Goal Setting and Risk Management

Understanding the true vs perceived risks are important when making a decision. Use the
following guidelines to help you discern true risks.

1. What do you think the risk is?

2. Specify what you are afraid of due to this risk. Are you afraid of losing something?
3. Where does this fear come from? Try to be as specific and comprehensive as possible.
4. What is the potential gain from avoiding this decision or action?
5. What is the potential gain from committing to, and succeeding at this decision or action?
6. What is the potential loss from avoiding this decision or action? In other words, what are you
missing out on?
7. What is the potential loss from committing to this decision or action?
8. How much does the potential loss of committing to the action hold you back from your
medium and long-term goals?
9. How much does the potential loss of avoiding to the action hold you back from your
medium and long-term goals?
10. How much does the potential gain of committing to the action help you in achieving your
medium and long-term goals?
11. How much does the potential gain of avoiding the action help you in achieving your medium
and long-term goals?
12. Is there an alternative to the action that achieves the same gain, with less loss?
13. If yes, are you able to create a step-by-step plan regarding this alternative, justifying how it
will produce the desired benefit with a high level of certainty?

Based on this information, you should have a better understanding of the potential gain and loss
from each action and how that relates to you achieving not only your short-term goals, but the
medium and long-term goals that are more important to you. There’s obviously no point in doing
well short-term, if it means major sacrifices medium and long-term.

Sometimes we think that there are alternatives, but when we need to plan it concretely, we realise
that it is not reliable, or we simply don’t know if it produces the result we want. A common example
is students thinking they can just use “studying tips” that they have picked up here and there.

The truth is that not only do these tips have a limited effect, but there is no reason to inherently trust
them more than proven systems. It’s unwise to avoid opportunities for development because of a
vague feeling that tips would work, despite a lack of clear evidence, personal experience, and
against expert advice. That’s like a terminal cancer patient choosing to eat more lemons instead of
receiving medical treatment because they heard a tip that vitamin C will help cure cancer.
Whenever you set any meaningful goals, follow the following guidelines to reduce stress, increase
motivation and make sure your plan is as safe as possible (i.e. it will actually help you succeed)!

Overall Process:

 Identify the potential goal – Not all of our goals are the best for us right now. It’s important
to see goals as “potential”, even if they seem certain, so that we remain open-minded to new
(sometimes better) opportunities that we otherwise might be closed off to because of fixed
expectations about how things should or ought to be. We are never in control of everything
and we never know what could go wrong – seeing things as “potential” reminds us that we
are surrounded by opportunities. A door shutting could mean a window opening.

 Critically examine the goal and our motivations – While we should always be “motivation-
enhanced” rather than “motivation-dependent”, we still need to be motivated in order to push
back when things get tough. Unfortunately, humans have a tendency to dislike being
uncomfortable or uncertain and we can anchor onto superficial motivations purely because
it makes us feel more certain. This isn’t ideal since that superficial motivation might not be
enough to really drive us when we need to examine it eventually. It’s best to spend time
reflecting deeply on what drives us and why, before we need to rely on it.

 Remain open to alternative, unevaluated goals – After examining our goals and motivations,
we might find that they aren’t as good of a fit as we initially thought! This can be unsettling
because we are thrown into uncertainty. However, this is a great opportunity to find another
goal that aligns more strongly with us. This open-mindedness is often forgotten, which is
why we make it a deliberate step. Don’t worry about it taking “too long” to set goals. Better to
set a goal you can have real trust in, rather than one that just makes us feel comfortable.

 Gather information about our goal – With a goal in mind, now we can learn more about what
it takes to get there. Most people look at the hard requirements (like grades or scores) but it’s
more important to think about the skills needed to achieve them.

 Create periodic, medium-term goals – Break down these requirements so we know we are
getting closer every month, or whatever is an appropriate interval (e.g. monthly goals for a 3-
year goal is unlikely to be accurate as situations always change). Use SMART goals.

 Create a short-term action plan – Create SMART goals between now and your next medium-
term goal so you know exactly what to do, straight away. It might have taken you weeks or
even months (or even years) to get to this point. That’s ok – patience with ourselves, our
progress and our pace is an under-rated virtue, but a requirement for peace and happiness in
our busy, ambitious lives. There’s enough to worry about as it is!
SMART goals:

 "S" stands for specific. This means creating goals that are not only significant but also
sensible and simple. This is important because it gives us a clearer and more obvious
direction to invest our effort in.

 "M" stands for measurable. Which helps with motivation by allowing you to visualise and see
your progress. You'll find that it's hard to do this step right if the "S" step was too vague!

 "A" stands for achievable. This is an aspect of goal-setting that many students over-
estimate. It is actually advisable for beginners to pitch easier goals than more difficult ones,
because it helps with motivation and building the habit into auto-pilot.

 "R" stands for relevant, which is also commonly overlooked. This means that it is realistic,
not in that it is attainable with effort (like the "A"), but rather that you have sufficient
resources to enable you to achieve it. An aspect of "R" that modern goal-setting reaching is
starting to challenge, is that it is results-based.

 "T" stands for time bound. This is important so you know that you have clear deadlines and
can manage your expectations and processes accordingly.

More recently, SMART has been expanded to SMARTER, which includes:

 "E" for evaluated

 "R" for reviewed
These ensure that our processes are always delivering the results that we want, and that our goals
are always aligned in our best interests.