Getting Your Goals Right So Happiness Does Not Pass You By

When we think about the future, we often think about goal setting, and most people do it at two times in their life: 

• New year when they feel almost obliged to set a resolution of some sort
• Performance appraisals

The first is rarely successful, New Year Resolutions. Most people do not follow through with their resolutions and the second, sadly, in many organisations is a fairly meaningless tick-box exercise all about the company objectives, and with very little about what you really want. 

For many people, neither of these scenarios brings a particularly bright future to mind.

This is not about goal setting, this is about creating your future as you want it. Only you can decide if it’s going to be a bright one because you always have control over how you act and feel. If you’re not feeling excited about that future, it is time to change your mind and do something different.

I am about to show you how.

Step One: Who and how do you want to BE?

You can think about this in the long term and the short term. 

• In the long term, what is your vision for the best version of you? 
• What qualities will you be displaying? 
• What reputation will you have? 
• What impact will you be having?

This could be at work, publicly, with your family and with your friends or in other contexts of your life.

Intentions such as “I want to be happy” or “I want to be fulfilled” or “I want to do something I feel passionate about” are perfectly good as they serve to guide you and make good decisions for both the long term and in the moment.

In the short term, you can decide every day how you want to be.

Try setting an intention every morning and notice the difference. There are some great tips in this article: I Intend You To Take This Action.

Step two: What do you want to DO?

I guess that in a career blog it would be natural to focus on what you want to do for work, but work is only a part of your life.

I tend to look at it as a blend of different facets (career and business, family, health, finance, contribution, etc) rather than just a work-life balance. Think about things more holistically. 

• What skills do you want to be using at work and in other areas of your life?
• What activities do you want to be doing at work, with your family, as hobbies, to contribute, etc?
• Who do you want to be mixing with; What type of people and in what situations?

Step Three: What do you want to HAVE?

Again, this applies to all areas of your life

• What job do you want to have?
• What car do you want to drive 
• What house do you want to live in?
• What holidays do you want to go on?
• What possessions do you want to own (kitchens, computers, shoes, whatever is important to you?

Getting the order right so happiness does not pass you by

To me it makes much more sense to start with who you want to be, because so many people start with what they want to have in the assumption that it will result in them being how they want to be:

“When I’ve got the great job, then I’ll be happy”

“When I’ve got a big house and an expensive car, then I’ll be really content”

There’s nothing wrong with having these ambitions or having money, but saying to yourself that you’ll only be happy when you’ve got those things is madness.

Why not decide to be happy now and enjoy the journey. 

You can decide who to be happy right here, right now. 

Step Four: Notice all the good things in your life and then create more as you move towards your goal

To help you on your way I have created a free goal setting checklist that will ensure you are forging impactful goals and creating that future you choose and deserve.

Click here to download your checklist today