Written by: Dan Lawson, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Goal setting must be one of the most talked about topics in any area of life (second to Crypto these days of course). Are they overrated or still understated? This will be determined by your internal beliefs in connection with previous successes you’ve had with achieving goals which you have set.
I invite you to take a moment to notice what is coming up for you with the mention of goal setting right now ‒ personal triggers, assumptions, beliefs, challenges, areas for improvements? Everyone has something. And if you’re anything like I’ve been for the majority of my life, chances are your reaction isn’t the most functional in creating your ideal outcomes with intention.
Strong goal setting is one of the traits that all successful people do, yet most people don't. Many are not even taught how to set goals, or just simply skip over doing what is required. But this is not another article to convince once more how great goals are. Rather, this article is to give you the steps that no one taught you that count the most in order to give you the greatest success with achieving your goal!
What a great goal setting strategy isn’t ‒ Deciding on something, then writing it down. Maybe even applying SMART? Then going away and continuing on with your life… This is what most people do, and the vast majority are not achieving their goals. And why is this?
Because this is jumping straight to ‘implementation’. As with anything we would like to achieve success with, we must consider the (Mental) Environment or the Thinking, and the Structure or what we need to pay attention to along the way.
Create the Environment ‒ the thinking or approach to get the intended outcome. If you can't tell me why the intended outcome is important to you specifically and it be in alignment to your values in who it is that you are becoming ‒ I know you will never take care of it. Verses, having taken a serious look at an element of your life you are seriously taking responsibility for and that you’re now emotionally connected with. Referring back to the Wheel of Adventurepreneurship in my previous Brainz Article, this is a great way to gain this clarity.
Consider 3-5 things that you have been doing really well in this segment of your life already. This helps to know that even though it’s not the way that you want it, you’re still getting some good results. Draw your attention to these behaviours and continue them!
Now consider 3-5 things you aren’t doing so well in this area, some things that you need to do more of, less of, stop tolerating, or make a change within. Notice the themes that appear and that begin to paint a clearer picture of what you are working with here. This will help to shape your goal when it comes to writing it.
Structure ‒ What do we need to be attending to ensure that we are successful in fulfilling what we connected with in the Environment section.
Similar to my vision or ideal future, when I personally consider a change required in my life, I ask myself ‘who is it that I need to become in order to have achieved this’? Because, being totally honest with myself, if I was already that person I needed to be, I would have already got that outcome.
Therefore, it will require an intentional development of a core attribute that was likely lacking or not being demonstrated previously. Depending on the nature of change desired, it will likely be a masculine-driven attribute; ie ‒ Grit, Determination, Drive, Resilience etc. Or if you’re already overly high on these, it might be a Feminine driven attribute; ie ‒ Self Care, Nurture, Compassion, Creativity, Forgiveness, or Rest etc.
Connect with what it is that you will require for your journey in making this change in your life and achieving your goal. By challenging yourself in really turning up this attribute that doesn’t come naturally, you’ve developed your character independent of the goal outcome too!
Within structure it is probably worth mentioning the S.M.A.R.T criteria. It is proven to be the most common goal setting instruction which does provide a lot of value. To recap, when writing your goal keep in mind to make it Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely.
Implementation ‒ and now we have got to the point of actually writing the goal. This is where most people start, and dare I suggest ‒ possibly already failed, when it comes to setting goals because they haven't taken care of all that comes before this point as we have now done. I trust that you can now appreciate that by the additions we have added into the approach, the goal you choose to write will not only look quite different, but also the outcome has so much more meaning to it also.
There are two additional steps that will enrich this exercise even more. Again both are very rarely spoken about but are crucial to apply if you really are serious about your outcome. They include Sensory Acuity and Internal Representation System, along with a systematic actionable strategy to get underway with moving towards achieving the goal. They are both included in the free resources provided below.
Grab the full Transformational Growth Workbook and pre-learning modules here for free and accelerate your future ideals starting today!
This is the third of a series of articles that each represent a module from my program ‘Reconnect. It is designed to provide the thinking and structure required to create your ideal lifestyle with volition. Stay posted for future articles for more free valuable resources!
Dan Lawson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dan Lawson is a professional in the lifestyle creation space leveraging proven ideologies and approaches to emotionally connect with and create a life that we can fall in love with. As Dan himself is an Entrepreneur, Coach, Business Owner, Author, and Facilitator just to name a few of his professional angles of expertise, he prefers to go by his self-proclaimed title of ‘Adventurepreneur’ which encompasses all of who he can be for those who he serves. Dan is an advocate for proven strategies with clear competencies and metrics for success which he demonstrates himself through tangible guarantees on all his services ‒ which is rarely seen in personal development!
