How often do we get to the end of the day having worked for eight or more hours and we feel like we’ve made no progress. We feel stuck. Behind. Anxious. Where did the time go?
Because of this we carry work over into our personal lives and stress about what we didn’t get done. We can’t detach. Which is strange because we should know our goals right?
But perhaps we need to change the way we think about goals. Instead of what do we need to do how about how do we want to feel?
This morning I sat down before opening my laptop and thought about how I wanted to feel at the end of the work day. I knew I didn’t want to feel like I did yesterday. Worried and anxious. I wanted to feel the opposite. Like I made progress and knew exactly where my time went.
So after establishing a feeling goal I wrote in depth steps for what I needed to do to get there. What would make me feel good by 5pm? I even wrote out an hour by hour schedule for the day. And when I began the work day I didn’t budge from that schedule. I focused on the big tasks until they were done. I ate lunch away from my desk. I even got in a walk with my wife.
And today I feel like I wanted to. Relaxed. Excited even. And that I made progress. More importantly that I built a plan around what I needed to feel successful and executed it. Total opposite from yesterday.
This is the essence of a process goal versus an outcome goal. And if you do it right they both align. You feel good and you hit your numbers.
The next time you’re struggling with your goals or a frustrating work day perhaps identifying how you’d like to feel at the end of the day can help you accomplish more and feel less stressed.
