How can I make Goal-Setting playful, humorous and fun?

Question

I have done many hours of google research for my Yahoo Groups goal-setting and humility-humor. I have never found anything about goal-setting and humor. Goal-setting seems to be regarded as an overly serious activity which I find discourages me from goal-setting, especially for career goals.

Answer 1

Goal setting, in and of itself, is pretty straight forward: you have a goal and you work towards it.

A way to make it fun and humorous is to allow yourself wacky rewards for meeting smaller goals on your way to the 'main' goal. Thus, if you have a goal of losing 35 lbs, then when you lose 5 lbs you can call it 'wear a wacky hat day'. You can even stop somewhere and spend some time purchasing a wacky hat for just such an occasion.

Another way of having fun is using fun stationary to keep track of your goals and progress. Maybe putting your goals on Disney stationary, and writing them down with your very own Simba Lion King pen, makes it seem more adventerous and fun to you.

Something else to keep in mind is to not be quite so 'strict' when it comes to not making a goal. That is, if your goal is to walk 5 miles every day this week, and you only did it 3 days, then mark the days you did with extra attention and keep focused on the fact that you at least did it three times. Usually, it is the appearance of 'failure' that keeps most people from working towards their goals; they don't know how to accept the failure and still keep going. Sure, maybe you won't progress as fast as you would have liked, but the fact that you are still going on will actually be a positive reinforcement to you (see, I didn't give up, even when I didn't make it when I thought I was going to).

I have a goal of going back and finishing school, and I thought I was going to be able to go back in August but it looks like I won't be able to make it until January. Instead of being 'upset', I decided that the change was a positive one (allowed me more time to prepare and helped to reinforce my dedication to the overall goal.) Setbacks are where some of the lack of humour seems to come in, but it doesn't ahve to be.

Answer 2

For me just having goals does nothing. I need to have something to get when I reach that goal. Try setting up some rewards that get a little better as you reach a new goal. And after a while you wont need the rewards because reaching the goal will feel good all on it's own. It's self encouragement which aids success. Good luck!

Answer 3

Buy a goal setting book designed for kids. A lot of them promise fun activities within! :)