Goal Setting that Matters – Template
on Wednesday, October 5, 2011The phrase “Setting goals that matter” has so many implications. I try to start from the top down and the bottom up. The top= My life. The bottom=my business and financial goals.
Every Fall my first step in planning is to revisit my life wheel.
I assess the gap in each of the following areas, ranking them from Zero to Outrageous in light of my ideal for each segment. Zero is the center, Outrageous is the perimeter.
The core areas I measure today are:
- Relationships
- Family & Friends
- Career/Business
- Financial
- Environment
- Home & Work
- Spiritual
- Health
You get to name your own.
My life goal is to live a congruent life of purpose & contribution. To me this is a life where one’s values* are in alignment with everything they do. After 10 years working toward this end I have much greater clarity about how to navigate this life and make better choices but am far from perfect in executing 100% of the time. This is why assessing in this manner deeply once a year gives me time to reflect and make intentional shifts to increase alignment.
The questions I ask to assess each segment after the ranking exercise are:
- What is working well in this area?
- What is not working well in this area?
- What needs to change?
- What do I need to stop doing? And when?
- What do I need to start doing? And when?
Some of the tricks I’ve learned when defining what would be an outrageous state in each segment, is to ask myself:
- Is this my definition of outrageous or someone else’s? i.e. Being on Oprah might be someone’s life goal. It isn’t mine. Make sure your dreams are yours.
- What do I consistently resist, avoid, or simply do not do that would be an obvious activity to move me closer to my outrageous goal? These are indicators of incongruent values or belief systems.
- The closer I am in alignment to my values, working in my strengths, and mastering my talents, the more fulfillment I have and my ability to create income increases.
I trust this will help you take a fresh look before you dig into the dollars and cents of goal setting for 2012!
Want to hit your goals with absolute certainty? Align your goals with your values and give them personal significance upon completion.
There is still time to join our “FastTrack Foundations: Turn your Business into a Money Machine” virtual learning community. We close registration on 10/10/11. Questions about if this is the right program for you? Just ask!
*Values Assessments can be found by Googling “values assessments”. My top 3 core values are Service, Mastery, Continuous Learning. You can share yours in the comments below.
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To your success!
Kathie Nelson
http://www.KathieNelson.com