Personal goal

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Personal goals are goals that a private person or household sets for themselves as part of self-management and tries to achieve them in the future through appropriate action .

General

In life, people are always confronted with goals, be they set themselves or given by others. The more self-determination a person has, the more goals they can set themselves and the less they are subject to foreign goals. There are goals in all areas of life , for example in education , sport , politics or companies . In education there are educational goals or learning goals , in sport there are performance goals , politics sets itself, for example, economic policy goals (such as the magic square ) or goals for sustainable development . In psychology , the goal is the desirable, imagined result of an activity.

Depending on the economic subject, there are corporate goals , national goals or personal goals. In contrast to corporate goals or national goals, private households set their own goals ( own goals ) and are not dependent on targets set by other bodies. In achieving the goal, the resulting intrinsic motivation can turn out to be beneficial. Personal goals are directed towards a rationally acting human individual . However, this term does not clearly describe the target radius. A distinction must be made between egocentric and cooperative goals . In the case of egocentric goals, the achievement of goals benefits only the actor. In the case of cooperative goals, goal attainment is designed in such a way that the result is at least also beneficial for another actor. From this it can be deduced that personal goals have an impact on an exchange relationship with other actors.

Scientific aspects

Personal goals give structure and meaning to everyday life. They are “concerns, projects and endeavors that a person pursues in their everyday life and wants to realize in the future”. There are various approaches in research that deal with the construct of “personal goals”. Personal goals are related to subjective well-being . Because as early as 1966 Wessman and Ricks put forward the thesis that “the everyday life of happy people is filled with striving for meaningful goals” (Telic theory of well-being). Unfortunate people, according to this theory, do not have adequate goal attachment or consider their goals and plans to be hopeless.

Modern target constructs are the current concerns ( English current concerns ; 1980), personal projects ( english personal projects ; 1983), personal aspirations ( English personal strivings ; 1986) and life lessons ( English life tasks ; 1994).

Klinger attaches more importance to personal goals than personal endeavors. According to Klinger, personal goals lead to specific goals; the importance of personal goals is expressed in terms of the strength of the affective attachment to goal setting. Little and Cantor emphasize the plasticity and changeability of personal goals in the respective context. They see personal goals as the result of an interaction between people (with their motives and values) and the environment (socio-cultural and age-specific situation). Emmons, on the other hand, places his concept of personal endeavors on a higher level than concrete concerns. Goals are understood here as lasting personality traits, which is expressed in his hierarchical model: a person's motives influence their personal aspirations, these in turn determine the specific concerns and projects and ultimately result in very specific (goal-oriented) actions. The difference between motives and strivings is expressed here: While a person's motives do not play a major role cognitively, personal strivings are clearly represented cognitively and thus individualize a person's motivation system. Important findings from Emmons are:

  • Achieving personal goals is positively related to a person's wellbeing and happiness.
  • Problematic personal goals that are characterized by conflict and ambivalence have a negative impact on a person's well-being.

Studies from 1989 brought together 15 personal endeavors and goals that occur frequently and can be integrated into an individually different goal hierarchy through a ranking.

Target dimensions

The target dimensions are the target content , the target scope and the target horizon . With the aim of content a factual determination is achieved the desired state ( fixed target ), the target level is the expression of the target ( formal target ) such as a maximum goal ( world champion will) or a minimum goal (reaching the quarter-finals ). The time reference indicates the period in which a goal should be achieved. There are short-term goals (goal achievement <1 year: daily goals such as completing a work task or consumption goals), medium-term goals (> 1 year to <3 years: career choice , private liquidity calculation ) and long-term goals (> 3 years: pension , health ) . For example, the target formulation of a private person “I would like the employer to increase my salary ( target content ) within the next year ( time reference ) by 10% ( extent )” fulfills these target dimensions. In order to achieve this, the employee has to increase his work performance ( work quality and / or work volume ) or change employers. As an environmental condition, he has to consider the employer and his bargaining power . Objectives must not be too abstract and must be operable so that corresponding actions can be based on them. For example, the formulation of “having success in life” can be a career goal for someone , but “starting a family” for others.

Goal setting

Business administration in particular has dealt with researching corporate goals. Their findings can be transferred to private individuals accordingly. The starting point is the setting of goals, which deals with the determination of meaningful goals that can also be achieved taking into account the environmental status (external influences on the achievement of goals such as competitors in the application ). Through the conception of goals, previously nebulous goals are cognitively processed. The complex process of goal setting requires the development of long-term goals, examination of the possibilities for realization and the confirmation or change of goals. Environmental analyzes are required, such as the current state of the person seeking a target ( financial analysis , market analysis , etc.), and rough objectives are helpful. There are data parameters to be considered that affect the target performance (the desired content will increase by the - higher - resulting income tax affected). Once the goals have been set, the goal is formulated, which has to take the goal dimensions into account.

Typical personal goals

The well-known New Year's resolutions are not real resolutions , but must be classified as goals; however, the degree of goal achievement seems to be low (e.g. becoming a non-smoker). The four most common New Year's resolutions are: become a non-smoker , lose weight , do recreational sports and organize your own finances . Outside of New Year's resolutions, a distinction can be made between financial and other goals. The former include old-age security , professional goals, general financial education , private financial planning or private liquidity calculations . Non-financial goals are family goals, peace , justice , health , happiness , creative goals, or social contacts. According to Statista , the most important goals in life are good friends (97%), happy relationships (95%), financial independence (91%) or health (60%).

Implementation of the goals

While individuals their own stated objectives are trying to achieve voluntary, companies are forced to her in the Board stated objectives by target agreements and management objectives to the employees about using Perform goals ( English Management by Objectives ) and transactional leadership to pass. The goal setting can be understood in the context of goal setting theory as a motivation to work actively to achieve the goals. Essential sources of success are behavior, intelligence, knowledge, culture and motivation, this applies to personal goals, corporate goals or social goals. In order to implement goals better, they should be formulated in writing so that they are not forgotten during the potentially time-consuming goal achievement. If a goal is achieved, one speaks of success .

literature

  • Joachim C. Brunstein, Günter W. Maier: Personal goals. An overview of the state of research . In: Psychologische Rundschau , Vol. 47 (1996), pp. 146-160, ISSN  0033-3042
  • Oliver Lüdtke: Personal goals of young adults. Personal goals in early adulthood . Verlag Waxmann, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-8309-1610-8 (also dissertation, FU Berlin 2004).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephan Frank, Objectives as an Instrument of Corporate Management , 2012, p. 5
  2. ↑ Kurt Tepperwein, How to achieve your goals in life , 2013, p. 8
  3. ↑ James Drever / Werner D Fröhlich, German dictionary for psychology , 1970, p. 290
  4. ↑ Joachim C Brunstein / Günter W Maier, Personal Goals: An Overview of the State of Research , in: Psychologische Rundschau 47, 1996, p. 146 ff.
  5. ↑ Aldon E. Wessman / David F. Ricks, Mood and Personality , 1966, pp. 33 ff.
  6. ↑ Eric Klinger / Steven G Barta / Madeline E. Maxeiner, Motivational correlates of thought content frequency and commitment , in: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39 (6), 1980, p. 1223
  7. ^ Brian R. Little / Katariina Salmela-Aro / Susan D. Phillips, Personal Project Pursuit: Goals, Action, and Human Flourishing , 1983, p. 6 ff.
  8. ^ Robert A. Emmons, Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being , in: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51 (5), 1986, pp. 1058-1068
  9. ↑ Nancy Cantor, Life Task Problem Solving: Situational Affordances and Personal Needs , in: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, volume 20 issue: 3, 1994, pp. 235-243
  10. ^ Robert A. Emmons, Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being , in: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51 (5), 1986, pp. 1058-1068
  11. ↑ Robert A Emmons / Laura A King, Personal striving differentiation and affective reactivity, in: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56 (3), April 1989, pp. 478-484
  12. ↑ Edmund Heinen , Basics of business decisions: The target system of the company , 1976, p. 52
  13. ↑ Edmund Heinen, Basics of business decisions: The target system of the company , 1976, p. 52 f.
  14. ↑ Oliver Lüdtke / Detlef H Rost, Personal goals of young adults , 2006, p. 16
  15. ↑ Klaus Altfelder / Hans G. Bartels / Joachim-Hans Horn / Heinrich Theodor Metze (eds.), Lexikon der Unternehmensführung , 1970, p. 288
  16. ↑ Uwe Nixdorff, Check-Up-Medizin , 2009, p. 356
  17. ↑ Wirtschafts-Trend Zeitschriftenverlag, Profil , Volume 37, 2006, p. 91
  18. ↑ Statista The statistics portal, What matters to you in life? , 2018
  19. ↑ Maximilian Lackner, Talent Management Special , 2014, p. 285
  20. ^ Brian Tracy, No Excuses !: The Power of Self-Discipline , 2011, p. 69
  21. ↑ Jens Uwe Martens / Julius Kuhl, The Art of Self-Motivation , 3rd Edition, Stuttgart 2009, p. 35