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goal

 
Dictionary: goal   (gōl) pronunciation
n.
  1. The purpose toward which an endeavor is directed; an objective. See synonyms at intention.
  2. Sports.
    1. The finish line of a race.
    2. A specified structure or zone into or over which players endeavor to advance a ball or puck.
    3. The score awarded for such an act.
  3. Linguistics.
    1. A noun or noun phrase referring to the place to which something moves.
    2. See patient (sense ).

[Middle English gol, boundary, possibly from Old English *gāl, barrier.]


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Financial objective set by an individual or institution. For example, an individual investor might set a goal to accumulate enough capital to finance a child's college education. A pension fund's goal is to build up enough money to pay pensioners their promised benefits. Investors may also set specific price objectives when buying a security. For example, an investor buying a stock at $30 may set a price goal of $50, at which point he or she will sell shares, or at least reevaluate whether or not to continue holding the stock. Also called target price.

The specific target towards which a person is striving. Well-defined goals play an important part in the motivation of exercisers and dieters, enabling individuals to direct their energies towards something tangible. Goal setting (choosing specific, objective, concrete targets) is regarded as very important by coaches and leaders of diet, health, and fitness groups.

In exercise and sport, well-defined goals improve the performance and quality of practice; in both weight control and exercise, achievable goals clarify expectations, relieve boredom, and increase pride and self-confidence. Ideally, goals should be specific, short term, and realistic but challenging. Sports scientists have shown that as goal difficulty increases, performance improves but only up to a critical point, after which performance deteriorates. Goals should not be set so high that they become impossible to attain, nor should they be set so low that they are not challenging. Generally, individually prescribed goals are more effective than one goal set for all members of a group. Occasionally, goals become a disincentive and detract from the original aims of a person. This happens when the process of attaining important goals becomes an end in itself (a condition known by sports psychologists as goal displacement). For example, swimmers who perform time trials in preparation for a major competition may expend more energy on the trial than the actual competition; consequently, they often exhaust themselves both physically and psychologically, and underperform when they want to do well.

Thesaurus: goal
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noun

    What one intends to do or achieve: aim, ambition, design, end, intent, intention, mark, meaning, object, objective, point, purpose, target, view, why. Idioms: end in view, why and wherefore. See planned/unplanned, purpose/purposelessness.


n

The purpose toward which an endeavor is directed, such as the outcome of diagnostic, therapeutic, and educational management of a patient’s health problem.

The end towards which an action, physical or mental, is directed, and towards which an individual consciously or unconsciously strives. A goal is a specific target that is either achieved or not. Well-defined goals play an important part in motivation, providing athletes with something concrete towards which to direct their energies. The setting of appropriate goals (see goal setting) is regarded as critical for all performers in sport.

Word Tutor: goal
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: The end point toward which effort is directed. Also: An area of a field into which a ball or puck is sent to score points in various games.

pronunciation Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. — Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962).

Quotes About: Goals
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Quotes:

"A goal properly set is halfway reached." - Zig Ziglar

"You cannot make it as a wandering generality. You must become a meaningful specific." - Zig Ziglar

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." - Zig Ziglar

"Famous archer, Howard Hill won all of the 267 archery contests he entered. He could hit a bullseye at 50 feet, then split first arrow with the second. Would it be possible for you to shoot better than him? YES, if he were blindfolded! How can you hit a target you can't see? Even worse, how can you hit a target you don't even have!? You need to have GOALS in your life!" - Zig Ziglar

"It is hard to begin to move when you don't know where you are moving, how to move, or if you are going to get there." - Peter Nivio Zarlenga

"Before I was ever in my teens, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. My goal was to be the greatest athlete that ever lived." - Babe Didrikson Zaharias

See more famous quotes about Goals

Wikipedia: Goal
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A goal or objective is a projected state of affairs that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.

A desire or an intention becomes a goal if and only if[citation needed] one activates an action for achieving it (see goal-oriented).

It is roughly similar to purpose or aim, the anticipated result which guides action, or an end, which is an object, either a physical object or an abstract object, that has intrinsic value.

Contents

Goal and types of goals

Goal-setting ideally involves establishing specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-targeted objectives. Work on the theory of goal-setting suggests that it can serve as an effective tool for making progress by ensuring that participants have a clear awareness of what they must do to achieve or help achieve an objective. On a personal level, the process of setting goals allows people to specify and then work towards their own objectives — most commonly financial or career-based goals. Goal-setting comprises a major component of Personal development.

Short-term goals

Short-term goals expect accomplishment in a short period of time, such as trying to get a bill paid in the next few days. The definition of a short-term goal need not relate to any specific length of time. In other words, one may achieve (or fail to achieve) a short-term goal in a day, week, month, year, etc. The time-frame for a short-term goal relates to its context in the overall time line that it is being applied to. For instance, one could measure a short-term goal for a month-long project in days; whereas one might measure a short-term goal for someone’s lifetime in months or in years. Planners usually define short-term goals in relation to a long-term goal or goals.

Personal goals

Individuals can set personal goals. A student may set a goal of a high mark in an exam. An athlete might walk five miles a day. A traveler might try to reach a destination-city within three hours. Financial goals are a common example, to save for retirement or to save for a purchase.

Managing goals can give returns in all areas of personal life. Knowing precisely what one wants to achieve makes clear what to concentrate and improve on, and often subconsciously prioritizes that goal.

Goal setting and planning ("goalwork") promotes long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses intention, desire, acquisition of knowledge, and helps to organize resources.

Efficient goalwork includes recognizing and resolving any guilt, inner conflict or limiting belief that might cause one to sabotage one's efforts. By setting clearly-defined goals, one can subsequently measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals. One can see progress in what might have seemed a long, perhaps impossible, grind.

Achieving personal goals

Achieving complex and difficult goals requires: focus, long-term diligence and effort. Success in any field requires forgoing excuses and justifications for poor performance or lack of adequate planning; in short, success requires emotional maturity. The measure of belief that people have in their ability to achieve a personal goal also affects that achievement.

Long term achievements rely on short-term achievements. Emotional control over the small moments of the single day makes a big difference in the long term.

One formula for achievement reads A=IM[citation needed] where A = achievement, I = intelligence, and M = motivation. When motivation equals zero, achievement always equals zero, no matter the degree of intelligence. Similarly for intelligence: if intelligence equals zero, achievement always equals zero. The higher the combination of both intelligence and the motivation, the higher the achievement.

Goal management in organizations

Organizationally, goal management consists of the process of recognizing or inferring goals of individual team-members, abandoning no longer relevant goals, identifying and resolving conflicts among goals, and prioritizing goals consistently for optimal team-collaboration and effective operations.

For any successful commercial system, it means deriving profits by making the best quality of goods or the best quality of services available to the end-user (customer) at the best possible cost. Goal management includes:

  • Assessment and dissolution of non-rational blocks to success
  • Time management
  • Frequent reconsideration (consistency checks)
  • Feasibility checks
  • Adjusting milestones and main-goal targets

Morten Lind and J.Rasmussen distinguish three fundamental categories of goals related to technological system management:[citation needed]

  1. Production goal
  2. Safety goal
  3. Economy goal

An organizational goal-management solution ensures that individual employee goals and objectives align with the vision and strategic goals of the entire organization. Goal-management provides organizations with a mechanism to effectively communicate corporate goals and strategic objectives to each person across the entire organization. The key consists of having it all emanate from a pivotal source[citation needed] and providing each person with a clear, consistent organizational-goal message. With goal-management, every employee understands how their efforts contribute to an enterprise's success.

An example of goal types in business management:

  • Consumer goals: this refers to supplying a product or service that the market/consumer wants
  • Product goals: this refers to supplying a product outstanding compared to other products[citation needed]—perhaps due to the likes of quality, design, reliability and novelty
  • Operational goals: this refers to running the organization in such a way as to make the best use of management skills[citation needed], technology and resources
  • Secondary goals: this refers to goals which an organization does not regard as priorities

See also

References

Further reading

  • Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. ISBN 0-88427-061-0

Translations: Goal
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - mål

idioms:

  • goal line    mållinie
  • goal post    målstang

Nederlands (Dutch)
doel(punt), eindstreep

Français (French)
n. - (Sport) but, objectif

idioms:

  • goal line    ligne de but
  • goal post    poteau de but

Deutsch (German)
n. - Ziel, Tor, Treffer

idioms:

  • goal line    Torlinie
  • goal post    Torpfosten

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - σκοπός, επιδίωξη, (αθλοπ.) γκολ, τέρμα

idioms:

  • goal line    (αθλοπ.) γραμμή του κόρνερ/τέρματος
  • goal post    (αθλοπ.) (κάθετο) δοκάρι τέρματος

Italiano (Italian)
scopo, goal, rete

idioms:

  • goal line    traguardo
  • goal post    palo della porta

Português (Portuguese)
n. - objetivo (m), gol (m) (Desp.)

idioms:

  • goal line    linha (f) de meta
  • goal post    trave (f) (do gol)

Русский (Russian)
цель, финиш, ворота (в футболе, хоккее и пр.)

idioms:

  • goal line    линия между двумя стойками ворот
  • goal post    штанга (ворот)

Español (Spanish)
n. - fin, finalidad, objetivo, gol, golpe certero, punto, tanto, meta, portería

idioms:

  • goal line    línea de meta, línea de gol
  • goal post    poste/palo de la portería o del arco

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - mål

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
目标, 得分, 终点

idioms:

  • goal line    球门线
  • goal post    足球等的门柱

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 目標, 得分, 終點

idioms:

  • goal line    球門線
  • goal post    足球等的門柱

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 목표, 결승점, 득점

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ゴール, 得点, 決勝点, 目標, 目的, 目的地

idioms:

  • goal line    ゴールライン
  • goal post    ゴールポスト

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) هدف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מטרה, יעד, שער, גול‬


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Yahl, J. (Quotes By)
barrier

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