Have your goals become something you write down and get inspired to achieve - until life takes over? Or have you been struggling to get inspired enough to find goals to set in the first place?
It’s time you put your goals (and/or lack of goals) under the microscope:
What Are Great Goals?
Great Goals are a constant source of motivation, passion and purpose and they inspire you to be all you can be.
For an ordinary goal to become a great goal it must 1) require action from you, 2) create changes in your life and 3) align with who you are and/or who you want to become.
change is essential
Great Goals are not just about reaching targets - they are about experiences and are drivers of growth and change. Changes in your behaviour, changes in your thinking and changes in your focus.
Rather than thinking about what goals you want to aim for …… start by focusing on what changes you want to make, what areas of your life would you like to see changes in? What would you like to do differently? What would those changes look like?
"To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly." — Henri Bergson
This will help you discover what you would like to do/change/create/experience, and help inspire you to achieve it.
Because when it becomes hard to get up and go to the gym in the morning – if you are focusing on the fact that the gym is part of your overall aim to improve your fitness and have more energy, then the gym session is part of a bigger change you want to create and has real results attached to it.
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Great goals require you to not only set an outcome - they need you to be prepared to take the actions necessary to achieve that outcome. This is where most people fail before they have even begun.
To ensure your success, ask yourself – “Am I prepared to do what’s necessary to achieve my goal?” If the answer is YES – then you are ready for the next step.
"A goal is any desired outcome that wouldn't otherwise happen without some kind of intervention" Elliott T Berkman, Oregon University
If the answer is NO, then you have a significant roadblock. This does not mean you have to forget about the goal …… it does mean you need to examine why you are not prepared to do the work? What is the issue? What is stopping you?
Either the goal is not quite right for you, you are conflicted about it, or you haven’t discovered the “Why” for your goal yet. Read on …..
knowing your why
For a goal to be truly motivating you must know WHY it is important to you. Why do you want to achieve this goal? Why is this change important to you? Why do you want to change? Knowing your WHY will get you through the tough times and ensure your goals are important to YOU personally and that YOU are prepared to do the work YOU need to do to achieve them. Now that gym session you are struggling to get out of bed to do is not only part of the Change you wish to make to get fitter and have more energy – but the reason WHY you want to have more energy, is so you can have greater enjoyment in all the things that you do. …….. Pretty inspiring right!
discovering the how
This is crunch time. It’s time to take your goal and turn it into something real. Time to work out how it is going to happen. What is the big picture? What steps do I need to take? What skills and capacities do I need to develop? What is my specific plan?
Taking the time to focus on the big picture of what you want and why – then breaking it down to the small, achievable steps, is essential to achieving your goals. It is also where great goals can come to grief.
It is very easy to be roadblocked here if you don’t know how to reach your goal. And yet, these are the best goals of all. Because a goal that you don’t know how to achieve means you have the biggest opportunities for growth and development at your fingertips. Which is why you must give yourself permission not to know.
Be okay with not knowing how to achieve your goal yet, and let yourself be okay with pushing your personal boundaries. Then set the goal of “Discovering How to Achieve My Goal”. This gives you permission to enlist the aid of those who have been there before you, talk to people, pick their brains, research, discuss and know that this is you working on your goal.
Focusing on your goals as drivers of change and growth transforms a goal you do not yet know how to achieve, into something exciting, motivating and challenging.
aligning with your purpose
Great Goals are self concordant – that is they are goals that reflect your authentic self by aligning with your personal values, interests, talents and sense of purpose. These are by far the most motivating goals and the ones you are most likely to achieve.
"When people pursue goals that are aligned with their underlying values, talents, interests and needs, they are more likely to attain them." Koestner et al 2008
These 2 easy steps will help you make sure that your goals align with your authentic self and with your purpose:
STEP ONE:
Choose a goal to focus on and imagine what it is like in the moment you have achieved it. Imagine it as if you were right there in the moment.
What are you doing? What are you seeing? Who is with you? What are you saying? What are you hearing? What are you thinking? How are you feeling?
You should be seeing, thinking and feeling positive things that make you feel good about yourself and about your goal. If you are not – then you need to re-look at your goal as it is not yet fully aligned with you for some reason.
STEP TWO:
Now – in the moment of achieving your goal – place your hand on your heart and take 3 nice, slow breaths in and out.
Then ask yourself this question “heart – are you in this 100%?”
If YES, then you’re all set.
If NO then “Why Not?” “What is the issue here?” Take the time to explore why your heart is conflicted about your goal.
Resolving this is the difference between achieving your goal and being roadblocked, so you might like to work this through with someone who can help you discover what is at the heart of the issue.
making it real
Now you are ready to make your goal real by giving it a timeframe and putting it into your schedule. Be realistic – the worst thing you could do here is to under estimate the timeframe for your goal so you fail at the first step. Think best case and worst case and aim for something in the middle.
you are ready to go - now mind the gap
Now you have an inspiring goal that aligns with who you are, and moves you to create changes in your life, the next step is to mind the gap. This means that as you pursue your goal, always keep an eye on where you are now and where you want to be. How big is that gap? Are you moving towards your goal and closing the gap? Or is the gap getting bigger?
This will help you be very clear about whether you are moving in the right direction and making progress, and help you catch yourself should you stray.
Minding the GAP takes a goal out of your desk drawer and keeps it at the centre of your focus.
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