If you intend to achieve the goals you may set for yourself, your goals need to be:

• challenging, but reachable;
• quantifiable; and
• associated with a time line.

Challenging but Reachable

Suppose you’re 26 years old, have graduated with a Ph.D. in political science from an Ivy League school, and are considered brilliant by everyone who knows you. Your goal is to become a U.S. senator within the next 6 years. You have the academic credentials, family background, connections, good appearance, strong voice, and well-developed views that have a large constituency in contemporary society.

The only problem is that your goal is unreachable. Why? You forgot one thing about running for the U.S. Senate. You have to be at least 35 years old.

Not totally out of the question, you say? You could lobby members of Congress to bring about change. Perhaps 32 should be the minimum, since people are, in many respects, more knowledgeable today than their counterparts of generations ago.

Even if you could start working to have this reform enacted, is it likely that it would happen in time for you to run for office and be elected by age 32? If so, it’s a long shot.

Or, suppose you’re a woman working for NASA and aspire to be the first woman to walk on the moon. NASA has no plans for having any “manned” probes of the moon scheduled for the next three decades.

So, what’s a budding female astronaut to do? Get into the policy and planning division of NASA, redirect them toward the moon, and then find a way to be in the next ship headed there?

Boldly Attempting to Go Where No One Has Before

In the scenarios above, the goals set by the individuals are challenging, but unreachable. As a general principle, if your goal involves achieving something that no one in history has achieved, such as redirecting large institutions or a government agency or vastly exceeding your organization’s historical norms, it’s reasonably safe to conclude that the goal you’ve chosen is unreachable, even if it’s worthy.

When you’re bucking up against something as large and relatively intractable as the U.S. Constitution, the prevailing political climate, a government agency, or any other institution or organization with decades of history, it’s important to understand the scope of the effort necessary to buck the tide.

To tackle highly challenging goals that you deem reachable: 1. Understand the turf. Look at the historical record, talk to insiders, and read about where things are headed. 2. Prepare to commit yourself on a level you may not have previously considered. 3. Check your time horizon. Is the goal challenging but reachable within the time limit you’ve given yourself? 4. Identify crucial resources. Who else or what else would you need to make this goal a reality?

Work for Change

In the first scenario, the brilliant poli-sci student certainly could work toward enacting change, enabling 32-year-olds or perhaps 30-year-olds to run for the Senate. There are brilliant 30- and 32-year-olds among us who could do an outstanding job. When you consider the performance of some of the current senators, the argument is all the more sound.

Nevertheless, a challenging but reachable goal, in this case, would be to become a senator by age 35 which, on rare occasion, has been achieved by a few people.

John F. Kennedy became a senator by age 35 as his father literally paved and paid the way with millions of dollars, and business and political influence of which people cannot even begin to conceive. Kennedy then became U.S. President at the tender age of 43, again with the massive aid of his father’s money and influence, and other less than honest tactics such as rigging the ballot box in crucial locations such as Cook County, Illinois.

Head for a Different Target

The female astronaut certainly could start pushing papers, making speeches, lobbying members of Congress, and working within NASA to redirect the agency’s value in resuming moon walks.

Are there other options available? Always! Perhaps our astronaut could strive to be the first woman to walk on Mars, pioneer for some element of the U.S. space station, or set a new type of record endurance or performance in space.

Pursuing Quantifiable Goals

The second major element for effective goal setting is to choose goals that are quantifiable. So often you hear somebody say “I want to be the top sales person in the company.” What does that mean?

While driving a rental car in Kansas to a convention where I was speaking, I heard an advertisement on the radio. The president of some car dealership was saying that he strove to be “the largest car dealer in the state.” Seems like a lofty goal, but what could that mean?

The Largest, Heh?

When I got to the hotel, for the fun of it, I took a piece of paper and started writing all of the possibilities. Here they are — the many meanings I derived from the unquantified goal of being the “largest car dealer in the state”:

• To have the greatest number of cars available for sale.
• To have the largest annual sales volume.
• The have the largest lot or largest showroom.
• To sell the greatest number of cars independent of sales revenue or profit.
• To have the highest profit.
• To have the greatest number of branches.
• To have the largest staff.
• To have the greatest number of sales representatives.
• To have the greatest number of car models available for show.
• To represent the greatest number of car lines – Pontiac, Nissan, Jeep, etc.
• To have the greatest number of buyers.
• To have the greatest number of prospects.
• To be the heaviest owner (weigh the most) among car dealerships in the state.

Unleashed Ambiguity

There are several other possible meanings for operating the largest car dealership in the state. As you can surmise, because this goal was stated in a non-specific way i.e., “to be the largest,” it lacks the specificity to provide those who have such a goal with marshaling effort, energy, and attention.

The specific goal of having the highest sales revenue among car dealerships in the state would require a different approach than the specific goal of having the greatest number of vehicles available for display. Likewise, other potential meanings would require different steps for their realization.

If your goal is to be the best at something in your organization, on your athletic team, or in your personal life in general, watch out! Being the best doesn’t have a quantity attached to it, and, hence, it’s hard to know when you are.

A Specific Time Line

The third essential element of effective goal setting is to have a specific time frame. This involves simply attaching some date or time unit on the end of your goal statement. For example, if your goal is to achieve a 10 percent pay increase, adding a specific time line to your goal might be stated as one of the following:

• My goal is to achieve a 10 percent pay increase by December 31 of this year.
• My goal is to achieve a 10 percent increase in pay within 12 months from now.
• My goal is to achieve a 10 percent in pay by the end of the next quarter.
• My goal is to achieve a 10 percent increase in pay within six months after completing my degree.

All of the above statements represent valid time lines associated with a specific quantifiable goal, i.e., achieving a 10 percent pay increase. Pick one time line to follow, and if you’re working towards a challenging, quantifiable goal, you’re more likely to succeed.