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Mr. Stewart gave each of us a piece of paper with an instruction to write one of our life’s goals. After ten minutes, he collected the papers. You know what? Every piece of paper was crumpled except for Annie’s –“By September 2nd of 2009, I will position myself for a minimum raise of 9% of my salary by reducing the department’s budget by 9% but increasing its sales by at least 9%”. Then, with a smile, Mr. Stewart said: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have an example of a smart goal version of saying I want a raise!”
Smart goals? Yes, you heard it right. Here are some 101’s on these goals and some examples of smart goals:
• Specific. You know what you want to accomplish. Vague goals equate to vague results. Goals must be fully furnished with detailed description of the what, when and how.
Vague goal – I will graduate;
SMART Goal – I will graduate Magna Cum Laude in four years time. I will commit myself to studying to get a minimum 3.679 grade-point average in all my subjects.
• Measurable. You can assess your progress. Goals which can not be measured can not be managed. Your goal is measurable if anyone can tell you at the end of the deadline, whether or not you have completed your goal.
Vague goal – I want to be successful;
SMART goal – I want to have a savings account with at least $500,000 within 5 years from this date.
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It’s as if Brett was born under a lucky star – and considering the fortune that fills his life, it sure is one heck of a lucky star! He has a good family, a wonderful set of friends, a stable and well-paid job and killer looks. He has everything that anyone would die for just to have. Ladies admire him and gentlemen want to be like him. But Brett’s fortune isn’t because of astrology or anything of the sort. He says that his secret lies in knowing the rules of attraction. When he told me about it, I initially thought that it was a hoax – especially when he told me that such could impact an individual’s overall life. But when he explained to me the following principles underlying the rules of attraction, I was convinced that he wasn’t just pulling my leg.
• We create our own reality. We attract to ourselves what we want and what we do not want through our thoughts and feelings. If we focus on hating our jobs, we will fail to see the satisfying point of our employment ergo we won’t have a happy work life.
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Teacher Stephanie instructed us to jot down at least five of our goals for the next five years. After which, she requested us to evaluate each of our goals if it was ’smart’.
Hold your horses, smart goals? What the heck are they?
And as if she saw right through that big question mark on my face, Teacher Stephanie began explaining about SMART goals:
• Smart goal is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely goals.
• Specific. Your goal must be detailed. You must know the Who, What, Where, When, Which and Why of your goal.
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Rica spends the longest hours reading the most boring novels just to get the exemption privileges that our English Literature professor gives us. When all of us have given up hope on solving a Calculus problem for additional merits, Rica will waste precious neurons and hours until she could solve them. She even grabbed the tedious job of checking the class attendance for our Psychology class just so she could get extra credits for the course. Weird huh? But what makes it stranger is the fact that she doesn’t even like any of these courses. I know this because she writes about it in her blog. Rica’s other penchant is active participation in school organizations. She is the president of the school chapter of an organization that promotes the rights of animals, a member of the IT club and is also one of the lead actresses of the theatre group. The only school organization that Rica isn’t a member of is the male honor students fraternity. In the event that they start accepting female applicants, she will probably be the first one to whip it. But Rica doesn’t even like dogs so why is she the president of an organization that deals with animals, many of which are dogs? She hates IT and wrote essays on its disadvantages for the school publication so why is she in the IT club? She loves acting but despises many of the members of the theatre group so why can’t she just find another venue for her talent? I can only think of one answer to all my questions. They are all magnets for popularity. The animal club has been featured in local television for the work that it has done, IT members are esteemed by the student body and the theatre group is famous for its modern versions of classic plays. I assume that Rica’s frenzy for good grades is matched by a strong desire for popularity, hence the memberships.
Grades and acquiring popularity are two sources of extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is motivation that is rooted in an external stimulus, something that is in the individual’s environment. Extrinsic motivation provides the individual satisfaction in performing a task that even if the individual doesn’t really like doing it, he or she continues to accomplish the work because of his or her anticipated reward.
Extrinsic motivation has been the fuel of many of man’s activities – from education to the workplace. The various types of extrinsic motivation ranging from the more common ones such as money, fame and recognition, awards and prizes, status and privileges to the extreme ones like bribery, threats and punishments have been utilized by man of all ages and sizes, and in different circumstances.
Is extrinsic motivation effective? I wonder. Here are a few points on the matter that we should consider:
