Goals are More Useful & Fun When Attached to your Mission.
By Martin Brossman of CoachingSupport.com
Why have goals for just the sake of
goals--so at the end of it all you can say, "well, I
stayed busy"? How do your own goals relate to the
mission of your life? If sometimes you notice a lack
of motivation on your goals, maybe one of two things
are missing. One, you have not taken the time to
define a compelling enough purpose for your life.
Two, you don't have or have lost the connection to
the compelling purpose of your life. A common
approach to goals is decide what you 'want'-- then
decide on the first goal you need to obtain that and
continue until you obtain what you want. There is
nothing wrong with this. However, I want to offer an
alternative way which can be more effective. An
alternative way to have effective goals is to create
mission driven goals. Looking at your mission you
ask, "What would be possible ways to express it?" An
example will help. For me, one of my missions is
Men's work. This involves supporting men in
developing healthy fellowship with each other
--which enhances relationships, families, and
society. So what would be an expression of that
mission--considering that I have been leading the
Triangle Men's Inquiry group since 1996? Perhaps I
could create a worldwide on-line version. Maybe a
book could be an expression of it. Maybe aligning
with women's groups and other associations would be
helpful. Maybe creating a women’s inquiry version to
both help men and women. Maybe supporting men in
creating more Men's Inquiry and related men's groups
around the world would also be meaningful.
You can then ask questions to narrow
these proposals down. For example; "Which expression
would be most fulfilling to me? Which would make the
greatest difference in the world? Which expression
would support my family? Which expression would move
my mission forward the most? Which expression would
make a useful profit? Through this process one may
undertake several proposals to some degree--however,
in the example; the book addresses more of the
questions for me. The next step is to use the "The
Merlin Technique". Imagine the goal is completely
done. Describe it in as vivid detail as you can in
the present tense. Following this, ask the question,
"What was the last item that occurred before its
completion?", and repeat this process back to the
present. (It is often helpful to work with someone
else who can write the findings down while you carry
on the process.) Next, review the list and adjust it
so each sub-goal is a realistic stretch. Now you
have a series of goals formed from your mission and
it is time to move forward as soon as possible. (It
is important to keep in mind the greater mission and
return to it if you get stuck). Last, do your best to
find ways to enjoy the process of reaching each goal
along the way and you will stay inspired! If you
share the adventure with others you may inspire them
to enjoy moving forward on their goals too!
Martin Brossman is a
Speaker & Life/Business Coach with
CoachingSupport.com in Raleigh. In addition to
Coaching he offers training courses including a
course in networking and a certification program in
KI Coaching, based on the principles of Aikido .
(919) 847-4747
Martin@CoachingSupport.com |
