Another way to look at your goals
Literally defined, a goal is ‘the object of someone’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.’. However, so often we think about the effort part before anything else. We work and work to meet those deadlines in our business, to climb the career ladder, or to meet those financial goals that we’ve been striving for, but we don’t stop to consider the goals that stem from our desire or ambition when they don’t look like dollar signs. When I speak about ambition and desire, I speak about hope. And before some productivity guru pipes up here telling me that ‘hope isn’t a strategy’, I know. But it’s also not to be snuffed out or overlooked in favour of fixating only on goals which resemble things which will make us more money or cause us to fit more stuff into a day in less time. Don’t get me wrong I love productivity which is effective as much as the next person, but when that is the sole focus of our lives and therefore our efforts and desires, we can miss things which deep down we want but have been told either consciously or subconsciously are unobtainable, unrealistic or not for ‘people like us’.
On the 1st of July 2021 I sat down with my Expectations page of my Time Journal to map out my goals for the next 90 days. It was only when I got to the end of the list of 10 goals, that I realised that not one of them was related to work. Had this have been me a few years back, I would imagine that almost every goal would be related to my business, no matter how the rest of my life looked at the time nor what I wanted outside of work. Back then, those things would have been bottom of the list, if indeed they’d have made the list at all.
Back to July 1st 2021 and I knew that I needed time and space over the next 90 days to heal, to rest, to recharge and to be creative in private as opposed to public - to regroup and to be restored. Your instant thought when you hear things like this might be to roll your eyes or to think that you don’t have time to think about wellbeing and the like in the midst of such a busy schedule and the truth of the matter is, I don’t either.
Nobody has ‘spare’ time. But things that are as important as healing and health - mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally - have to have time carved out for them. It’s not going to suddenly appear or be ‘fitted in’ unless it’s made priority.
And so I must admit I was quite emotional when I realised that, without thinking about it, I’d mapped myself out 10 goals which didn’t look like work or business for a change. Did setting these 10 goals, which looked so different to goals that I’ve set previously mean that I did no work at all? Of course not. I, like so many others, not only need to work but want to - and that’s the point of this whole message. Because I know that you and I are not dissimilar.
Remember, literally defined, a goal is ‘the object of someone’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.’ Having desires and dreams outside of our productivity and effort doesn’t mean that we won’t work, because that’s not how we’re wired (think about the years and years you’ve spent from school to now acknowledging that the harder you work = the more success you’ll have.) However bringing your intentions around wellbeing to the forefront will mean you might just pay attention to it for a change in the midst of your busy days, weeks and months. Thinking in this way is a muscle which will need training.
I knew what I wanted to achieve during the months of July, August and September, and to be honest with you, ‘achievement’ might be the wrong word here - but these expectations didn’t mean that work stopped in its tracks. In fact, sometimes work and the creative process of my writing and journalling is part of what enabled me to think through some of the aims and objectives that I had for the future. That said, recognising and remembering those aims that I’d written down on the 1st of July meant that when I found myself steering off course and heading down a rabbit hole of ‘success’ meaning doing more, I had something to anchor myself back to - I had reminders of my desires, which caused me to think and do differently.
I also want to take this moment here before we round up with some journal prompts for you, to talk about intangible goals. These are the sorts of goals where you can’t necessarily control the outcome - think things dependent on other people, or on biology or even the weather being a particular type of way. Don’t ignore those desires. Don’t neglect to write down those things as you’re mapping out your next quarter because as I’ve said, even having something to focus on and to think about can completely alter the actions that you take.
We hear so much about SMART goals, that it causes us to think that without goal setting looking like this, we’re just shooting arrows into the wind and hoping for the best. I would like to think otherwise. Sure, when a goal has a deadline, there is the time bound element of it, which means that of course we need to prioritise what steps we’ll take to get there and when. However, not every goal is time bound (I’m thinking about those intangibles we can’t control) and it’s with that in mind that I like to think about goals more from the perspective of BHAGs. Originally coined by Jim Collins, BHAGs represent ‘big hairy audacious goals’. I believe, (as you may well know now if you’ve been following me for any length of time), that mindset is fundamentally the key to so much of our success in all areas.
BHAGs cause us to stretch our thinking and believe beyond what is possible and tangible in the here and now. This is important because, as the famous quote goes, ‘shoot for the moon and if you miss, at least you’ll land amongst the stars.’ As glib and cliche as this might sound, there’s some truth to it. If we only ever think about goals in ways that are specific and measurable, then we’ll never give ourselves the opportunity to dream big, because we’ll think that it’s not possible and will therefore potentially limit ourselves in the process.
The goal here at Time & Pace is for you to keep going and to keep growing in a way which makes sense for you and your whole life. So with that, some journal prompts to consider:
Do any of the goals I have for the next 90 days have nothing to do with work?
Where am I allowing those goals (if I have them!) to fall in my list of priorities?
What boundaries can I put in place to protect those goals?
In what ways will sticking to these goals cause me to show up differently (and more powerfully) in all areas of my life moving forwards?
What’s one BHAG I can focus on for the next 90 days?
Can’t wait to see what comes up for you!
Keep going. Keep growing.
P.S. Don’t forget that The Time Journal gives you space to map out and master the pace of your day in just 15 minutes a day, whilst keeping your goals front and centre. Every day gives you opportunity to ‘connect and reflect’, as well as daily space for a ‘me moment’, even if all you can manage that day is 5 minutes amidst everything else. If you’re interested in learning more and seeing what others have to say about their experience with The Time Journal, just click HERE.
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