I was recently re-reading Mark Forster’s How to Make Your Dreams Come True (which is available for free on his website) when I was reminded of an interesting productivity hack I was introduced to in that book.
The Goal Achievement Method (or GAM) is all about motivating you to finally tackle those tasks and projects you might be putting off. According to Foster, you’re more likely to do something when you feel like doing it…which is just common sense. But truth is there are some things you will probably never feel like doing, no matter how long you wait for the mood to strike.
Well, the GAM will make you feel like doing it. That’s the theory anyway. Or more than a theory in my case because, when I’ve tried the GAM in the past, it did seem to help me make headway on some projects I was procrastinating on.
So, how does it work?
Well, you can read the book (did I mention it was free) for all the details. But here they are in a nutshell.
Step 1: Pick a project or task to work on.
Forster uses clearing an email backlog as an example.
Once you’ve chosen a task, you write down what you want to do. Here’s the example from the book.
I want to clear my backlog of e-mail.
What you’ve written is your goal.
Step 2: Get rid of “don’t wants.”
Once you’ve written down your goal, you look it over and see if you can find any words that might have a negative connotation. That word is a “don’t want” and should be changed to something more appealing that you do want.
In the above example, the thought “clear my backlog” might not sound all that appealing to you, which might be why you’re avoiding doing it. So you’d change to something that means that same thing, but sound more pleasant.
In the book, Forster changes
I want to clear my backlog of e-mail.
to
I want to be completely up to date with my e-mail.
Step 3: Put the goal in the present tense.
Next, you rephrase the goal, imagining what you’d say if you’d already reached it. So
I want to be completely up to date with my e-mail.
becomes
I am completely up to date with my e-mail.
Step 4: Imagine how you’ll feel once you reach your goal.
According to Foster, you’re more likely to reach your goal if you imagine how great you’ll feel when you do it. So he suggests adding those emotions to your GAM statement.
I am delighted that I am completely up to date with my e-mail. It’s taken a load off my mind.
And, just like with your goal statement, you change any “don’t wants” (“load” qualifies) to “do wants”, like so:
I am delighted that I am completely up to date with my e-mail. My work is so much easier now and I feel much more relaxed.
That is your goal. But you aren’t finished yet.
Step 5: Acknowledge the Present Reality.
After you’ve written down what you want to be, you write down what is, no matter how unpleasant the reality might be. You also write how the Present Reality makes you feel.
Here’s the example from the book:
I have a backlog of 400 e-mails, I’ve been resisting looking at them and I have a horrible feeling that some of them may be important. The whole thing is like a black cloud hovering over me. And every day I get at least another 30. I feel overwhelmed by the volume and hopeless that I will ever be able to control them.
The theory is that a part of your subconscious will be so disturbed by the difference between what you want and your Present Reality that it will want to close the gap between the two. The result? You’ll feel motivated to work on that project.
Forster suggests updating your goal statement and Present Reality (which will change as you make progress) every day until the project is finished. Which really doesn’t take that long to do. Drafting the goal and Present Reality for the first time is really the most time-consuming part of the process. And even that should only take you about 10 or 15 minutes, at the most.
As I said before, I’ve used the Goal Achievement Method a few times, and it actually seemed to work for me. Maybe it will work for you too.
So if you have a project you’ve been putting off for a while, why not give the GAM a try?
