“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals” – Zig Ziglar
As we are heading into the last few weeks of the year, many of us start looking at goals and new year’s resolutions for 2020.
Doesn’t it feel a little bit like groundhog day? We go through the motions, set goals of achieving what we think is important to us, stick with it for a few weeks and then…
It becomes incredibly challenging to continue: Competing priorities, work, personal life, commitments.. You know the drill.
I am sure you can relate, as can I. Countless times have I tried to stick to a goal and was disappointed in myself for not achieving it. The disappointment in ourselves often times becomes one of our toughest challenges: We do not give ourselves credit for having tried and for even having achieved a milestone. Expectations for ourselves are extremely high, recognition on the other side often times very low. This feeling of not having succeeded keeps us then from even picking it back up and trying again.
What is it then that we can do differently?
How often do you set a goal that is a goal out of “should” or “must”? A societal or family pressure? A pressure you put on yourself?
What if you can design goals that are in alignment with who you are, your values and your vision for the future? If you can do that, achieving goals will become so much more attainable and the process more satisfying.
Why?
Because this means you will generate goals that are rooted in what really matters to you. It allows you to make connections between those goals and what is important to you in life. Reaching for a stretch goal takes endurance, effort and a willingness to risk failure in pursuit of success.
What this means in detail:
- If you haven’t yet, identify your core values. Core values are your guiding principles in life. For example honesty, family, integrity among others. Knowing your top four to five values can be very helpful in many aspects of your life because it will explain why we do the things that we do. You may use the following sheet that helps in finding your top values: Values Assessment
- Create a vision for yourself. Ask yourself: Who will you be as the best version of yourself? What will you have done as that person throughout your life? What would you have accomplished if you had realized all your life dreams?
- Time to set goals: Given the two above exercises, what goals would move you closer to your ideal future? What does this goal mean to you? And why is it so important to pursue compared to alternative options?
Most likely the answers to this will take some time as you reflect and hone in on what is important to you. Investing the time to reflect will be so worth it because now you might create goals that actually stick.
Would you like to keep track of your goals and formulate them in a way that they are actually attainable? Check out our goal tracking sheet here: Goal Plan
Give it a try, you can absolutely reach your goals in 2020!
