Whatever it is that you are currently engaged in, studying or pursuing a career, you are achieving something day in and day out. If whatever you have achieved is what you started out to achieve then you feel happy but if you fall short of your expectation a sense of frustration sets in and this sort of a negative feeling can affect subsequent performance adversely. This should be avoided at any cost. The way to do this is to evaluate yourself objectively and set expectations accordingly.

An achiever inevitably evolves into a leader.

Whatever your activity you are often part of a team. And as you systematically wade through your tasks piling up one small achievement upon another, people will start looking up to you as a role model. A good leader never has to constantly tell others what to do and how to do it. His actions suffice to lead his team on the path of achievement. Setting goals and achieving them is the only surefire method of achieving something. And if you pay a little attention to how you go about doing this, your performance will ensure that others look up to you for inspiration. It has been seen that successfully achieved goals are a result of many small goals achieved successively in a planned manner.

Is your goal of the right kind?

For example, assuming that you are preparing for a Math exam and you tell yourself offhand on Wednesday, “Come what may, by Sunday, I should have finished one revision of the full syllabus”. Sunday comes and you are nowhere near your goal. And you feel despondent and depressed. The reason is that your goal was unrealistic. And with every day passing you feel the pressure mounting. The accompanying anxiety itself pulls down your ability and proves to be an obstacle that prevents optimum performance. What was unrealistic about expecting yourself to finish revision by Sunday was not the size of the syllabus but a few other things. We shall discuss them below.

Decide what exactly you are going to do.

The desired result should be specific and not vague. “Finish Math is a bit vague. Instead - finish chapters 1-5 on Wednesday, 6-10 on Thursday, 10-15 on Friday and so on,” is more specific and will tell you at a glance what you expect of yourself for the day. This is just a guideline, your specifics should be tailored to your convenience. You may prefer still smaller split ups that make the objective even more clear.

Specific time frames are essential.

It also helps to specify time slots. This will ensure that when it is time for a certain activity you are already mentally prepared for it. While deciding upon the time slots and the activity to be performed, it is important to be realistic. Set yourself only as much as you feel you can finish satisfactorily in the allotted time frame. Falling short of expectations will hurt your sense of self worth.

Measure your achievement.

The results that you achieve should be measurable. As it is only then that you will able to assess how much has been achieved and then evaluate your performance accordingly. This is essential when you are part of a team. In order to show others how much has been achieved a quantifiable standard should be agreed upon. And as you progress, you will see others treading the same path with you as a role model.