Step 4 Set Goals

If you’ve found this article, but have not yet read the introduction 10 Steps to Success, I highly encourage you to do so before continuing. This is part of a series of articles that read in order will give you valuable insight as to how to become successful with anything you envision.

The Perception of Goals

Before talking all about goals, its good to dismantle any foregone conclusions about what a goal is. Some people are ‘goal driven’. They set a goal, are challenged to do it, and love the challenge. If they do not reach the goal they can get upset and it in some way represents failure - but nevertheless these people are ready to power through the next goal because its exciting to work and strive towards. This relationship with goals is one which drives someone to action, sometimes even when the goal gets out of alignment with the purpose or vision!

Others perceive goals as being a commitment that is scary. They do not want to take on the responsibility of having a goal set. They ask: what will it mean if it’s not completed, who will I disappoint? They tell themselves: I don’t need any more stress in my life right now - setting a goal is just too much to handle. I like my freedom and having goals takes that away.

The reality is that whether we perceive ourselves as one that is driven about goals, or that we dislike setting goals, the truth is that we are all on a continuum or a sliding scale somewhere between these two extremes. For some goals we act one way, and for others we act another. Whether or not we’ve all used the same ‘format’ to set goals, we have all been successful accomplishing goals of varying degrees of magnitude. I remember meeting with one person that did not perceive herself as a goal setter (and did not care for the idea) but she was phenomenal in her goals to recover from a cancer which she had only a 10% chance of surviving - talk about commitment and dedication - goal achieved! She never considered this recovery to be a ‘goal’ although her approach towards it had all of the key elements.

Your thoughts about goal setting are simply a perception - the purpose of this article is to disseminate any negative perceptions of goals and to explain how goals are an essential aspect of the 10 Steps to Success.

Enjoying your Goals

Personally, I’ve had all sorts of perceptions of goals. In the past I’ve become driven about certain goals. In fact, I set a goal to run 5x/week for 30 minutes/day in 2003 and kept this commitment for 2 years. When I was traveling heavily, one week I recall running in 4 different cities in 3 different countries (spanning 4000 miles of air travel) to meet this commitment. It was snowing in some of the locations and this driven approach towards goal attainment was not even in alignment with my vision of being healthy. I remember being totally exhausted during this time.

I’ve also had the perception that I did not want to set goals in the past. When starting my business in 2006 I had real trouble setting financial goals. I had to take a close look at what was happening. Wasn’t it interesting that I personally was giving so much consideration to my uncertainties about having my own company that I was in essence giving myself permission to fail financially! When I saw what was happening, I chose to focus on a different thought pattern, embrace my true worth and set appropriate financial goals. Its been an exciting time of personal financial growth since that time.

What I’ve learned is that goals are absolutely essential, and given all of these preconceptions and perceptions that we have about what a goal is, we’ve lost the true definition and purpose behind a goal. Embrace the definition that empowers you - the one that I like is:

Goal = An enjoyable objective that is in alignment with the life vision. A goal is personally set, and the outcome is a result that you will love to achieve!

Given that definition, goals come to life and even have an element of excitement. A goal is an empowering expression of who you are, and the act of setting a goal is simply proclaiming to yourself that you will be living your life’s vision, one step at a time. To me, this is enjoyable and exciting - so lets set some goals!

Leveraging your Vision

If you’ve read Step 3 - Develop a Vision, you know the power of having a written vision. If you are having trouble determining relevant life goals, use your vision as a starting point. Pick one small aspect of the vision and begin there. You’ve already created the destination towards which your energies will be directed, now all you need to do is draw out the map as to how to get there. The beauty of the vision is that it encompasses many aspects of your life. You can choose where you’d like to begin as you develop your first goals.

Making Goals SMART

Many people have written about SMART goals and its absolutely imperative to design goals that have each of the following attributes. Goals missing any of these attributes are really wishes, not goals. By aligning SMART goals with your vision, you are headed straight down the path towards success. Here’s how SMART goals are defined:

• Specific - to be successful at accomplishing a goal, we must first know specifically what it is that we want to accomplish. Become clear of what you want, and craft a goal that has direction and has no ambiguity
• Measurable - now that you’ve got a specific goal, test it for ‘measurability’. Ask yourself how will I know if I have successfully completed the goal? Can a friend tell you that you completed your goal? You might imagine, ‘feeling better’ is not a goal, however completing a walking marathon definitely passes the measurability test.
• Attainable - we want our goals to be a stretch, something that will push us, but something that we know is attainable as well. Pie in the sky goals will only lead to frustration when they are not completed. Make goals that are realistic and build on your successes.
• Relevant - Is the goal of or related to your life vision? Is the goal one that you have set for yourself? If so, it passes the relevancy test. You can imagine, a goal that doesn’t make our hearts sing is one we’ll have little energy to work towards.
• Timeline - All goals need a date. Ask yourself what happens if I don’t define a date. Of course, things slip into next week, next month, and next year. Keep your goals set within one year. After a year, the commitment to a goal will generally not be strong enough to ensure you make action today. (by all means, have a vision for 5 and 10 years, just keep the goals smaller, as steps towards making your vision come true)

Setting goals is an imperative step to achieving lifelong success. Whether your goals are health related, finance related, or pertaining to spirituality and relationships, these same principles apply.

Moving Forward

We’ve talked about how to design empowering goals, and that you’ve completed the first four steps to success you’ve build an incredible foundation to act on. It may feel like nothing has been accomplished yet since no action has been taken towards making your goals happen - this is the next step. The following steps are related to taking action and describe how to optimize your actions such that they are effectively steering you towards your goals with clarity, focus, ease and grace. So far - great job, you’ve accomplished more than most people already!

Be Well