You may have heard about the importance of writing down and setting your goals for the future. And as the famous quote says, “if you fail to plan you plan to fail!”
Consider the following questions however:
Are your goals aligned with what you are truly passionate about?
Are your goals just based on what you think you should do or should have or should be?
How much do you really care if you achieve your goals or not?
It might seem like a nice idea to own a gigantic yacht, have it moored at Cannes marina, wear designer clothes, drink copious bottles of champagne an party all night, because that’s what the celebrities do! But if this isn’t really your thing and you would rather have a romantic night in with a DVD and a takeaway curry then chances are that you won’t be bothered whether you achieve the goal or not!
When setting your goals for the up and coming year, 5 years or 10 years it is a great idea to start from the standpoint of your passions. It is then that you will feel really, dare I say it, “passionate” about achieving them. Your goals will also be closely aligned with your values or guiding principles. Your values are the things that are so important to you that you wouldn’t want to live your life without them.
When your goals have been created from this starting point and you achieve or experience them, you will feel a whole host of positive emotions. How about feeling a sense of aliveness, freedom, joy, pampering, excitement, confidence, recognition, or success to name but a few!? This also has numerous connotations for helping us to lead a life free from stress.
So, what things do you love to do, what excites you and which of those things would you really not want to do without in your life?
Make a list of 10 things and write down the answer to these questions “Why, do I love doing that” or “why, is that important to me”.
To give you an example; when I was trying to whittle down my list of passions to just 5, I realised that if I could connect with the feelings and qualities that I love to have in my life, then I am more likely to set goals which come from the heart. Goals that would feel truly satisfying and fulfilling, once I had achieved them. So for me, the feelings I love to experience are: joy; aliveness; a sense of being connected to others and the universe; a sense of luxury or being pampered; vitality & energy; feeling successful; confidence, honesty and intimacy, amongst others.
The next step was to ask myself “What things do I really love to do which help me to get in touch with these feelings?” Some of my answers were: travelling to new and exciting places; meditating & practising yoga; dancing (salsa); giving personal or wellness coaching to others; having the opportunity to attend workshops where I can learn more about myself and grow as a person; enjoying great food (but definitely not cooking it myself!) being in nature; enjoying open and honest communication.
In order for me to be able to experience and recreate the feelings that mean so much to me (as it is then that I feel like I am really living my life fully!) it makes sense for me to set my goals around the achievement of such feelings.
Following on from this, some of my goals (in a very general form) are:
1)To be a great Life Coach and continue to expand my business.
2)To continue my Meditation & Yoga practice – as this is where I feel abundant and connected and peaceful.
3)To travel to new places and attend workshops where I can learn more about myself & meet like-minded people.
4)To Dance (with my husband) as often as I can.
5)To work on having honest, open and authentic relationships.
Once you have worked out what you really want from your life, how you would like to feel and what you love doing, you are then in a great place to set your goals.
The following step would then be to be more specific about the goal itself and give it a time frame. Make it a SMART goal (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time specific) or in the coaching world replace the R with Resonant (does it get you excited?) and the T with Thrilling (does it sound thrilling to you?).
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I am passionate about helping people to feel good about themselves and their lives. I love that coaching enables me to see people at their most amazing selves,! I am a qualified Life Coach, Yoga and Meditation teacher. I enjoy working with a number of UK Television personalities and coach individuals from all walks of life. ways to reduce stress
Showing posts with label long tem goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long tem goals. Show all posts
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Goal Setting As A Means Of Self Improvement
It is often easy to forget exactly how important goal setting is to self improvement. We can have lofty ambitions for changing or improving who we are, but if we don't begin the journey with one step as Confucius once said and then break it down into smaller plans, the journey might begin to seem impossible.
The reason goal setting works as a means of self improvement is two-fold: the first part is obvious it allows us to break a really complex task down into small components that are easier to follow, more detailed, and less overwhelming. The second reason why goal setting is an effective means of self improvement is that it provides us with constant motivation. Whenever we accomplish that goal or objective on the way to the greater goal, we feel as if we have made progress, and it emboldens us to work towards the next goal in line.
Before anyone can begin goal setting for self improvement, he must determine what it is about himself that he would like to change and for what reason. For some people, the ultimate act of self improvement would involve quitting smoking cigarettes. For others, weight is a self improvement issue for which they are most concerned. For others, it might be something different, like being more assertive, more financially secure, or more charitable.
Of course, no one knows our faults better than we do. If we're overweight, we usually know just horrible it makes us feel, even if no one around us even really notices it. If we drink beyond what could be considered careful moderation, we know how it makes us feel and what it has done to our relationships.
Now, once you have identified what it is that you would like to improve about yourself, you can begin the goal setting process. Start with the ultimate goal (i.e., to lose 30 pounds). Next, depending on how large your ultimate goal is and how long it will reasonably take you to accomplish begin goal setting for objectives with timelines. For these smaller objectives, it is a good idea to tie them to actions, rather than results. If, for instance, your goal is to go to the gym three times each week and decrease your fat and carbohydrate intake, you might accomplish all of those goals, but it doesn't mean you will accomplish your short-term intended result, which was to lose ten pounds in 30 days.
If you only lose 10 pounds when your goal was 30 pounds, don't feel like you haven't succeeded. Instead, see if you followed the goals you set out to accomplish for the time period: did you go to the gym three times each week? Did you decrease your fat and carbohydrate intake? If you answered yes to all of these questions and you DID lose at least some weight, then you know your goal setting activities are on the right track, but you just need to intensify the components or increasing the overall timeline.
So, to reiterate, successful goal setting for self improvement consists of three things: creating long term goals, short term objectives, and re-evaluating the plan to make sure it is more realistic.
The reason goal setting works as a means of self improvement is two-fold: the first part is obvious it allows us to break a really complex task down into small components that are easier to follow, more detailed, and less overwhelming. The second reason why goal setting is an effective means of self improvement is that it provides us with constant motivation. Whenever we accomplish that goal or objective on the way to the greater goal, we feel as if we have made progress, and it emboldens us to work towards the next goal in line.
Before anyone can begin goal setting for self improvement, he must determine what it is about himself that he would like to change and for what reason. For some people, the ultimate act of self improvement would involve quitting smoking cigarettes. For others, weight is a self improvement issue for which they are most concerned. For others, it might be something different, like being more assertive, more financially secure, or more charitable.
Of course, no one knows our faults better than we do. If we're overweight, we usually know just horrible it makes us feel, even if no one around us even really notices it. If we drink beyond what could be considered careful moderation, we know how it makes us feel and what it has done to our relationships.
Now, once you have identified what it is that you would like to improve about yourself, you can begin the goal setting process. Start with the ultimate goal (i.e., to lose 30 pounds). Next, depending on how large your ultimate goal is and how long it will reasonably take you to accomplish begin goal setting for objectives with timelines. For these smaller objectives, it is a good idea to tie them to actions, rather than results. If, for instance, your goal is to go to the gym three times each week and decrease your fat and carbohydrate intake, you might accomplish all of those goals, but it doesn't mean you will accomplish your short-term intended result, which was to lose ten pounds in 30 days.
If you only lose 10 pounds when your goal was 30 pounds, don't feel like you haven't succeeded. Instead, see if you followed the goals you set out to accomplish for the time period: did you go to the gym three times each week? Did you decrease your fat and carbohydrate intake? If you answered yes to all of these questions and you DID lose at least some weight, then you know your goal setting activities are on the right track, but you just need to intensify the components or increasing the overall timeline.
So, to reiterate, successful goal setting for self improvement consists of three things: creating long term goals, short term objectives, and re-evaluating the plan to make sure it is more realistic.
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