Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to set goals within a target range
Speaker 1: instead of a specific target number. This helps us aim
Speaker 1: high and have opportunities to feel satisfaction and accomplishment even
Speaker 1: when life doesn't go entirely as planned. I'm sure that
Speaker 1: anyone who listens to a productivity podcast knows that we're
Speaker 1: supposed to set goals that are specific and measurable. Exercise
Speaker 1: four times per week is more motivating then exercise more.
Speaker 1: We're also better able to assess whether we have achieved
Speaker 1: goals when they are specific and measurable. But specific and
Speaker 1: measurable goals don't have to include a single target number. Instead,
Speaker 1: they can include a target range. For instance, our exercise
Speaker 1: goal becomes exercise three or four times per week. We
Speaker 1: might aim to right between five hundred and a thousand
Speaker 1: words per day in a novel. A salesperson might aim
Speaker 1: to call eight to twelve prospects per day. A few
Speaker 1: good things happen when we have goals like this that
Speaker 1: have a target range rather than a single target number. First,
Speaker 1: we can set a really challenging upper end for the goal,
Speaker 1: on the outer edge of what we can sustainably do.
Speaker 1: We can envision an upper limit that's achievable when things
Speaker 1: are going really well. Having that high upper limit can
Speaker 1: motivate us to do more than we otherwise would. As
Speaker 1: for the lower limit, well, this reflects what's achievable with
Speaker 1: life being what it is, a world in which stuff
Speaker 1: goes wrong. The lower limits still means steady progress. No
Speaker 1: world records, but an acceptable outcome. If you're goal is
Speaker 1: to run three to five miles every Wednesday, and you
Speaker 1: ran three point one miles, well you've attained your goal. Now.
Speaker 1: You might wonder whether goals with a range lead people
Speaker 1: to stop pushing themselves once they've passed the lower limit
Speaker 1: of the range. Good question, But the Harvard Business Reviews
Speaker 1: cites research on goal setting regarding weight loss that found
Speaker 1: that what they call high low goals lead to more
Speaker 1: sustainability without a reduced amount of weight loss. So no
Speaker 1: worries that the lower limit to the target range will
Speaker 1: end up being all you accomplish. Instead, having a lower
Speaker 1: limit allows us to keep going on bad days without
Speaker 1: feeling like failures. Then we can aim high when the
Speaker 1: stars align a few things in life are exact and
Speaker 1: we can't predict our inner or outer circumstances. We can
Speaker 1: predict that some days will be better than others. So
Speaker 1: rather than setting goals with a single precise target, instead
Speaker 1: try sitting goals with a range. You'll be more likely
Speaker 1: to achieve them. In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
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Speaker 1: Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast p
Speaker 1: o D. You can also shoot me an email at
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Speaker 1: so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before
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