If you are like me - and, I think, probably most other people as well - then you likely believe that the simple act of setting a goal is automatically productive. After all, it gives you something to look forward to, something to aim for, something to focus your efforts and your endeavors and to keep you on track when you otherwise might get distracted.

However, I have found through my own experiences that goal-setting is not quite that simple. After all, there are many different types of goals. There are short-term goals and long-term goals. There are goals about how much you want to get done at work today, goals about accomplishments for the week, and goals for a lifetime. And if you leave any of these goals out, you have a gaping hole where a goal should be that can sideline all your efforts and prevent you from ever reaching the seriously lofty heights in terms of professional or personal accomplishments that we all have hidden in our hearts.

When you are setting goals, it is important to make sure that you hit every single aspect of the goal and how it impacts your behavior in order to set a goal that will actually help you be effective, efficient and productive in the long term.

First, when you set a goal, always set another goal on top of that one. Otherwise, once you achieve that goal, you could find yourself stalled. For example, if you set your goal today to be to finish "that project" by the end of the day, if you finish at 11AM instead of 5, you will likely find yourself tempted to relax for part of the day, rewarding yourself for a job well done. While you deserve the reward, wasting hours at work will not make you feel better about yourself or help you accomplish bigger goals like professional advancement.

If your goal is to finish that project by the end of the day, give yourself an addendum about what you will do next. For example, you might say "My goal is to finish that project by the end of the day so that I can get started promoting it for the meeting next week." This way, you have provided yourself with a goal for your goal and avoided accidentally ending up wasting time as a result of a job well-done.