Tracking Progress -- Goal Setting -- Learn & Lead

Goal Setting

You Cannot Steer a Ship Without Checking Where It Is

You now know how to write a goal with real shape, and how to connect a long-term dream to a short-term step. There is one more piece that makes the difference between a goal that actually gets reached and one that quietly fades: checking in on it.

Researchers who study goal setting have found that feedback, actually knowing how you are doing against a goal, is one of the key ingredients that makes goal-setting work at all. Without it, effort tends to fade, because there is no signal telling you whether to keep going, push harder, or change your approach.

This section is about building that signal for yourself, and knowing what to actually do once you have it.

Across decades of research on goal setting, one of the clearest findings is that goals paired with regular feedback consistently outperform goals set and then left unchecked. The feedback does not need to come from anyone else, a simple, honest self-check works.

Edwin Locke & Gary Latham, Goal-Setting Theory

Reflection

What Students Sometimes Think

Here are some thoughts students have shared about checking in on their own goals.

All of these are honest responses. Goals are easy to set and easy to forget to check on. What this section explores is a simple way to actually know where you stand, and what to do next once you know.

Practice

Check Your Understanding

Six questions on the ideas from this section. You will get immediate feedback after each answer.

Question 1 of 6

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Well Done

You have explored why checking in on a goal matters, simple ways to actually track it, how to honestly read whether you are on track, and what to do when you are not. The next step is a small one: pick one goal you already have and set a specific day to check on it this week. Head back to Rising Leaders to explore what is next.