Ambitions are goals that you want to achieve within a certain period of time. In Proodoss we use two types of objectives: development objectives (Personal) and performance objectives (Business).
Use the following rules to formulate your goals in such a way that they actually come to life and therefore lead to action, and result in change:
1. Always state your goal in a positive way
By this we mean that you describe what you want to achieve and not what you no longer want. The big difference: in the second you focus on the past and negative emotions and feelings (that which you want to avoid) while in the first you focus on the future and positive feelings (that what you want to achieve). By focusing on the future you are automatically encouraged to take action.
2. Choose a goal that matches your intrinsic motivation
Research shows that autonomous and intrinsically motivated goals more often lead to a positive result than goals that arise from extrinsic stimuli. Feelings of "having to do something" are often the driving force behind extrinsically motivated objectives and this usually does not provide the stimulus we want and the required enthusiasm to actively work with your goal.
3. Finalize your goal
Then you have to finalize your goal. You can use the STARR method to finalize your goal. With this method you ask yourself the following questions:
S: What situation do I want to achieve? In which timeframe?
T: What role do I fulfill? What is my job?
A: What am I actually doing at that time? What am I saying?
R: What kind of result do I see?
R: Reflection on the process (during or afterwards)
From goal to resultNow that you have finalized your own goal, you can proceed to the next step: ensuring that you actually achieve your goal. Three things are important for this: ensure focus, be persistent and accept setbacks.
Use the following rules to actually achieve your goals:
1. Work on a maximum of 1 or 2 objectives simultaneously
No one can work on 10 goals at the same time, so start with 1 or 2 goals and add new goals when you achieved the first goals.
2. Define intermediate steps
It is important that your goals are realistic and that you have clear which intermediate steps are necessary to achieve your ultimate goal. By defining the intermediate steps, you gain insight into your progress, which ensures that you remain persistent in achieving your goal, even if you fail. Try to define at least 3 intermediate steps and add more intermediate steps as time goes by if necessary. You can easily note intermediate steps during checks within an ambition in Proodoss.
Tip: For many people it helps to visualize the purpose and the way to get there. Through visualizations, our brain is, "incited" to achieve change. You can visualize it in your head, but you can also do it physically, for example by creating a mind map.
3. Make sure you capture your progress
The intermediate steps (checks) will probably contain both practical elements (for example following a training) and behavioural aspects. These often go together. However, it is sometimes not possible to actually tick off an intermediate step (check) as completed, but you have made progress for the ambition. Write down that progress! This will help you later in the motivation and information to continue with the relevant ambition. You can easily record the progress in the ambition log, at the bottom of the page, in Proodoss.