

Think about one small goal that you want to focus on this week. It can be for writing, speaking, working out, sleeping, eating habits, spending, or work-related.

Write out your goal using the example below to help you feel more successful:

Simple: How can I write my goal in a way that I can meet it?

Consistent: How can I make my goal so that I am consistent based on where I begin it?

Observable: Can I see or hear what is being done to measure it?

Measurable: How will I assess my progress?

Specific: What specific area do I want to improve in that can be addressed?

Example:

Given a small notebook, I will write in my journal 10 minutes 3 times per week to help me increase creativity and my thought processes about writing my brain books as measured by adding the date/time I wrote in my Google calendar after the task is completed.

Notice that I can see, hear, and feel that this goal is achievable. The time is not long as the average time I currently spend writing in my journal is about 5-7 minutes. 10 minutes is not too far of a jump for me to succeed. In addition, I only write 3 times per week since I write in my journal about 2 times per week. Again, this goal is not so lofty that it is not attainable.

Let me know how your goal writing goes this week.

Take care,

Dr. Amanda