Setting Goals

If you want to accomplish anything important in life, you need to have goals. Goals give you something to shoot for. They keep you focused and motivated. They let you know when to celebrate and when to start shooting for something higher.

Goals are a part of all human endeavor – both in the workplace and in life in general. We measure ourselves by how we do in relation to the goals we have set ourselves and those we have set for us by management. By achieving a goal consistently we can benefit in a number of ways – we will gain recognition, potentially advancement within the company, and frequently will benefit from financial incentives.

So, we know the benefits of reaching goals – but there is more to goals than what happens when we attain them. When we are set goals, they are usually set at a reasonable but challenging level and we will be able to achieve them if we do our job well enough.

Although we should all be well motivated to do our jobs anyway, the presence of targets keeps us “honest” and encourages us to always make as much effort as we can possibly make. Therefore sales targets have a dual effect – the incentive of what happens if we reach them, and their simple presence both make us work harder than we ordinarily might.