How To Set Goals That Stick

This is part of the "Mindful Minutes" series – a collection of short talks by Scott Shute, head of Mindfulness & Compassion at LinkedIn, aimed at helping you develop a more mindful approach to your daily life.

Goal-setting is a powerful way of living with purpose and creating the life we really want. In this talk, Scott discusses the "Roots and Branches Approach". No-nonsense and succinctly put, this system will support you in accomplishing your goals.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Scott Shue.

I lead our mindfulness and compassion programs here at LinkedIn.

And today we're going to talk about goal setting.

It's the beginning of the year,

And many of us are reflecting on where we are and setting goals for the next year.

Goal setting is a powerful way of living on purpose and creating the life we really want.

So let's talk about how to get this right.

I like to use what I call the roots and branches approach.

The branches of the tree are what we see,

And the roots are hidden,

The deeper part of keeping the tree healthy.

Many of us jump right into a specific goal.

These are the branches.

For example,

One of my goals this year is to bike 2,

500 miles.

But if I get to the end of the year and I only biked 2,

200 miles,

Does that mean I failed?

It's important to start at a deeper level,

The roots.

So we start with intention.

Why do I want to bike that much?

Well,

My primary intention around health is that I want to have a healthy body and totally thrive.

And the why is that I'm getting older and it's important to me to stay healthy,

Fit,

And as active as I possibly can.

I can then choose one or more goals that support that higher level of intention.

My next step is to set a smart goal,

Specific,

Measurable,

Achievable,

Realistic,

Time-bound.

And for me,

Biking 2,

500 miles in the year meets all of those criteria.

By clarifying my intention,

Which is to have a healthy body and totally thrive,

If things change along the way,

Like it's too rainy or I'm traveling too much or I just get bored of biking.

At that point,

I might want to reevaluate my goal and see if it still supports my intention.

So maybe instead I start running or I start going to a CrossFit class.

I can always create new goals around that new activity and I'll feel good about it as long as it's meeting my original intention.

And then the third step is create a system that supports you.

Our lives do not rise to the level of our goals,

They fall to the level of our systems.

And for biking to work,

I've created a system that supports my goal.

I'm totally prepared,

So that helps eliminate any excuses.

I have all the right biking clothes that match the different temperatures and weather that might happen.

And I schedule my bike commute into my calendar.

I even have an accountability buddy.

We keep a shared document where we both enter our goals and our actual workout results.

And then we check in with each other once a month to offer support.

And I've just made this video telling all of you I'm going to bike 2,

500 miles this year and I'm giving you permission to ask me about it.

That's motivation.

My system supports me in achieving my goals.

Want to set and keep great goals?

Start with your roots,

With our intention.

What do we want and why do we want it?

Then we set smart goals,

The branches.

And then third,

Our system.

We create a system that supports us.

So what do you want in your life this year?

Reviews

LOVED this Simple concise and easy to implement

Love the part about setting a goal and re-evaluateing it to match your intention!

Really like the concept of including the intention. I really want to lose weight but it's really stubborn and I get so discouraged after a great start for about 3 weeks then nothing and after 3, especially if work gets busy, it no longer becomes a priority and slips however I think it is more about not wanting to face the continuing disappointment.
I did try to focus on the positives (what I would set as intentions) the first week I had no weight change but that waned because I was too focused on weight loss.
I'm going to try this, setting my intentions first and see what happens. Thanks 🙏🏻

Excellent, managed to pack great useful teaching into a few minutes

Simple and yet so insightful. Really helpful - thank you!

I've known of both of these elements s.m.a.r.t goals and having a why but from a practical sense of putting them together makes it more powerful. Btw How's it going or how did it go on the biking goal?

The potential success of the system is easy to see and follow. Nicely, concisely done!

Awesome! So clear and “doable”! Good on ya with the biking goal too! So, how is it going?😃🌟

Great motivation and actionable steps towards what is new for my life. Thank you!

I’m going to share this with my accountability group. It was so helpful in designing goals for oneself. I love his work!

That was very empowering. I loved the Motivational music in the background. This really makes you feel like your dreams and goals are possible.

Fantastic I will start with my intentions thank you and have an awesome day Namaste

Great advice and process for successful goal setting and achievements

Thanks for the quick tips! I want abs this year so I’m going to do more strength workouts and avoid sugar💪🏻

perfect timing. I was about to sit down to re-evaluate goals for next 6 months

Great snapshot of making and achieving goals, with a personal example. I like the roots and branches analogy. Agree - SMART is essential "but" it is The System we create that makes it actually happen.

Bite-sized goal setting motivational talk. The example resonated too. I've played it several times too remind myself! Thanks!

Supporting system and accountability buddy! Brilliant! Thanks!!!

Some useful insights on setting and achieving goals. Some I've heard before but in a different way. All wrapped in an effective analogy