I have been thinking a lot about Goal setting lately and what that means. How do we clarify what our goal is and than go pursue it? A lot of times we know we want something more – more happiness, more nature, more connection, love, work that values us, etc. We just are not clear on what that looks like for us. What is our passion? What is our purpose? Two questions that haunt many people and I often think is the wrong question. I found this blog by Megan McDonough very thought provoking. We are asking the wrong question. Instead we should ask how do we want to be in the world? I believe this is key and this question has helped formulate many of my goals. How do I want to show up? What am I bringing to the situation? How can I be of service to others, my family, and community?
In searching for goals I believe one has to get into a design creative mode of thinking and go more into your heart than your head. It takes some dreaming, journaling, visioning to see what it is your truly want to bring into your life.
Three ways you can try to do this is by:
Creating a Vision Board
Journaling on how your life looks going after this goal
Completing Sentence completions quickly –
I want to be…
I want to do…
I want to………….
To bring 5% more happiness to my life…
If I dedicated more time and effort to pursuing my dreams…
To realize my dreams…
I am beginning to see that…
Another way to consider what dream you might want to consider going after is by finding your sweet spot.
By looking at your strengths, what gives you enjoyment, and has meaning to you might show you where the overlap is and what your sweet spot is. Example: pleasure: sail, cook, music, around children
Strengths: facility with language, upbeat, relating to children, problem solving,
Meaning: problem solving, working with children, political activist, music
I love dancing but I’m not going to ever be a dancer
“Purpose endows a person with joy in good times and resilience in hard times and this holds true all throughout life” William Damon
This goes for 20 yr olds graduating from college as well as people considering retirement or a career change or any transition you may be going through in your life.
Life is short what do you want to do with your life right now? Tomorrow? 10 years from now? In order to thrive we must look at all of these and maybe several times in our life.
I have been seeing this in my workshops on retirement and with my clients considering a career or life transition.
Taking the time to consider who am I and how do I want to show up in the world takes some dreaming and time. Once you have a clear, concise goal it might be time to consider a coach who can help you with goal mapping and a plan of action to get you there. I would love to hear about any of your goals and dreams. Have fun doing this journey.