A mentor recently recommended I take a look at the book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals by Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson. As a business owner, I was incredibly pleased with this book, and as a market researcher, I especially loved the incredibly intelligent approach to goal setting that was displayed throughout this book. I read a lot, and don’t plan on writing a book review of everything I read (at least, not on the blog – check out my Goodreads page for short reviews of everything I read) but this one was so impactful that I felt compelled to do a write-up. So, without further ado, I present to you Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals – The Book Review!
Initial Impressions.
Overall, I totally dug this book. Dr. Halvorson goes into some great detail into how one can achieve goals, and, more importantly, how to look at and develop goals that our minds are interested in achieving. The importance of the latter is the prevailing theme in this book, as she goes into great detail throughout about things like how time can differ our motivations for near and far goals, or how a fear of punishment is a different motivator from a desire for reward.
Much of how we define goals comes from our experiences. Regardless of our pre-programming, though, Halvorson demonstrates the psychological impact that framing goals can have on each of our psyches. This is huge, as it means almost anything we want can be achieved if we establish a clear goal, and make sure it’s one that is meaningful to how we view goals and achievements.
The importance for marketers.
As a marketing practitioner, I loved the deep-dives into how language, surroundings, pre-conditionings, etc. can change how motivated we are to commit to an action. That's literally the science-side of the marketing industry.
When you think about marketing and how we hope it works for our audiences, we’re essentially establishing a goal for the customer. Not in so many obvious words, but it’s up to us to create a desired outcome, and frame it in such a way that the audience desires to achieve that outcome.
While much of this book is geared toward understanding ourselves, there’s some very important takeaways from the notion that marketing is the same as setting up goals for our customers. We need to frame the messaging and the outcome, and take into account the many external factors that could impact the achievement of the goal. There’s some huge parallels there!
Craft clear goals.
Crafting a clearly-defined goal that plays to what actually motivates us is one of the most critical components of goal completion. Halvorson goes into this throughout the book, but the topics that stuck with me most were the importance of making goals challenging yet possible, and wording them in a manner that keeps you motivated every time you look at it (which often means different language components for different people). Words and external factors, especially, were big topics of motivation for the purpose of goal achievement, and I especially loved that surrounding yourself with power posters like ‘Succeed’ and ‘Do Great’ can actually bring value to one’s own personal drive.
Context is king.
When we look at goals, we need to examine ourselves and the context with which we’re reviewing our progress and future efforts. If a goal is far away, for instance, we often don’t consciously consider the actual steps that go into that goal, nor the challenges that might arise at game-time; likewise, when a goal is approaching near, we often forget about the initial value we placed on the goal’s achievement when we first established it. Whether or not we’re examining the goal as a fear of failure v. a desire to succeed was another critical example given, as our own pre-programming and our current state at the time can drastically differ as to which of the two motivators will be more motivating at the time.
Know thy self.
We need to examine ourselves and our capabilities in all our situations. Willpower, for instance, is finite. Yes, it can be enhanced with practice (and glucose, surprisingly), but even the most adept will run out of willpower eventually, and it’s up to us to recognize when we’re spent, and act accordingly. There’s also purpose in viewing a situation optimistically v. pessimistically, as both outlooks provide some clarity on the bigger picture – we need that to properly evaluate next steps in our goal-achievement processes.
Pick up this book.
I definitely recommend Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals for anyone looking to build themselves further into who they want to be. For marketers, there’s also a wealth of information for establishing client goals, growth goals, achievement goals, etc. The same principles apply, whether we’re looking at self-examination or just trying to establish great KPIs for a marketing campaign.
Be sure to pick this book up! It’s a fantastic read!