Great People Works

If you are like most people, you tend to have too much stuff on your plate at any one time.   You load yourself up with things you need to do, ought to do and would like to do and then find yourself spending too much time on things that might be interesting or responding to emergencies that are not really important to your long-term goals.   This is known as a lack of focus.   When you lack focus you see the forest and all the trees but not the path through the forest. 

Now, that we have begun quieting our minds with meditation (see previous post), it is time to also start to identify exactly what are our goals and to do this we must start with our values.  First, you must have a quiet place and space so that you can think and write for at least 15 minutes without interruption or distraction.  So, take a piece of paper and write across the top, "This is Important to Me".   Now, think about your life, your relationships, your job, your church, beliefs, hobbies, friends, family, pets, how you spend your time today, etc. and make a numbered list of things you value, things that are really important to you.  Include everything that is important to your happiness now and in the future.  No matter whether it exists in your life today or you hope it exists someday, include it in the list.   Oh, yes, and you only have 15 minutes.    If it isn't important enough for you to be able to recall and list within a 15 minute time frame it is probably not that important to you.   Include any goals for yourself or your future that are especially important such as completing college, getting licensed, married, divorced, whatever is important to your happiness.   Don't worry about trying to list goals and values for someone else, your own happiness is the only thing you can really control.   STOP HERE UNTIL YOU FINISH YOUR LIST THEN RETURN AND READ ON.

1)  Now, go through your list and circle the top 12 things that are the most important to you for your future happiness  and are completely within your control.   You are the person who can make them happen.   These should be things for which you must schedule  time in your current life in order to work towards them in the future.  For example, spending time with family might be something that is important to your future happiness and important now.  Working out regularly or participating in sports might be something you need to do and want to do but don't always find time to do but since good health is a key to your future happiness you should include it.

2)  Now, go through the list and underline the top 12 things that make you happy today (or this week).  These are the things that you do have or spend time on in your current life that make you happy, plus things you would very much like to do now but don't always find time to do.   Duplicating something from list 1 is OK.   For exampe, If going to movies regularly makes you happy then list it if it is one of the top twelve.

3.  Now, go through the list and draw a box around the top 12 things on your list that you absolutely must have in your life or need to do or achieve in order to have or ensure your current and future happiness.  If something is not on the list add it now but end up with 12 boxes.  Duplicating something from list 1 or 2 is OK.

4.  Now go back through your lists and make sure you have included the "most important" things on each of the three lists.    Now, you have three lists of 36 things, 12 that are important to your current happiness, 12 that are important to your future happiness, and 12 things that you must have in your life and are important to both your current and future happiness.    These are your first draft goals and they tell you much about yourself that will be helpful.  Those items in the boxes are enablers and the most important goals you must accomplish in order to achieve the additional things you would like for your happiness.

First off, there will probably be some duplication of items on your lists which is Okay.  Now, think about your life and what you have been doing with your time for the past week.  What activities were you involved in but are not in your list of 36?  How much time are these activities using which you could be using to work on your current and future happiness?  Which of these things can you eliminate from your life because they are totally within your control.   Keep in mind, if you are in a relationship that it is important to your happiness, then you will have to mutually share time with your partner to keep your relationship healthy.  Likewise, if you children or dependents then you also have created a responsibility to spend quality time with them, so be sure these are part of your goals.

The next step in the process is to take these lists and create a list of SMARTER goals covering the most important values in your life.  What is a smarter goal?  It is a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Time-Bound, Ethical, Recorded.

Specific means it points to exactly what you must do in order to acheive this goal or maintain your happiness.  For example, if you would like to spend an hour a day grooming yourself, including bathing, fixing your hair, applyig make-up, trimming nails, etc. then you should make that a specific goal for personal hygeine.

Measurable means it can be evaluated as to how often it happens or how frequently, how long it lasts and so on.  For example, if your goal is working out four time a week for a minimum of 60 minutes that is easiliy measurable and tracked and monitored by you.  On the other hand, if your goal is to lose 80 pounds over the next year, then your plan would be to lose at least( 80/12)  =6.7 pounds per month over the next year by working out four times a week for an hour at a time.  You would  want to include some dietary goals also to ensure you can actually lose the weight and keep it off, like not eating red meat, french fries, ice cream, etc. for the period of your diet.

Agreed means you are forming a contract with yourself, something to which you agree is your goal.  It is not someone elses goal but yours along which means you are the only one who can achieve it.  It is your responsibility and you will hold yourself accountable.  So, start thinking about how you will reward yourself for achieving your goal and what will be the consequences for you of failure?  Will you hold yourself accountable and punish yourself for not meeting your goal as well as reward yourself?

Realistic means it is a reasonable goal within the realm of reality.  Losing 80 pounds in one month would not be a realistic goal since you would be putting unreasonable stress on your body and setting yourself up for failure.   Setting a goal that guarantees failure is not a realistic goal.    The goal must be realistically obtainable within the time frame allowed.  It might be a very ambitious goal, ambition is good but it should not be reckless.

Time-bound means that every goal has a time element as to when it will be achieved, how long it lasts, what you must do how often, how much and how well in order to achieve it.  Goals with no time commitment and no due date are really not goals, they are just dreams or wishful thinking.  For example, if I set a goal of losing 80 pounds with no time commitment, then I have no plan to achieve my goal and have the rest of my life to reach it.  I'll probably die before I do it.  Set a goal and then measure your progress towards it.  You may not always achieve the goal, but measuring your progress towards it will help give you the positive reinforcement you need to continue pursuing it.

Ethical means it should be legal and consistent with your values.  If your goal is to be a multi-millionaire then you will want to develop an "ethical" plan to become one.  If you are not ethical you might be breaking the law or going against your own values which is even worse because it destroys your self-concept internally and even if you get your goal you might forfeit your happiness in the process.  You must adhere to your own personal values.  If it doesn't feel right or seem right, then don't do it.  If it feels good and healthy and it's something you would be willing to share with the rest of the world then it is probably ethical and legal.  It must also be reasonable in your mind.  If you are not serious in setting and working towards achieving your goal then you are just fooling yourself.  You must be committed to the goal and that means being honest with yourself.

Recorded means you must write it down.  Why?  Because, you want to record your goals so you can refer back to them, so you can track them and so you don't forget about one of them because you got caught up in something else.  This also gives the flexibility of changing them at some point.  For example, after you lose 60 pounds everyone starts asking you if you well or suffering some disease, including your Doctor.   So, you decide you don't need to lose 80 pounds, sixty was enough and you change your goal to keep your weight at it's current level; to keep the 60 pounds off.  This is one of the options that makes this a SMARTER goal.

Okay, start recording /  writing.  Yes, it might seem tedious but it is well worth it.  To help you along eMail me at Gregg@GreatPeopleWorks.com and request the SMARTER GOALS - Goal Setting Sheet;  an Excel Spreadsheet aiding your goal setting.