You Should Also Set “anti-Goals”
When you set your daily goals, consider adding “anti-goals” to give you a little boost in your productivity. The idea may be inherently negative, but the results may be positive and you will end up doing more.
What are anti-goals?
Anti-goals are an idea by Andrew Wilkinson , and they are similar to a don’t- do list: when you make a list of goals related to things you don’t want to do, you are creating avoidance goals, which have been proven to make people more goal-oriented and ready for immediate action. According to Wilkinson, who oversees the investment firm Tiny, you start by describing your worst day at work, noting everything that day might include: from too many meetings, to too many emails, not having time for lunch, to not having enough resources to get everything done.
Then you come up with strategies to avoid these pitfalls. For example, try scheduling all your appointments into one day (if you can), use an email management strategy to spend less time looking at your inbox, or plan your day down to the minute so you never have to skip lunch. .
Your list of anti-goals will be direct and detailed: “Don’t waste time in meetings,” “Don’t get bogged down in emails,” “Don’t get distracted by colleagues,” etc.
Why anti-goals work
Yes, it seems negative, but that’s why it works: by outlining what you don’t want to do, you turn the bad parts of your day into something useful that can be avoided. These steps become part of the process of setting and achieving goals as you try to avoid doing something harmful.
When outlining anti-goals (and goals for the day in general), think about what would happen if the negative things you’re trying to avoid actually happen. Will you waste your time? Miss a deadline? Didn’t succeed in the review? By being mindful of consequences, you will also motivate yourself to avoid them, which will ultimately make you more effective and goal-oriented.