Success and the Art of the Goal: (Part 2) Aligning with Identity and Values
Patsi Krakoff
"Begin with the end in mind," encourages Stephen Covey. Before
you can set meaningful goals for yourself, you need to know
where you want to go. If you clearly understand where you want
to be, you can make sure your actions bring you closer to that
place each and every day.
Corporations spend billions every year on strategic planning.
Executives involve themselves in similar planning sessions
with their executive coaches-they examine their strengths and
weaknesses, they look at their career and personal goals, and
make decisions about where and how to spend their time and
energy.
Life coaches do the same things with individuals. They explore
and clarify your identity, your values, and your true purpose
in life. How can you know what you need to do, where you need
to spend your time and energy, if you don't know what is most
important to you? This is difficult and important work. And it
is hard to do alone. Taking the time to make personal definitions
for yourself will make the process of goal setting and staying
on track much easier.
Here are three essential elements you must consider before
writing down your goals:
1. Examine your identity: Quite simply, who are you?
Self-awareness is the cornerstone to emotional intelligence and
so important that this one feature will do more for your success
in life than any other social competency. If you know yourself
well, you can choose a path aligned with your strengths and
weaknesses. You will not get distracted by people, places and
things that are not congruent with your true purpose.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to gain clarity:
When thinking about myself, what am I most proud of?
How would my friends describe me?
How would my co-workers describe me?
What does my family say about me?
What are the three most important areas in my personal life?
How have I changed over my adult years?
What are my strengths?
What do I avoid or dislike doing?
2. Define your values: What are your most fundamental beliefs?
Identify three that are most important to you. The more clearly
defined your values are, the more energy and focus you will have
for your goals. Values provide the basic structure you need to
build your personal life, your career, your business and any
other aspect of your life.
Look over the following list of values and rank each from 1 to
10 (with 1 representing values most important to you). Be sure
to add any that are important to you but not on this list.
Security, Wealth, Good health
Relationship with spouse, Relationship with children, Relationship with family
Fame/recognition, Job/career, Power
Happiness, Friendship, Retirement
Owning your own business, Long life, Travel
Respect of peers, Spiritual fulfillment, Charity
Having fun, Sports/fitness, Learning/education
Peace/tranquility, Influence, Integrity/ethics
Artistic expression, Community involvement, Ecology/environment
What are the five values you ranked the highest? Those five
values should be receiving 80% of your time and energy. Write
down your five most important values and post them somewhere.
This will drive your actions and keep you focused on what is
most important.
3. Establish your goals: Goals should be SMART-specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic and time-framed in order
to be effective.
Goal setting is not easy. It is hard work requiring time and
thought. It means soul searching. Fear of failure-and fear of
success-can stop you from setting clear goals and achieving
them. But with preparation and the help of your coach, you
can unleash the energy and passion to achieve your goals
beyond your expectations.
To learn more about how to set SMART goals, read part 3 of
Success and the Art of the Goal:
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Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., CBC, is a psychologist, executive coach, and writer. She customizes newsletters for life and executive coaches, providing both content and PDF and HTML ezines for busy professionals. Patsi lives and works from Ajijic, Mexico where she plays tennis daily, and enjoys other creative activities with her husband Rob and two Maine Coon cats, Huey and Dewey. Email mailto:Patsi@customizednewsletters.com.
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