How to find and set your goal - The goal model with the good mood loop

Tips for Achieving Goals Blog by Susanne Nickel No. 7 How to Find and Define Your Goal – The Goal Model with the Good Mood Loop The best goal is of no use if it is not achievable. In order to have a very good chance of actually achieving your goals, they must meet certain criteria and pass a few tests. With the following models or methods, you can take a closer look at your goal and evaluate it. The ZIEL model developed by me with the "Good Mood Loop" is well suited for challenging your goal and yourself, in other words, pushing yourself. ZIEL is an acronym, with the letters standing for Zweck (purpose), Inhalt (content), Ergebnis (result), and Laune (mood). Zweck definition: What purpose do you want to fulfill with your goal? Why is achieving your goal important to you? It is best to write down your points. When you look at your notes: Are you satisfied with them? Does it bring you joy? It should because it will also be challenging as you embark on the journey. Knowing the purpose and the reason is helpful in implementation. Inhalt determination: What exactly will you do and when? What does your specific plan look like? How will you proceed? What needs to be considered? Look at your notes and determine the content in a way that is manageable for you without overexerting yourself or taking on too much. The principle is: one step at a time. Ergebnis: keeping the end in mind: What does your result look like specifically? What is at the end of your path to the goal? With which result are you satisfied? What must be achieved without fail? What is the minimum and what is the maximum? The more precisely you define everything related to the result, the better you can later orient yourself and measure progress. Laune: Maintaining good mood and perseverance: What helps you to maintain a good mood even when it gets tough? What or who can support you when difficult stages arise that require perseverance? Your Good Mood Loop On the way to the goal, not everything is always easy. We must leave our comfort zone and venture into uncertain territory. There are hurdles and challenges that we must overcome. Often, these come suddenly and unexpectedly. In such situations, the following mechanism occurs within you: a negative stimulus approaches you, and you react, often unconsciously, to this stimulus with a negative reaction. We respond with anger, frustration, despair, sadness, etc. Unfortunately, negative emotions tend to bring us down and prevent us from focusing on our goal and staying on track. Therefore, it is important to stop or positively influence this unconscious reaction. This can be achieved by consciously creating a loop for yourself that helps you to not drift into a bad mood or allow negative emotions. Example: Your goal is to deliver an excellent presentation. You start working on it, but time is tight. The next day, you are supposed to present it to colleagues and clients, but a thousand other things come up and hinder your preparation. The phone keeps ringing. Colleagues and clients constantly call, demanding your attention. Various stimuli bombard you: colleagues stress you out, clients make you nervous, and pressure builds up because you can't focus on what you need to do. The worst reaction to these stimuli would be to despair and lose your good mood. But how can you positively influence the situation for yourself? To create a solution for such situations, I have developed the Good Mood Loop. It helps you to positively influence negative stimuli. A Good Mood Loop always consists of three steps. Step 1: Focus attention and mindfulness on the stimulus Give the stimulus the necessary attention and acknowledge it. Often, we don't even notice the stressors, and they overwhelm us. We can only react well and appropriately if we first consciously acknowledge the stimulus. Step 2: Influence the stimulus Here is where your personal loop comes in to address the negative stimulus and exert a positive influence: In the example above: Press the stop button. Take a deep breath. Mentally transport yourself to a place that gives you strength, such as your favorite spot in the mountains or by the sea, or wherever you can mentally recharge for a moment. In the example above, with the necessary calm, politely but firmly tell your colleagues to stop and not disturb you for an hour. Turn off your emails. Finish the presentation calmly. Then reward yourself with something nice. Step 3: Return to the task Now that you are stabilized, you can focus on other things. Continue with your tasks. Collect your Good Mood Loops!