Psychology of goal setting. What is purpose and goal setting? Goal setting briefly

There is nothing more contrary to reason and nature than chance.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
And God stepped into the void. And He looked around and said - I am alone. I will create a world for myself.
Johnson J.W.

As we have already found out, any movement of any living, and especially intelligent, creature is behavior that has a goal. There is no such thing as aimless behavior. A person does not make a single movement without pursuing one goal or another.
The reason for this is obvious, because. the source of any goal is need. Every person has needs, and the goal is to satisfy them.
Thus, the goal is the beginning, content and completion of any movement. A simple and understandable thought follows from this: from a practical point of view, for any person there is nothing more important than the Goal.
Actually, this fact is directly reflected in the work of our brain. The latter is always busy with the same process - the ideal creation of the future, i.e. goal setting. There is no need for us to force our brain to set goals and objectives, it is already busy with just that.
Everything is simple and obvious. We always move according to certain goals. We are simply not given anything else. We can be aware of this fact or not - the essence of things will not change.
We can even talk about the existence of an immutable law of cause and effect, which states that every effect in our life has a cause. Goals are reasons; health, happiness, freedom and prosperity are the consequences. We sow purpose and reap results. Goals begin as thoughts or causes and manifest themselves as conditions or effects.
It automatically follows from this that we are where we are and are who we are precisely because we ourselves wanted to be. It turns out that only our thoughts, plans, goals, deeds and behavior led us to our current state. It couldn't be any other way. This is the structure of the World and ourselves.
A simple but logical question arises here. If we never move except in accordance with the purpose set by our own brain, then why are so many of us dissatisfied with where we are and who we are?
Why is it common to believe that some people “achieve their goal (success)” and others do not? Where do the “losers” come from? Where do non-health, non-happiness, non-freedom and vegetation come from? Disappointment in yourself, people, life? Resentment, guilt, shame? Fear, anger, anger, hatred? Where, after all, did this obscenely worn-out phrase “they wanted the best, but it turned out the same as always” come from?
Apparently, we are never truly happy unless we are moving towards achieving something that is very important to us.
There are nuances here.
“After twenty-five years of research and experience, I have come to the conclusion that success is equal to the goal, but everything else is speculation. The ability to set a goal and create a plan to achieve it will contribute to your success more than any other activity." (Arthur B. Van Gundy)
Maximum concentration on the goal, the same author continues, is the most important quality of people who achieve outstanding results in any business, in any field. Even a small fraction of our potential cannot be realized without learning to set a goal and achieve it as simply and naturally as brushing your teeth and combing your hair in the morning.
So, the first most important nuance is concentration. Our brain contains a goal-seeking mechanism, continuously provides feedback to the goal, and automatically corrects course. Thanks to this mechanism located in our brain, we achieve any goal we set for ourselves, as long as it is clear and we are persistent enough. The process of achieving a goal occurs almost automatically. But it is the definition of goals that is the main problem for most people.
The second fundamental nuance is defining the goal.
An interesting fact is that very few people have their own, conscious, real goal. It is believed that only less than three percent of people write down their goals on paper. And less than one percent of them reread and rethink these goals with sufficient regularity. Many people simply don’t realize how important the physical existence of their own goal is.
Meanwhile, people without goals are doomed to forever work for those who have these goals. We work to achieve either our own or others' goals. We live either our own life or “someone else’s” life, life in the name of fulfilling other people’s goals and interests. The best work is to achieve your own goals and to help others achieve theirs. This is not “work” at all, but true pleasure.
Why don't people set their own goals?
The first reason people don't set goals is because they just don't know. Not aware of the basic causality of our world. In our opinion, “vulgar materialism”, the dominant mass worldview of the last 150 years, plays a significant role in this, which determines changes by chance, genetics, hereditary predisposition, “natural selection”, “struggle for existence”, etc. external to man circumstances.
Here is a classic statement of materialistic science: “The goal is secondary, and the material conditions of its formation and implementation are primary, because they not only precede the process of goal formation, not only in a certain sense generate it, but also determine it.”
As a result, people prefer words to deeds; they want to achieve success and improve their lives, but at the same time they don’t quite understand how exactly to do this and where to put their efforts.
As already noted in the “Needs” section, the failure to pose the question of the meaning of life practically leads to the abandonment of one’s own goal setting altogether.
The second reason people don't set goals is because they don't take responsibility for their own lives. Until the moment a person has accepted full responsibility for everything that happens to him, it cannot be said that he has even taken a step towards setting a goal. A person without responsibility is someone who is constantly waiting for “real life to begin.” In this expectation, all energy and time are spent on coming up with explanations and excuses for the lack of desired happiness.
The only way to determine what a person really believes is to judge by his actions, not by his words. It is what we do that matters, not what we say. Our true values ​​and beliefs are always expressed by our behavior, and only by our behavior. One person getting down to business is worth ten brilliant speakers doing nothing. A serious person is a doing person.
The third reason people don't set goals is because of deep-rooted feelings of guilt and low self-esteem. Modern mass education is structured in such a way that a child, a teenager, and then an adult constantly owes something to someone - parents, school, elders, the state, etc. All sorts of “standards” in the form of so-called stars, idols and other “celebrities” are constantly being imposed on people. In an involuntary but inevitable comparison, an ordinary person feels his own “smallness”, earthliness. People who are artificially pressed to such a low evaluative and emotional level that they have to “look up to see the bottom” cannot, of course, confidently and optimistically set goals for the months and years ahead. A person who grew up in a negative environment that instilled in him a feeling of being undeserving or an attitude of “what good is this!” and “I’m not good enough” is unlikely to be able to set serious goals.
The fourth reason people don't set goals is because they don't realize the importance of goal setting. This is simply not taught. If we grew up in a family where both parents do not set goals, and setting and achieving goals is not a recurring topic of family conversation, then we may become adults without learning that goals exist for more than just sports. If we belong to a social circle where people do not have clearly defined goals to achieve which their activities are aimed, we are unlikely to think about the phenomenon of goal setting in general. Eighty percent of the people around us are going nowhere, and if we mix with the crowd, we will go there too.
The fifth reason people don't set goals is because they don't know how to do it. In our society, it is possible to earn a university degree—the culmination of fifteen or sixteen years spent in education—without even receiving an hour's lesson in goal setting. Meanwhile, the study of the principles and methods of goal setting is almost more important than any other subject we have ever studied.
The sixth reason people don't set goals is fear. Fear of failure, fear of being rejected, fear of being criticized. Since childhood, our dreams and hopes have been damaged by the criticism and laughter of other people. It's possible that our parents didn't want us to have high dreams and then be disappointed, so they were quick to give us reasons why we wouldn't be able to achieve our goals. Our enemies and friends laughed and made fun of us when we imagined ourselves to be someone or did something that exceeded their ideas about ourselves. Their influence can leave an imprint on how you feel about yourself and how you set goals for years to come.
Children are not stupid at all. They very quickly learn that “if you want to get along with everyone, act like everyone else.” Over time, a child who is disapproved and constantly criticized stops developing new ideas, cherishing new dreams, and setting new goals. He begins a lifelong journey of playing it safe, selling himself cheap, accepting his own low achievements as an inevitability of life that cannot be changed.
Fear of failure is the greatest obstacle to success in adulthood. It is what keeps people in their comfort zones. It is she who makes them bow their heads and remain safe while the years pass by.
Fear of failure is expressed in the suggestion “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.” Fear is learned in early childhood as a result of destructive criticism and punishment for actions that did not meet with the approval of our parents. Once it takes root in the subconscious, this fear spreads further, paralyzing dreams and killing ambitions, causing more harm than any other negative emotion that visits the human soul.
The seventh reason is misunderstanding and rejection of the meaning and role of “failure” in achieving success. The rule is this: you cannot succeed without failing. Failure is a prerequisite for success.
The greatest successes are almost always preceded by many failures. It is the lessons learned from failure that make success possible.
Look at every temporary defeat as a road sign saying: “Stop, better go this way.” One of the qualities of a leader is to refuse to think in terms of “failure” or “defeat.” They are replaced by the concepts of “valuable lesson” or “temporary failure”.
You can learn to overcome the fear of failure by being clear about your goals and accepting temporary difficulties and obstacles as an inevitable price that must be paid to achieve any significant success in life.

Goal setting and the law of control

The goal is a system-forming (determining) element of pedagogical activity. The goal of education is a mental, predetermined idea of ​​the result of the pedagogical process, of the qualities and state of the individual that are supposed to be formed.

Goal setting in pedagogy is a conscious process of identifying and setting goals and objectives of pedagogical activity.

Goals can be of different scales and form a stepwise system: state goals - goals of individual educational systems and stages of education - goals of teaching in a particular subject or raising children of a certain age - goals of a particular topic, lesson or educational event.

You can also distinguish a global or ideal goal, a specific historical goal, and the goal of the activity of a teacher, educator in specific conditions of the pedagogical process, or a personal goal.

The global (ideal) goal of education is to raise a comprehensively developed personality. This goal was first formulated in the works of thinkers of the past (Aristotle, Confucius, etc.). Scientific justification for this goal was made in the 19th century. The need for comprehensive development is justified by the high level of technical and economic development requirements for personal qualities; the need of the person himself to develop his inclinations in order to survive in the conditions of the struggle for existence in a rapidly changing world.

In the history of pedagogy there have been different approaches to determining the essence of this goal. Currently, it focuses on the comprehensive development of the child’s inclinations, the disclosure of his creative potential, and the formation of socially and personally significant qualities.

A specific historical goal is a goal formulated taking into account the characteristics of the historical stage of development of society. Currently, it is aimed at developing civic responsibility and legal self-awareness; spirituality and culture; initiative, independence; tolerance; ability for successful socialization in society and active adaptation in the labor market.

The purpose of the teacher’s activity specifies the designated goals, taking into account the characteristics of students, personal experience and the capabilities of a particular educational institution.

A personal (individual) goal reflects the needs of each individual for self-development.

Focusing on the pedagogical needs of society, the needs of the child and his parents, and his own capabilities, the teacher organizes goal setting. There are free, rigid and integrated goal setting. When free, joint (teacher and students) design and determination of educational goals is organized. In hard schooling, goals and a program of action are set for schoolchildren by the teacher. When integrated, goals can be set externally by the teacher, and the program of actions to achieve them is determined jointly.

Goal setting in pedagogy includes three main components:

1) justification and setting of goals;

2) determining ways to achieve them;

3) forecasting the expected result.

The following factors influence the development of educational goals:

The needs of children, parents, teachers, educational institutions, social environment, society as a whole;

Socio-economic conditions and conditions of the educational institution;

Features of the student body, individual and age characteristics of students.

The sources of goal setting are: the pedagogical request of society; child; teacher

Pedagogical goal setting includes the following stages:

1) diagnostics of the educational process, analysis of the results of previous activities;

2) modeling by the teacher of educational goals and objectives;

3) organization of collective goal setting;

4) clarifying goals and objectives, making adjustments, drawing up a program of pedagogical actions.

In pedagogical science, goal setting is characterized as a three-component education, which includes:

a) justification and setting of goals;

b) determining ways to achieve them;

c) designing the expected result.

Goal setting is a continuous process. The non-identity of the goal and the actually achieved result become the basis for rethinking, returning to what was, searching for unrealized opportunities from the perspective of the outcome and prospects for the development of the pedagogical process. This leads to constant and endless goal setting.

The nature of the joint activities of teachers and students, the type of their interaction (cooperation or suppression), and the position of children and adults, which is manifested in further work, depends on how goal setting is carried out.

Goal setting can be successful if it is carried out taking into account the following requirements:

1) Diagnosticity, i.e. putting forward, justifying and adjusting goals based on constant study of the needs and capabilities of participants in the pedagogical process, as well as the conditions of educational work.

2) Reality, i.e. putting forward and justifying goals, taking into account the possibilities of a particular situation. It is necessary to correlate the desired goal and projected results with real conditions.

3) Continuity, which means:

a) making connections between all goals and objectives in the educational process (private and general, individual and group, etc.);

b) putting forward and justifying goals at each stage of teaching activity.

4) Identification of goals, which is achieved through the involvement of all participants in the goal-setting process.

5) Focus on results, “measuring” the results of achieving a goal, which is possible if the goals of education are clearly and specifically defined.

Goal setting involves identifying long-term, intermediate goals (A.S. Makarenko defined these goals as close, medium and long-term prospects), as well as setting educational goals as ways to achieve them. In pedagogy, it is customary to distinguish between actual pedagogical tasks (SPZ) and functional pedagogical tasks (FPZ). SPZ are tasks aimed at changing the student and his personal qualities (for example, developing responsibility), and FPZ are tasks of a separate pedagogical action (for example, one of the tasks of holding a school disco will be teaching children the ability to organize their leisure time).

Tasks should be determined by the initial level of development of the individual and the team; be sure to express what needs to be changed in the individual, be diagnostic (their results can be verified); specific, achievable within the planned period.

The goal of management is the leading element in the activities of the leader (manager). Purposefulness involves conscious movement towards a clear and precise goal, despite all obstacles and even in spite of them.

Under purpose in social practice, including management, they usually understand some ideal, predetermined result that should be achieved. A goal is a subjective construction, a speculative construction, depending on the general level of knowledge and subjective qualities of the “designer”. In production activities, this ideal design is usually characterized quite unambiguously (for example, by the level of development or the volume of production of technical products). However, most often in the management of socio-economic processes and systems, the goal does not have a clear formal expression and cannot be comprehensively described in the form of numbers, terms, diagrams, dependencies, connections, etc.

Every goal has duality of content. On the one hand, the goal follows from the action of the laws and regularities of the objective world, that is, it is objective. On the other hand, a person’s goal is his ideal, mental construction, subjective construction, that is, it has a subjective character. It is in this regard that they talk about the duality of content, the duality of the nature of the purpose of management.

If the mission sets general guidelines, directions for the functioning of the organization, expressing the meaning of its existence, then the specific final states that the organization strives for are fixed in the form of its goals, i.e. , to put it another way, goals- this is a specific state of individual characteristics of an organization, the achievement of which is desirable for it and towards which its activities are aimed.

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of goals for an organization. They are the starting point of planning; goals are the basis for building organizational relationships; The motivation system used in the organization is based on goals; finally, goals are the starting point in the process of monitoring and evaluating the results of the work of individual employees, departments and the organization as a whole.

Depending on the specifics of the industry, the characteristics of the state of the environment, the nature and content of the mission, each organization sets its own goals, which are specific both in terms of the set of parameters of the organization (the desired state of which acts as the general goals of the organization) and in the quantitative assessment of these parameters. However, despite the situational nature of the choice of goals, there are four areas in relation to which organizations set goals based on their interests. These areas are:

Income of the organization;

Working with clients;

Employee needs and welfare;

Social responsibility.

As can be seen, these four areas also concern the interests of all entities influencing the activities of the organization, which were mentioned earlier when discussing issues of the organization’s mission.

In an organization’s management system, goals perform a number of important functions that now need to be addressed:

First, goals reflect the philosophy of the organization, the concept of its activities and development. And since the types of activities underlie the general and management structure, it is the goals that ultimately determine its nature and features

Secondly, goals reduce the uncertainty of current activities both organizations and individuals, becoming reference points for them in the world around them, helping them adapt to it, concentrate on achieving the desired results, limit themselves in some way, resist momentary impulses and desires, regulate their own actions and behavior in general. This helps you act faster, with greater effect, achieving your plans with minimal costs, and at the same time, getting additional winnings.

Thirdly, the goals are basis of criteria to highlight problems, make decisions, control and evaluate the results of activities aimed at their implementation, as well as material and moral encouragement for employees of the organization who have distinguished themselves to the greatest extent.

Fourthly, goals, especially great ones, regardless of whether they are real or imaginary, illusory, rally around themselves enthusiasts, encourage them to voluntarily take on difficult responsibilities and make every possible effort to fulfill them. There are enough examples of this, including in Russian history. New buildings of the first five-year plans, the development of virgin lands, and the construction of the BAM were the result of the labor of not only prisoners, but also Komsomol members of those years, inspired by dreams of a bright future, and not at all to blame for the fact that these dreams turned out to be a deception. And the same prisoners who had the goal of early release showed increased activity in work, repeatedly exceeding production standards.

Finally, fifthly, the officially declared goals serve justifying in the eyes of the public the necessity and legality of the existence of this organization, especially if its activities cause adverse consequences, such as environmental pollution.

Goal setting- the process of justifying and forming the development goals of a managed object based on an analysis of public needs for its products and services and based on the real possibilities of their most complete satisfaction.

|From the point of view of the logic of the actions performed when setting goals, we can consider that the process goal setting organization consists of three successive stages. At the first stage, the results of the environmental analysis are comprehended, at the second stage the corresponding mission is developed, and, finally, at the third stage the goals of the organization are directly developed.

A properly organized goal development process involves going through four phases:

identification and analysis of trends observed in the environment;

setting goals for the organization as a whole;

building a hierarchy of goals;

setting individual goals.

First phase. The influence of the environment affects not only the establishment of the organization's mission. Goals are also highly dependent on the state of the environment. Previously, when the issue of goal requirements was discussed, it was said that they should be flexible so that they can be changed in accordance with changes occurring in the environment. However, one should not conclude from this that goals should be tied to the state of the environment only through constant adjustment and adaptation to the changes that occur in the environment. With the right approach to goal setting, management should strive to anticipate the state of the environment and set goals in accordance with this anticipation. To do this, it is very important to identify trends characteristic of the development processes of the economy, social and political spheres, science and technology. Of course, it is impossible to correctly foresee everything. Moreover, sometimes changes may occur in the environment that do not follow from the detected trends. Therefore, managers must be prepared to respond to unexpected challenges that the environment may throw at them. However, without absoluteizing the situation, they must formulate goals so that the situational components are reflected in them.

Second phase. When setting goals for the organization as a whole, it is important to determine which of the wide range of possible characteristics of the organization's activities should be taken as a basis. Next, certain tools for quantitative calculation of the size of goals are selected. Of particular importance is the system of criteria used to determine the goals of the organization. Typically, these criteria are derived from the organization's mission, as well as from the results of an analysis of the macroenvironment, industry, competitors and the organization's position in the environment. When determining the organization's goals, it takes into account what goals it had at the previous stage and how much the achievement of these goals contributed to the fulfillment of the organization's mission. Finally, the decision on goals always depends on the resources that the organization has.

Third phase. Establishing a hierarchy of goals involves defining such goals for all levels of the organization, the achievement of which by individual units will lead to the achievement of overall organizational goals. At the same time, the hierarchy should be built according to both long-term and short-term goals.

Fourth phase. In order for the hierarchy of goals within the organization to acquire its logical completeness and become a truly effective tool for achieving the goals of the organization, it must be communicated to each individual employee. In this case, one of the most important conditions for the successful operation of an organization is realized: each employee, through his personal goals, is included in the process of jointly achieving the ultimate goals of the organization. Employees of the organization in such a situation receive information not only about what they have to achieve, but also about how the results of their work will affect the final results of the organization’s functioning, how and to what extent their work will contribute to achieving the organization’s goals. Established goals must have the status of law for the organization for all its units and for all members.

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Goal setting is the selection of either one or several goals with the determination of parameters of permissible deviations to control the process of implementing ideas. Often, of course, as a practical awareness of one’s own activities by an individual from the position of setting goals and their implementation (achievement) by more profitable means, as the best control over a temporary resource determined by the activities of subjects.

Goal setting is a kind of primary stage of management, which involves setting a main goal or set of goals that correspond to the purpose, strategic instructions (strategic goal setting) and the nature of the tasks that need to be resolved.

Goal setting process

The concept of goal setting is used to name short training sessions that study planning systems, methods of managing time resources, the result of which will be the achievement of: the ability to plan working time, taking into account the immediate (distant) prospects and the importance of the tasks; ability to identify optimal solutions; the ability to competently set goals and implement them.

The process of goal setting is the starting point in any individual activity, since there simply is no goal outside of activity. The principles of goal setting are used in almost all areas of activity.

There are 10 essential aspects of the goal-setting process.

1. Unconscious needs underlie any activity. A need is an objective need for something. Often needs are imposed on subjects, that is, they exist independently of the will of the individual. For example, a person must breathe, drink and eat in order to live. As a basis, we can take Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – from lowest to highest.

2. Usually a conscious need is the motive. However, since an individual in the process of life experiences many different needs, the subject’s unified motivational system is defined as quite complex, contradictory and partially conscious. In psychology there is a phenomenon called the struggle of motives. This means that motives have a hierarchical system of significance and compete with each other. The most significant or winning motive is considered to be the goal. The components of the motivational process are motivations, that is, conscious arguments that prove and explain the significance of the motive.

3. A goal is an objectified desire, that is, an individual’s understanding of what he wants. This is an impeccable image that distorts reality. As an ideal image, it is a rather complex complex formation, which consists of formulations, arguments, forecasts and expectations, fantasies, guesses, etc. Today, the goal is of course a conscious and rational phenomenon, but one cannot ignore the emotional-figurative roots that influence the way in which it will be realized.

4. Internal potential prediction mechanisms are used to select a target. An event with a higher degree of subjective probability is often selected for production.

5. The real result with the goal as an internal image and the subjective prediction always diverge.

6. The image of the process of achieving the goal and the idea of ​​the resources expended are always included in the image of the goal. Planning is a conscious analysis (clarification) and written recording of the steps to achieve a goal and the required resources.

7. Ideas about the processes taking place and the resources expended for implementation will always diverge from what is available in reality. Even the most ideal planning contains some errors that have to be corrected during the process.

8. The more vividly and clearly the goal is realized and presented, the more intense the motivational processes for achieving it, as well as the greater the activity in achieving the result.

9. The more intense the motivation at the beginning, the more the subjective potency of the goal will be distorted.

10. In psychology, there is a fairly well-known law of motivation called the goal gradient. It lies in the fact that the closer an individual comes to the result, the more intense the strength of motivation, as well as the activity of the activity.

The goal-setting process is quite lengthy and complex. Its complexity lies in the need to transform unconscious desires into a clearly and clearly formulated goal, in building in the mind a plan of necessary actions and resources to achieve a result. And the duration of goal setting is determined by the fact that it does not end only with the choice of a goal at the beginning of the activity. In the course of activity, many inconsistencies appear between the image and the existing results.

The basics of goal setting are the key to realizing desires and ideas.

Goals and goal setting

A goal is what a person strives to achieve, an object of aspiration, a desired outcome, something that is desirable to realize, but not necessarily achievable.

A goal in philosophy means a vision that an individual seeks to realize. It seems to be a product of conscious activity and will, a subjective form of volitional motivation, however, similarly to internal mental phenomena, the concept of goal is transferred to the external objective world.

A goal is an ideal internal anticipation of the results of an activity and the possibilities of achieving it using certain means. So, the goal is interconnected with the aspirations and desires of the individual, with intentions, with ideas of the future, with consciousness and will. That is, it is the basis for any action, deed, and will also be its final result.

Goals are ranked at three levels:

• The first level is the operational goal. These are momentary, mundane goals that are subordinate to tactics. They are quite rarely defined by themselves; rather, they are a specification of actions in achieving tactical goals.

• The second level is tactical goals. They are out of strategic guidelines. Tactical goals specify components such as their value. They are, in essence, steps and tasks that are aimed at achieving strategic goals.

• The third level is strategic goals. They are the most significant among other life goals. They determine the path of progress in life for a person, a group of people or an organization as a whole. The life of an individual in all its manifestations and life steps is determined by strategic goals. They are the guiding factor of any activity.

The nature of personality formation and its variability reflect the properties of goals. These include: depth, their consistency, plasticity, correctness.

The depth of goals lies in their influence on different areas of life and the level of such influence. This property characterizes strategic goals. The degree of interconnectedness and influence on other goals is determined by such a property as consistency.

Over time, any goals undergo transformations - plasticity is responsible for this. Due to the fact that values ​​are formed gradually, strategic goals also undergo changes.

The consistency between tactical goals and strategic value-goals is determined by such a property as the correctness of goals. The main characteristic feature of goals is their individuality. Even if they are called the same, each person has certain personal values ​​and subjective meanings behind his goals.

Goal setting is the process of setting goals. This process is a kind of creativity. And the higher the level of the goal, the more creative the process will be. At the operational and slightly at the tactical levels, the process of goal setting is more associated with analytical thinking and logic, while at the strategic level it is associated with creativity and synthetic thinking.

In order for the goal-setting process to be successful, an individual must know himself well, his leading motives and values, must be creative and strong-willed, and have a good imagination. Structured thinking and logic also play a huge role.

In a general sense, goal setting is a skill that can be trained with appropriate practice.

The meaning of goal setting is the manifestation of the existential essence of the individual, i.e. it is a process of actively producing reality. This is one of the basic needs of the individual. Goal setting is aimed at increasing energy levels. This is a powerful self-motivating factor. Goal setting minimizes or completely removes the level of anxiety and reduces uncertainty.

But refusal to set goals can be associated with intrapersonal conflicts, with fears that are caused by the experience of setting goals without achieving them, with a lack of information about personal potential, resources for their movement and achievement.

The principles of goal setting and developing the structure of goals lie in consistency and interconnection.

Planning and goal setting

The most important things for an individual who strives to achieve success in life are planning and goal setting. After all, achieving a goal means winning. Successful subjects win, unsuccessful ones try to win. This is the significant difference between purposeful and non-purposeful actions. First of all, goal setting is a goal that needs to be achieved. It follows from needs, acquires motivation, and then work directly on achievement occurs.

The need for goal setting and the formation of plans for the implementation of such goal setting is a basic need of the individual, distinguishing humans and society from animals.

An individual’s happiness and satisfaction with life depend on competent goal setting.

Luck is a process characterized by a pattern, and it begins with making a plan. Success can be achieved much faster if there is a strategic plan. In personal strategic planning, goal setting reveals its potential most fully.

Strategic subjective planning contributes to:

• determining the most important directions, finding the purpose and meaning of life;

• making positive decisions and improving the future;

• concentrating efforts on what is truly important;

• achieving the highest results in the shortest possible time;

• a significant increase in the level of productivity of one’s own actions;

• enjoying greater balance, freedom and money;

• eliminating fear, anxiety, uncertainty and doubt;

• more effective use of your own skills and developments;

• increasing overall peace of mind and quality of life;

• more production, which ultimately leads to greater results.

Strategic goal setting is based on the fact that the lives of individuals cannot go according to plan if the plan itself does not exist.

The process of goal setting is inextricably linked to the hierarchy of needs. Maslow's hierarchy of needs was created without taking into account the breakdown according to the levels of its probabilistic implementation. They themselves are expressed in general forms and only in a specific internal relationship. It follows that satisfying a need at one level can completely close the issue of this need. This means that this need will not receive any further development. The movement is directed from satisfying the needs of one level to another. That is, the satisfaction of material needs precedes the need for personal development. However, as practice shows, the satisfaction of one material need entails the emergence of other material needs, and does not necessarily give rise to the need for development.

Thus, Maslow’s pyramid can be viewed from the perspective of a dual direction of movement, i.e. satisfying the needs of one level subsequently leads to movement in two directions: satisfying the needs of the same level or satisfying the needs of the next level.

It is this two-directional movement that is at the basis of goal setting - establishing what needs to be done and planning.

In this case, goal setting implies the implementation of two tasks. The first is to close the current level of the pyramid and move to the next higher level. The second is to move to a need located at a similar level of the next pyramid.

The same situation is with planning: what should be done to move to the next level, and what actions need to be performed in order to move to the same level of the next pyramid.

Strategic planning is a systematic, consistent and logical process, which is based on rational (reasonable) thinking. Along with this, it also represents the art of forecasting, choosing alternative solutions and research.

Generalized goal setting, depending on the levels of the pyramid, involves clarification by a certain person of his own tasks at the corresponding levels. For goal setting, the specification of individual actions and movement planning are implemented.

Lesson in Goal Setting

In scientific works, the most widespread definitions of goals are: the anticipated outcome of an activity, an objective reflection of the future, an individual image of what is desired, which is ahead of the reflection of circumstances in the individual’s mind.

In education, a goal means an anticipated result, i.e. an educational product that must be real and concrete.

Goal setting today is the problem of a modern lesson. The basics of goal setting are the most important element in achieving successful activities. After all, both the ways to achieve them and the final outcomes depend on how well the goals are formulated and specified.

The essence of the problem lies in the substitution of goals, a formal approach, inflated goals, and teachers setting their own goals.

The substitution of goals lies in the fact that teachers often feel moral satisfaction from what students do in class, and not from the results of the lesson. There is a replacement of learning goals with means of achievement.

The formal approach lies in the vagueness and uncertainty of the goals formulated by the teacher, which leads to a misunderstanding of these goals by students and the teacher himself.

Inflated goals can be global or local depending on their scale. Usually, in a lesson, a global goal is set, which cannot be achieved in one lesson. A goal associated with a specific lesson is called a local goal.

Setting personal goals by teachers leads to the fact that students do not set goals on their own, as a result of which they become bored in the lesson.

Goal setting in pedagogy implies the process of discovering the tasks and goals of the subjects of educational activity (students and teachers), disclosing them to each other, coordinating and achieving them.

A goal is what one strives for, what needs to be realized. The lessons set educational, personality-building, and nurturing goals. They must be diagnosable (i.e., verifiable using certain means), specific, understandable, conscious, describing the desired result, real, motivating, and accurate.

It follows that the goal of the lesson is its outcome, which is planned to be achieved through the use of didactic, methodological and psychological techniques.

Educational goals include students’ acquisition of knowledge, practical skills and abilities.

Educational goals contribute to the development of a positive attitude towards the knowledge system and the learning process itself, the formation of beliefs, ideas, positions, personality traits and qualities, self-esteem, independence, and the acquisition of experience of normal behavior in any society.

Developmental goals (formative) contribute to the formation of special and educational skills, improvement of thought processes, the formation of the emotional sphere, dialogue, monologue, communicative culture, the implementation of self-esteem and self-control, and in general the development and formation of the individual’s personality.

Organization of goal setting

Today, one of the most important problems of current society is the problem of personal formation. That is, the development of a personality that is not only capable of surviving in rapidly transforming economic and social circumstances, but also actively influencing the existing reality. The main place among the description of the properties of such a person is occupied by a rather relevant ability, which consists in independently setting goals and achieving them through the use of the most acceptable and adequate means. However, along with this, the problem of mechanisms and factors for the formation of goal setting in the processes of ontogenetic development of personality in psychological science has practically not been worked out.

What is certain is that an individual is not immediately born with a ready-made ability for individual goal setting. In the process of subjective development, the formation of goal setting goes through a number of specific stages. The baby has great potential, but does not know how to do anything. Only in the first year of life does he begin to master his body and develop hand movements through manipulations with various objects. And at this time, the adult, helping to carry out such manipulations, acts as a partner for the baby in general activities.

By the end of the first year of life, children begin to develop goal-oriented actions and develop the ability to find and use certain means to achieve results. That is, children’s objective actions become aimed at obtaining some desired result. As individual experience accumulates, objective actions begin to become more complex, built one after another. The motive for such activity belongs to the child, but the goal belongs to the adult.

The development of goal setting is due to the special role of adults as the child’s partners in collective activities, which provides all the necessary conditions for the formation of his probable capabilities.

Today, various methods, techniques and methods have been developed that develop goal-setting abilities and help to isolate the true goal from all the “wants”.

Goal setting training is aimed at developing the skills of setting goals in various areas of life, assisting in understanding the choice of fundamental goals and identifying ways to implement them, technology, principles and development of goal setting in general. Goal setting training teaches the rules for formulating goals, SMART technologies, helps set priorities using situational analysis, etc.

Goal-setting methods and goal-setting techniques allow you to create effective motivation and good internal states to move in the right direction and meet the needs of the individual.

Goal setting technology

So often the question of why individuals do not achieve their goals is intertwined with another - why, instead of the expected result, they get a completely different one. The existing goal-setting methods examine mainly the technology for achieving goals, without paying the necessary attention to the main issues: under what circumstances will the value of the formulated goal be maintained, how correctly it should be formulated, how to understand the consistency of the possibilities that are available and set goal.

The technology of goal setting lies in the understanding that goals differ from dreams and desires in that they contain an image of the desired future combined with a focus on activity to achieve such a future. Goals presuppose personal efforts, risks, will, however, in addition to this, they also calculate the potential for achieving them. The main mistake in achieving the goals formed is the insufficient assessment of available resources.

A truly successful and fortunate subject must master the ability to competently set goals. Knowing the purpose of your own life, you can begin to set short-term goals, for example, for a month, a year or three years.

The SMART methodology is designed to help formulate them correctly. Today it is considered the most effective among other methods.

So, goals must have the following characteristics: specificity; measurable; reachability (Achivable); Result-oriented; relationship with a certain period, temporary resource (Timed).

Concreteness (certainty) lies in the clarity of the wording. It must be clearly expressed. Otherwise, there is a possibility of achieving an end result that is significantly different from what was planned. The accuracy of expressions determines the clarity of actions. And this, in turn, is an indispensable condition for their correct execution.

Measurability is the impossibility of tracking the achievement of a result if there are no specific measurable parameters.

The achievability of goals lies in the fact that they are used as an incentive to solve any problems, therefore, to further move forward thanks to the achievement of success. When formulating goals, you should definitely take into account that under no circumstances should it lead to an increase in stressful situations in your own life. It is necessary to formulate relatively complex goals that involve effort, but it must be taken into account that they must be achievable.

Goals should be characterized based on the result, not the work done. When setting goals in this way, the most effective result is achieved. For example, you can define and express the goal that an individual comes to work an hour earlier, but if you do not define the expected result of such an action, then the extra hour can be spent simply drinking coffee with co-workers and chatting.

Absolutely any goals must be correlated with a specific time frame for achievement. This means that the goal as a real category must be feasible in a specific time dimension.

For example, “to build a house” is an illiterately formulated goal, but “to build a house by the end of this year” is a more competent formulation, if by the end of the year the house is not built, therefore, the goal remains unfulfilled, that is, not realized.

Also, perseverance, luck and the use of techniques of visualization and materialization of thoughts help in achieving goals.

Mastering the art of competent goal setting is quite important, but it is not fundamental in obtaining the desired result. To achieve your goals, an important factor is that you should not put off their implementation until tomorrow, next month or next year. Everything needs to be done today according to plan. In addition to correctly formulating goals, you need to regularly analyze and record all your achievements. After all, tracking results is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and creativity for new deeds and victories.

Speaker of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"

Until recently, one of the most frequently cited rules of life was the statement of N. Ostrovsky: “Life... must be lived in such a way that there is no excruciating pain for aimlessly (emphasis added by Z.N.) years lived.” Let's think about it: not “to no avail”, but “aimlessly” lived.

Target- this is a conscious anticipation, expressed in words, of the future result of activity.

In the pedagogical literature there are various definitions of goal:

a) the goal is an element of the educational process; system-forming factor;

b) the goal is a criterion for the effectiveness of the pedagogical system;

c) the goal is what the teacher and the higher educational institution as a whole strives for.

There is no point in designing a “good learning experience” with “good content” if the end goal is not clearly defined. Therefore they say that The purpose of training performs a system-forming function of pedagogical activity, since the choice of content, methods, and means of education depends on its definition.

The types of pedagogical goals are diverse. You can select normative state goals of education, public goals, initiative goals of teachers themselves.

Normative government goals- these are the most general goals defined in government documents and state education standards.

There are parallel public purposes- goals of various segments of society, reflecting their needs, interests and requests for professional training. For example, specific goals include those of the employer. Teachers take these requests into account when creating different types of specializations and different teaching concepts.

Initiative goals- these are immediate goals developed by practicing teachers and their students themselves, taking into account the type of educational institution, specialization profile and academic subject, taking into account the level of development of students, and the preparedness of teachers.

Education will only be effective when it satisfies not the need for knowledge, but the need to make discoveries. The teacher's task is to help the student make these discoveries. In this context, the statement about meaning of the purpose of education, consisting in replace an empty mind with an open mind.

The traditional “knowledge-based” (enlightenment) model of education, not meeting the demands of the modern socio-cultural environment, has exhausted itself. However, the question arises: which paradigm to choose for new goals and goal setting in education?

Many humanities scientists believe that, in accordance with the new guidelines, the educational goal should be aimed at creating an image of culture and its creator - a man of culture. Undoubtedly, the cultural paradigm is one of the most relevant paradigms for the implementation of modern goals and goal setting in the organization of the education system in the 21st century.

And now in more detail about the essence and meaning of the concept of “goal setting”.

In its most general sense, goal setting - this is a practical understanding of one’s activities, this is setting goals and achieving them. Changes for the better in the life of each person depend on his own actions. Goal setting helps determine the success of these actions, formulate basic life goals, set priorities and increases a person’s personal success.