Goal Achievement Steps According to Confucius

Confucius was a teacher, philosopher, and political figure of his time. He was born in 551BC in China. In the recorded Analects of Confucius, the teachings remain as relevant today as they were 2,500 years ago. Confucius is known for great sayings and teachings, and his work was reviewed and studied from many different angles. He taught self improvement, one of it’s aspects is the importance of goal planning, see Goal Planning According to Confucius. Here we will review what he had to say on goal achievement steps.

Step 1: Do not do things in a hurry

When asked about the right way to govern and we may extend the right way to govern our lives, or the right goal achievement steps, Confucius responded with the following.

The Master said, “Don’t try to rush things. Don’t look to small gains. If you rush things, you won’t reach your goal. If you look to small gains, you won’t be able to accomplish the important tasks.”

Confucius

According to Confucius, if you rush things you won’t reach your goal. This may seem counterintuitive, but let us unpack this further. Think back through your life and the times when you were rushed. Did anything good come out of being hurried and stressed? Typically, stress and anxiety pile up, shortcuts are taken, and mistakes are made. Things are not thought through and are completed with errors.

The impact of continually redoing tasks and not having things properly executed leads to a failed goal.

Step 2: Do not focus on small tasks

Within that same quote, when talking about goal achievement steps, Confucius tells us not to look at small gains.

The Master said, “Don’t try to rush things. Don’t look to small gains. If you rush things, you won’t reach your goal. If you look to small gains, you won’t be able to accomplish the important tasks.”

Confucius

In this statement, gains and tasks are used interchangeably. If we were to paraphrase this it would say, focus on the important goals, not the small tasks. You may have a full list of to-do items completed, but they may not be relevant to the main goal that you are trying to achieve.

It may feel good to put these completed small task checkmarks in, however, it does not get you towards your goals. What is even worse, is that they take the place of the more important tasks that could be completed. Being busy and being productive are two separate things, don’t be busy, be productive.

Step 3: Stay on track

There must be a lot to see along the byways, but do not wander off, because you might get bogged down if you have to journey a long way. This is why the gentleman does not take the byways.

Confucius

This was stated by Zixi, one of Confucius’ followers and students. This quote also made into the list of analects and therefore we will review it as well. “Byways” means distractions or trivial diversions.

This means, that once you sent your goal, it is important that you stay on course. In other words, there may be many distractions on the way to reaching the goal but stay on track.

Step 4: Adjust steps as needed

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

Confucius

Finally, if you are not any closer to completing the goal, then look at your steps and adjust them.

It is not possible to predict all of the obstacles or impediments that may get in the way of reaching the goal. Therefore, instead of adjusting the goal itself, you should find new ways to overcome the obstacles.

Your goal is the setpoint, the end destination. If you see that you cannot reach it through what you are currently doing, then adjust the steps. The beauty of this type of thinking is that it allows you to change with the situations as they come up.

Summary of goal achievement steps according to Confucius

Among many of his teachings, Confucius talked about the importance of setting and achieving goals.

• Do not hurry and think through everything as you are completing it.
• Task completion is different from goal achievement, focus on the goal.
• Do not follow distractions on the way to achieving your goal.
• If needed, adjust the steps towards the goal achievement.