“If you’re bored with life – you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things – you don’t have enough goals”. -Lou Holtz
I know you’re busy with the holidays and that you aren’t the type to do New Years Resolutions, anyway. Boy, do I have a gift for you.
If you keep reading and use the template I am sharing with you, you can (in December) strategically move into the coming year without setting a “New Year’s Resolution.” You can simply set a quarterly goal, then do the same thing in March for the second quarter of the year, and so on and so forth. It’s SO less daunting to take on three months at a time than it is to look at an entire year before with truly no idea of how your year will dramatically alter.
Seriously! I started out 2014 thinking it was going to be a nice, calm year. Nope! Turns out I helped plan a wedding, became a mother-in-law, went from screaming “Hotty Toddy” to “Go Bruins” after my daughter’s last minute college switcheroo: I attended five other weddings (four out of state), including my brother’s AND my best friend’s surprise engagement and surprise wedding all in one day extravaganza; and I became a grandmother…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I assure you…had I tried to map out 2014 in it’s entirety I would have had a panic attack in lieu of getting to shift, and simply embrace all of the goodness that was surprisingly coming my way.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t cast a vision or come up with a few long-term goals for the year. I’m just saying getting into the nitty gritty tactical strategy of how you are going to get there could prove super frustrating if you don’t leave yourself wiggle room from quarter to quarter.
WHY DO WE SET GOALS?
It is because we are driven people who are constantly becoming our best selves. And driven people often times become driven professionals who invest our time, energy and goal setting in this area because it is easy to set goals, get results and feel rewarded through recognition like money, prestige or promotion.
Yet try as we may, we simply cannot compartmentalize the various areas of our lives. We are whole people who must tend these three areas in order to FEEL whole and successful.
Professional lives: Where most of us spend the majority of our time, and therefore often define our value, whether it is through our careers or businesses.
Personal lives: Where most of us make a large amount of emotional investment through our interpersonal relationships and interests outside of work. (e.g. our family members and friends, volunteer activities and social opportunities).
Private lives: Where most of us often neglect if forced to choose how we will invest our limited time among these three key areas. Our private lives include our physical and mental health, spiritual life, emotional energy, appearance and personal development, among other things.
By first acknowledging that these three key areas must be tended to in unison in order to enjoy a TRULY SUCCESSFUL life, we can then remain focused on this trifecta by establishing goals in each area. When we don’t find success in each area we often feel like we aren’t winning or are constantly “not measuring up” in one area or another.
To use a term people can resonate with, we could call achieving success in all areas of our lives “work-life balance.” But I’m going to tell you a secret: I think there is no such animal!
LIFE IS DYNAMIC!
Sometimes our work life might demand more of us because of new client, dip in the economy or lengthy project. Other times we may have to tend to a family member, take a leave of absence to focus on healing our bodies or go on a two-week vacation with no contact with our office. Does that mean that because we aren’t perfectly balanced in these cases that we are not successful?
Absolutely not!
That’s why we have to disregard what society tells us, abandon what our past demons and negative influences have cast on our thinking patterns and dump our limiting beliefs around how life CAN be IF we find work-life SUCCESS ON OUR TERMS.
ESTABLISHING GOALS
Select a goal for each area of your life: Professional (related to your career), Personal (related to your relationships) and Private (related to ONLY you). For each goal you will also go ahead and face head on the ONE biggest potential obstacle per goal that could possibly derail your success. But don’t allow fear to set in! Your next step is to brainstorm ways you can overcome those obstacles so you can be PROactive in your strategy, rather than REactive and caught off guard.
Then, in alignment with our philosophy that success comes with a LOT of MOXIE, list how you plan to focus on the energy, skills and determination it will take to help move you towards your goals.
Remember, these three goals should be very specific, and they are time bound. Please be realistic, yet bold with your selections.
Here is an example of such goals:
Professional: Secure interview for promotion at work with hiring manager by x/xx/xx OR increase email list by 300 emails by x/xx/xx.
Personal: Consistently have weekly budget meetings with spouse beginning on x/xx/xx.
Private: Lose 12 pounds by x/xx/xx.
Ready? It’s your turn! Let’s get started on achieving MORE in your life!