People live up to what they have written down.
According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR OnPoint 2001, PN* 7915), once
someone puts something in writing, the odds that he or she will fulfill the
commitment greatly increases. This principle of life is proven in several ways;
for example, people who write down their goals are much more likely to follow,
remember and fulfill these goals than people who do not write them down. Furthermore,
once someone puts a commitment into writing, they feel they are obliged to
fulfill it. This explains why successful organizations have the habit of
putting up their mission statements, visions and core values all over the walls
of their offices. This serves as a way of reminding their stakeholders about
the direction in which they are heading.
Of course, this rule, as scientifically proven as
it is, doesn’t work for everybody. There are those that, no matter how much
writing they do, will never live by their commitments and achieve their goals.
However, that shouldn’t be you. The understanding of this rule has helped
improve my level of productivity. For example, before heading into the youth
service year, I made a list of 12 goals I must achieve by July 2015. Two, out
of those goals have been achieved, one of which is to become a feature writer
on Bella Naija (oya, clap for me now!). Also, the fact that I wrote down my
goals as afforded me the opportunity of revisiting and updating them almost
weekly. In the last four months, I have updated the list more than twice. In
the process, I took out the goals that no longer
made meaning and added new
ones to the list. The list now has a new look to it. The advantage of having my
goals in writing is that I get to look at them whenever I feel I’m losing sight
of what’s important and the thought of not achieving all of them spurs me back
into action. As a matter of fact, the pursuit of these goals enabled me adopt a
new philosophy for living: “there is no such thing as free time”.
Another thing about written goals and commitments
is that, once made public, they become even more powerful. When you make your
commitment to a cause public knowledge, you put yourself under obligation to
fulfill it (consciously or unconsciously). This will work especially well for
people who lack internal discipline and rely on external factors to discipline
themselves. I know a fellow who belonged to this category of people. He felt he
didn’t have a good grip on himself so he relied on friends and external forces
to help put himself under.
However, with time, he has come to grips with the
intricacies of internal discipline and he’s been able to control himself better
than before. Written goals are like written mathematical formulas, they make
the examinations of life easier to overcome. I remember during WAEC exam,
mathematics formula and log book was the saving grace. Without that book, I
probably wouldn’t have been able to solve most of the math questions because I
didn’t know them offhand. That’s how it is with written goals too. They give
you the needed guidance on how you should approach life, especially in tough
times. It is imperative you understand that your goals shouldn’t be set in
stone. Give room for flexibility and change, because sometimes you will need to
bend to life’s winds so you can survive and make meaning of things.
Have a wonderful time putting down all your
goals, no matter how few or numerous, or easy or difficult they are. You’ll
never regret it.
Image credit: www.aacc.edu
About David Adeleke
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