Bringing Good Intentions to Life Through Goal Setting

I have learned the hard way —both on my growth journey and through coaching others, that good intentions are not enough to experience lasting behavioral changes.

Many know and have experienced that goal setting and initiating new behaviors and sustaining them over time is challenging! We are creatures of habit.

An article published in Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research by Kenneth Nowack explores the behavioral gap between goal intentions and goal success.

He addresses six key questions in his article:

What are the critical characteristics of goals?

What works better if goal intentions aren’t generally effective in facilitating successful behavior change?

When are people most motivated during goal pursuits?

How long does it actually take to form a new habit?

Is quitting ever a good thing in goal pursuits?

Does practice make perfect (or is there an upper limit)?

Setting goals is easy, but initiating the behavioral changes needed to achieve them can be difficult if you are not fully self-aware and motivated. Self-awareness is essential to growing as a leader and is a critical component of my Executive Coaching.

I help leaders understand their strengths, blind spots, and opportunities to successfully change their behavior and become more effective in achieving positive results.

Nowack’s article (great for coaches and anyone working on their leadership effectiveness) presents compelling research on the why’s and how’s of personal development that bring good intentions to life.

Here are just a few takeaways:

Self-awareness has to be rich and used to create goals that are worth striving for
Setting the right kinds of goals worded in the right way makes all the difference
Coaching helps us address our resistance to change, risk tolerance, response to stimuli, and change-induced stress

Practice counts, and letting a goal go is an option

His “Enlighten, Encourage and Enable” individual change model supports the relationship between executive coaching and actual improvement in job performance. I can help leaders uncover their natural gifts to transform their work and life.

I use a rich toolkit to help leaders and teams identify their natural strengths to find more joy, fulfillment, and success in work and life. It also allows us to lean into that natural strength when setting goals and growing as leaders.