Ep 250| 5 Reasons why you are not achieving your Design Goals- Steps to Improve

Each time when I set a goal, I keep pushing it forward from month on month. I'm working hard, I'm very consistent. I'm also listening to Stranger Secret but I'm not able to progress further. When the month comes April as a goal, then I push it to May. When the May month completes, then I push it to June. This keeps happening with me Jagdish all the time. This is one of the common pain points which was asked by many of my students. Okay, I'm going to address this in this particular podcast. Welcome guys. Welcome to this Design for Change. Thank you for staying tuning in with me. Thank you for subscribing and we are reaching lot of people and countries and particularly Design for Change is listened in over thousands and thousands of designers across the world. And particularly in this last few weeks the engagement ratio has gone up like anything. So thank you for doing that and also promote to your friends whoever really requires this information to be learned. And in this podcast we are going to see why. It is a very very common blockage for the people that they're writing the goals, they're not able to achieve it. Let me tell you guys, if your goals are very vague, if it is too broad, you will not achieve it. Make sure your goal has a value. Make sure your goal has a proper date and time. Make sure your goal is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound goals. Okay, type in the Google Smart. You will know how to do that properly. Second, you may be lagging in planning. You doesn't know how to achieve that roadmap. If it's a 50,000 per month job, you have to have a series of steps to go and achieve that step by step guide. That is why you need a mentor or an accountability partner to create that and follow it up with you or else you will never achieve that. Okay, you need to be little clear on that. Third is procrastination. Delaying the task due to various reason is actually the reason for the procrastination. Let me make it very clear guys, there are a lot of people. In fact a study by Pierce Steel's published in Psychological Bulletin indicates that approximately 80 to 95% of the college students procrastinate. Particularly when it comes to academic tasks. Why? Because your goals is not clear. Because your planning is not clear and it impacts your academic performance. Guys. A research by American Psychological association found that procrastination can lead to lower grades and higher level of stress. This improves the mean, it decreases the performance of the student. They have been procrastinating for a longer time. Right? And they are found to have a very, very low grades. Their average points is very low compared to their peers. And a study by Domination University of California found that individuals who write down the goals and share them with their friend and send them weekly Update has achieved 33% more than the people who doesn't have a goals or they just have a super some artificial goals. I want to be rich, I want to be healthy. I want to become a designer. Compared to that, okay. And also a survey by national center of educational statistics found 48% of the students report that time management is a significant barrier for them. You could be losing out the time because your planning is not clear. Because your goal is not clear wherever you're leading. Let's say if you wanted to go for the Delhi, if your direction is going towards Kanyakumari, do you think you will reach there? It's in the north and that's in the south. So your direction and your destination should be very, very, very, very clear. And you have to be making sure how you're going to reach there. You can go in cycle also to Delhi. Okay. You can go in flight also. So you have to choose the method properly. You have to choose the plan properly. When you have to start, where you have to start, which day you have to start, where will you reach? When will you reach? So this is exactly called planning out. Okay. Data from Anxiety and Depression Institute association of America reveals that chronic procrastination is associated with stress, anxiety and depression which turns into a negative impact performance in their academic. Guys, lot of students face this problem. Please understand this is not common. This is not a only specific issue one student has. This is a common, common problem which lot of academic people has. Because they set a goal impulsively. They don't know what is the problem which is lacking them and they don't know what is the real problem which is happening. Okay, so Forrester, Gartner, Gallup, McKinsey, lot of people have did a lot of surveys to make sure they're understanding it. Okay, so now we understood this is a problem. Let me make it very clear guys how you can improve this? Please have a clarity in your goal. Write down now pause this podcast and write down specific, measurable, achievable, relevant time bound goal. I'll give you an example for that. I am earning 15 LPA as a UX designer in a SaaS based company before December 2024. See in Bangalore even you can put the region even if it's a Company name. You can put it like let's say Zoho or maybe Honeywell or something. So make sure you're writing a goal like this and write it in a present tense. Don't write it I want to be a designer. No, that will never happen. Universe will listen to you. Whatever you're saying, it will exactly. Make sure it happened. Like if you say I want to, I want to, I will become, I will become. Then universe will not become that. You will be only in that stage of I will become, I will become. No right. I am a designer earning this much salary. Write it in a present tense, time travel there and enjoy that moment as if you are achieving that particular moment. Look at how much happiness and joy your face will have and then you will see the clarity in your work process. Make sure you plan your day properly. There are a lot of podcasts I've recorded earlier how to manage time being a creative professional. Because creative people will be pulled in multiple directions and you will be in an abstract zone for a longer time. If you're not prioritizing your techniques, if you're not prioritizing your job properly, have a three task, have 80% of the value task in a day and write it down on a paper, plan it properly and execute it. Because if you introduce time management techniques like Pomodoro technique or Eisenhower Matrix which can help you prioritize the task, you can use salami slice method, you can type it on Google. It's like chunking down a big task into small small task and trying it out. It's a beautiful technique. And also you can find an accountability partner who can able to get an update for you. Okay? Because these are all important guys, don't think you can do it alone. It will take a lot of time and you'll lose lot of months and years. Okay? And let me tell you, it improves your mental health and it reduces your stress and anxiety and will help you overcome your procrastination. Okay? So very first step is goal clarity. Second step is prioritize your time and give your maximum time in your activity. Like let's say if you wanted to work in portfolio, spend maximum time there. If you wanted to work in LinkedIn, connect, work in the maximum time there. If you wanted to work on your resume, work there. If you want to work in your communication, make sure you prioritize which is the most important task for you and spend 80% of your time. Always remember 80, 20 works 80% of the time. When you focus on something which you require more, which will create a great impact that will only convert as a result. Don't focus on the 20% which you already have. That's not required and make sure you're accountable with someone and automatically you your mental health improves. You know what? A case study by Harvard Review Business demonstrated students who implemented a daily and weekly review have achieved their goals significantly higher than the normal people and their overall health and mental well being also improved. Deloitte study found that effective goal setting practices in workplace revealed employees who engaged in regular goal reviews and adjustment were 42% more productive and 37% more satisfied with their work. This is the most most interesting thing guys. They are very satisfied in their work. So what is your plan? What is your excuse? I've told you a lot of statistics and information and I told you what is the exact problems you are facing. Like unclear goals, lack of planning, procrastination, lack of accountability, insufficient resource mental barriers. All these things could be taken out by the support. Whatever I told you now. Okay, so now take a sheet of paper, write your goal, write your plan, how to achieve it, make sure it has a deadline, make sure it is a weekly mechanism to accountability with someone and make sure you are having a visualization to understand and create a routine around it. Because anything if you follow for 31 days you will make. You will make progress. You will see the results happening and seek support with your mentors and accountability partners. And please reward yourself because if you are rewarding yourself, you will be definitely happy for that. At least you will work for that reward. Anything works in the world because of only reward or punishment guys. Okay, don't go with the punishment mode, go with the reward mode, okay? And then you will see a huge difference happening in your career. Let me know in this podcast what did you learn? What you did you really do activity after listening to this podcast Because I'll be more than happy to review that particular feedback and give you okay, if you find this podcast useful, give me a best start editing in Apple and Spotify and if you wanted to write a review you can do it in Apple podcast and if you wanted to write a review in Spotify you can read and write about the particular what you think about this and put your top three takeaways and learning. Don't just say it's good, it's super, it's bad. Just write down what did you really learn and write down your pain point as well because we'll be reading each and every comment, me or my team and then we'll be addressing that in the coming podcast. Okay. Give me a best star rating if you find this useful. Thank you so much. Take care. All the best. Have a great day.