Identifying Your Goals Knowing what your goals are can be more challenging than you may think.

Perhaps this is why so many people don’t set them. You may have heard that most people don’t keep their New Years’ Resolutions, but did you know that most people don’t even MAKE ONE?

Even during peak goal-setting season, less than half of Americans make New Year’s resolutions.

So, imagine how few people make goals the rest of the year—not many! In the University of Scranton study (http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/) as we researched for these figures, a most important finding was discovered: People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions. So what does this mean for you? It means that by taking this course you are in the very small minority that both makes goals and is dedicated to achieving them. Congratulations!

The first step to achieving your goal is knowing what it is—so, what is your goal? What do you want out of life? What are your TRUE desires? We emphasize the word “true” because very often people’s goals are not their own, meaning they think they want what they want because they have been influenced by others. Get Other People Out of Your Head Ask yourself, who do you allow to direct your life? Do you do what your parents or friends think you should do? Do you desire things because you saw them on TV? Do you limit yourself to what others will approve of?

When’s the last time you asked yourself what YOU really want? If you are going to have any chance of accomplishing the goals you set for yourself, they absolutely MUST be YOURS. If you don’t even really want it, how do you expect to follow through when times get tough or the motivation’s not there? How Does It FEEL? The most important thing to determine about your goal is how it makes you feel. Do you feel empowered by it or resistant? Does it feel exciting or burdensome? The reason this question matters so much is because if you really think about it,

EVERYTHING that you have or will ever want in your life, everything, is because of the way you believe it will make you feel. Really! Any goal or desire you have, don’t you want it because you believe you’ll feel better in the having of it? It will bring fulfillment, satisfaction, relief, pride, fun, a sense of accomplishment, freedom, joy? So, what is it for you? How do you want to FEEL?

Sometimes considering this question helps you clarify that perhaps your goal isn’t what you thought. Or maybe it just isn’t as specific. Perhaps there is more than one way to get what you want, which is to feel a certain way. Goal Setting So, now that you’ve considered the important questions regarding whether your goals are truly yours and the feeling behind the desire, it’s time to get your goals down on paper. Writing your goals on paper is absolutely key. Not only do you then have a concrete object to return to in order to remind yourself of your goals and remain focused, you’ll also be sending a message to your unconscious mind that YOU MEAN BUSINESS.

It may be that you are entering into this process with a clearly defined goal already in mind. Or perhaps you’re only certainty is that you want to have goals and you need help identifying them.

In either case, this activity is the foundation of any program that helps you both identify your goals and solidify how they fit into the bigger picture of your life. The worksheet for this section walks you through the following activity. Take some time with a piece of paper (or Word doc) and write down as many things as you can think of that you’d like to do, achieve, experience or have in your life. You can include all areas of life, such as relationships, career, leisure/fun, personal growth, financial, health, etc., or you can narrow it down if you have a particular topic in mind. It’s recommended to do this activity including all parts of your life at some point, as it helps put everything into perspective.

Write down at least 50 things. Then, if you desire, go back through and organize or combine like items if you wish, especially if you have an extensive list. This helps keep things simple and easy for your brain. Then you want to consider the timeline that all of your desires or goals fall into.

Next to each goal (or desire cluster) write a 1, 3, 5 or 10, referring to the number of years you hope to reach the goal in. A 10 represents anything you consider “long term,” 10 years or more. A 1 represents items on your list you feel strongly drawn to NOW, or are things you’d have to accomplish before being able to accomplish other things on your list. A 3 is for items you know you want in your near future but you’re not quite lined up yet with it or know you must do 1’s first.

Finally, 5 years is for “in between” items. These are things you know aren’t your first priority, but you also know they aren’t “long-term”. Everything is relative and this activity is only meant to help you put everything into perspective. From your list of 1 year goals, select 1 to 4 that you find will create the most impact and focus on these during the course of this program. You’ll also be using these goals in other parts of this program, such as Goal Planning, where you’ll get into more detail about how you’ll achieve them. But first, you want to make sure you are totally certain WHY you want to achieve these goals, and fully confident that you CAN achieve them.

WORKSHEET: Identifying Your Goals Brainstorm ALL ideas you have for things you would like to do, achieve, experience, or have in your life. Include all areas of life (or as many as you want), such as relationships, career, leisure/fun, financial, personal growth, health, etc. List at LEAST 50.

Next to each goal write a 1, 3, 5 or 10, referring to the number of years you hope to reach the goal in. From your list of 1 year goals, select 1 to 4 that you believe will have the most impact for you and focus on these during the course of this program.

My 1 year goal(s) are:

1) __________________________________________________________________

2) __________________________________________________________________

3) __________________________________________________________________

4) __________________________________________________________________

Jeffrey Yeomans

Published Author & Leadership Coach

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