Goal setting strategies
Today I wanted to talk to you a little about goals. I am not a great goals person, personally I find them a lot of pressure. I didn’t like for a long time. Until it all fell together one day.
Be OK with yourself, whether the goal is achieved or not
And I did find some ways that goals worked for me and one of those was to be totally okay with myself whether or not I reached them. I use goals as something to move me forward not necessarily to be perfect in or to achieve 100%.
Make them visible
So what I started doing, I can’t even remember what year, probably 2006 or 7, something like that. It was just a whim. I had these goals I wanted to achieve and so I scrapbooked them and put them up on the wall.
Having them on the wall reminded me that I was working on them. Because that’s my biggest problem when I have a goal is I forget! I forget that I’m working on it.
Make them pretty enough to look at an enjoy
And I made them pretty so I enjoyed looking at them, so I didn’t look at them and go Ugh I haven’t done that yet. I looked at them and went wow! and I read them over and over. And that was a positive thing for me.
And then often at the end of the year I would make a response page and make this little book of my goals for that year.
Some of 2010’s goals
So here is the example. Here are some of the goals that I set for 2010. Be grateful and be happy. Focusing on the negative is being ungrateful. It was a big lesson for me that year. Get better at giving service. They’re not all super, you know, like that. Save $8,000. That was the year I was saving for the gastric bypass surgery. How about this one? The year of no speeding or breaking the road rules. My dad’s a traffic cop but you know.
Did I achieve them?
Then did I achieve them or not? Sometimes yes, totally! Sometimes maybe – progress was
made. Sometimes no.
Some I achieved, some not. But that isn’t the most important thing for me. I tried, and I moved toward the goal. I don’t get down on myself if I don’t achieve everything. That’s why I set some really easy ones – so there are always some I can achieve!
Use your creativity
So I just want to share with you that’s one way that I use my creativity to help me move forward. I do a page to stick on the wall and to remind myself of the goal and then at the end of the year I might make a little book out of it and do a response for each one of what progress I’ve made. What progress I didn’t make. But I’m happy if I don’t reach it 100%. I know that progress was made and I’m happy with that. I’m not hard on myself about it.
Some people thrive on the pressure
So I think it’s a personal thing. Some people need that pressure to get moving. I don’t really. I do need to set the intention and be clear about it and I do need to remind myself that that’s the goal I’m working on. Because my hardest thing about reaching goals is that I forget that’s what I’m focusing on. How annoying.
So I use my skills, my interests, my talents, my strengths. Make them visible, make them pretty. Put them up on the wall. It works for me. I wonder if any of that might be helpful for you.
If you’ve got something you’re working on why don’t you make it visual? Why don’t you make it pretty? It doesn’t have to be scrapbooking. It doesn’t have to be what anyone else thinks is pretty. Something that will inspire you!
That’s my challenge for you today!
