Build Your Life One Goal at a Time

Click below to listen to the podcast free!

Summary

Your goal is not your big why. Your big why is the result of hitting your goal. Many people struggle to understand the marriage of goals and big why's.

If you have ever been exposed to the concept that we all need a big reason for doing what we do every day you can understand this.  Your why is a big motivator and can keep you excited about long-term missions.  It can be your family or maybe it’s a foundation you believe in.  It can be a short-term objective of that 3-week vacation you have been dreaming of taking.  You're big why’s can and will change as life changes.

 You may have attended many classes that would talk about the big why and maybe you could never come up with just one. Did you wonder if you did not have enough meaning in your life, or anything that you really cared deeply about?  Absolutely nothing that you would have considered the big "Kahuna" that would make you walk on hot coals.  That's because you need more than one big why.  You need big why's in different parts of your life.  You see one big why may not necessarily correlate with all areas of your life. It may not even be relevant in many areas.  So set numerous big why’s such as in your personal life, marriage or your family. Use it in your business. Remember your why is the result of hitting goals not the goal itself. By having a few big why’s you can set goals and directives that get you excited and move the needle forward, so you can enjoy your big why when you achieve your goals.

Full Transcript

I have spent the last couple of weeks digging into the psychology behind goals and what can set us up for failure and what goals tend to never get achieved.  The piece that I want to talk about this week answers the question of “where should I be setting goals in my life and how are they best defined and planned for to achieve maximum results?”.

This can be in direct correlation with what often gets referred to as our big why.  I know you are going to push back here and say, “oh no Leigh…this has nothing to do with the big why”.  I beg to differ though.  If you have been with me for a while you have heard me talk about your big why and how elusive it can be to many people…me included in a huge way.  I will jump in here and digress while I tell you a quick story that you may be able to relate to.  If you have ever been exposed to the concept that we all need a big reason for doing what we do every day you will understand this.  It is our big motivator and keeps us excited about our long-term missions.  It can be our family or maybe it’s a foundation you believe in.  It can be a short-term objective of that 3-week vacation you have been dreaming of.  The why can change as life changes…but here is where I was getting stuck.  I attended many classes that would talk about my big why and I could never come up with one and really began to wonder if I did not have enough meaning in my life, or anything that I cared deeply about.  Was I just going through the paces of survival every day? Of course, I love my family and have direction, but nothing that I would have considered the big Kahuna that I would walk on hot coals for to get to the other side.  This went on for years…and then one day the light bulb went on.  I needed more than one big why.  I needed big whys in different parts of my life, and this had never been presented.  Once I thought this through, I developed great clarity.   You see, when I had to come up with one big why, it did not necessarily correlate with all the areas of my life…in other words it wasn’t even relevant in many areas and therefore I could not see a way to succeed.  When I set numerous big why’s and let’s be clear there are not a ton.  Just a few.  For example, my big why in my personal life, and that may be my marriage and then my family or my big why with my business. By having a few big why’s I am able to set goals and directives that get me excited and move the needle forward.  

I challenge you to stop this video or audio or quit reading right now and sit back for a minute and close your eyes.  Think about the things that are important to you.  What immediately comes to mind?  Those are very likely part of your big whys.  You may find yourself smiling as you think of this…don’t stop yet, or cheat by opening your eyes.  Let your mind go where it will.  You may find yourself feeling a bit of emotion about things that are emerging.  Maybe it is even feelings of disappointment because journeys or relationships didn’t turn out the way you envisioned.  That’s ok…let yourself recognize those big rocks in your world.  They are what make up the best of you and who you want to be and who you want to influence.

So, you can see how this can come back full circle…since this week was supposed to be on goals it would be good if I would get to it.    Ahhh…but I am.   When I have my big rocks defined and they push me to higher levels of success I need a path to get there.

What I want to focus on this week is 3 types of goals.  Now that we know the difference between process and goals and outcome goals…if you are fuzzy here, go back and review last week's episode and you will be up to speed.  But just a quick reminder without the process goals the likelihood of success with the outcome goal is greatly reduced.

Ok, let’s get to it!

The first type of goal we have all heard of…short term goals.  But let’s define it so that as you are setting your goals you know what it is.  It is crucial that we are very clear on what is short term, and where does it start becoming long term.  So honestly some of your short-term goals may end up being considered process goals for something larger.

Your short-term goals are something that you can very clearly see and feel the result of. They are going to happen in the immediate future.  Again, think of these as smaller steps to the ultimate goal.  Don’t get trapped in the cycle of setting to do’s as short-term goals. Remember all goals potentially lead to a greater life.  Some examples of short-term goals might be to lose 2 lbs. a week for the next month, or to save 10% of your net pay over the next 6 pay periods on the way to saving money for that new car, or that vacation.  Maybe reading a book a month is a short-term goal that would help you reach a larger goal of opening a new business, but you know that you need education on leadership as you staff your dream.

The second type of goal that we are going to talk about is long term.  Now this may seem very obvious, but you might be surprised how many people throw short term and long-term goals all into the same bucket and don’t recognize that each has to be planned for differently.  Your long-term goals can easily be pushed aside if they are not constantly on your radar as they are far enough in the future that you don’t feel the immediate consequence of not achieving them.  However, the long-term results of not reaching these goals can have much larger negative affects on you if they are truly important to you.  These are the goals that you have set to give you a bigger life or bring you happiness and joy.  Not achieving these should not be an option as they may be life changing and you owe it to yourself to find success here.   To find success long-term goals must have steps that are consistently being taken to get you closer with each action.  This requires planning and being truly aware of the importance of giving this goal your full attention in small bites.  Some examples of a long-term goal might include starting a new business or getting that master’s degree you have always wanted.  Maybe you have always dreamt of  moving to another country.  One that we hear a lot but tends to not be planned for as well as it should be often is investing for retirement.  You can see how all of these could literally be life changing but will require some longer time attention and diligent work.

The final type of goal that we are going to dive into today are lifetime goals.  These go back to those big why’s that we talked about at the beginning.  These goals are your passions, they literally may bring tears to your eyes when you visualize what it’s going to be like when you achieve them.  Sometimes these can get lost when we are in day to day survival. It is important to reconnect to these as they give us that joy and excitement and when we are going through challenging times then can revitalize us and give us that hope that we all need.  One thing about lifetime goals is that we don’t tend to get as frustrated with these when we don’t reach them quickly, as we do with other goals.  Psychologically we seem to know that these are an ongoing project that will likely take us through a good portion of our lives.  Oftentimes these are goals that get larger the longer we live.  Some examples are Travel to every country by the time you retire or run a marathon every year until you are 85 years old.  Maybe it has always been a dream to start a foundation to help underprivileged children participate in music or sports.  The list is endless because it is yours to make and yours to breath life into.  But like long-term goals it will require constant attention to make sure that small pieces are being undertaken to move the needle just a little bit each week or month. 

Regardless of whether you are setting short-term or long-term goals or even defining your lifetime goals, share these aspirations with others.  By bringing people into your vision it creates a reality that you will feel accountable to.  People will ask you how you are doing on achieving the goal.  We all need people to share in our joys and our dreams and to be there to pick us up and cheer us on when the road gets bumpy.

I hope that you have found this helpful.  If you would do me a favor and share this with 5 of your people that you think would find value in this, we would sure appreciate it.  We want to spread support as far as we can, but we need your help to do it.

If you enjoyed this and would like to go deeper into the things that will take you to levels of the highest achievers I encourage you to go to focusforwardbusinessdesign.com and click on coaching to sign up for your free 60 minute 1:1 session with me.  It is my way of giving back to my community who supports me and who recognizes this has been a tough go the past 12 months and a little refocus might be a great thing.

Have a wonderful day and remember, it is your choice to Focus Forward.