Goal Setting & Getting Clear on What You Want!

I'm not a newbie when it comes to the concept of goal setting. I was brought up in a family with strong beliefs and along with that come the idea of bettering yourself as a human being, setting little goals and achieving them.

But even with knowing the basic process of setting and achieving goals I have been learning a lot recently about how to set goals, and getting crystal clear about what I want in life. I have to say that up until now I have been a bit all over the place with my goals, and although I had a vague idea what I wanted, it wasn't until I sat down to write these out in detail that I realised I was very unclear and didn't really know what I wanted!

I found when it came to answering the question 'What do I want to have?' It was easy to name 'things' I'd like to buy or have. 'Where do I want to go?' was just as easy for there are so many places around the world I'd like to see. But the question that stumped me the most, and which really suprised me was 'What do I want to BE?'

I don't know why it was so hard to answer for me, but all I could come up with were about 2 or 3 answers. I realised this was a blockage for me and I needed to shift what seemed like a huge wall! I decided to do a little exercise to help me. I took a piece of paper and drew a line right down the middle. On the left hand side I started writing things that I know I am right now - things I do, things I don't like about myself, things I do like about myself, my attitude and emotions, something about me I already know I want to change. I think you get the idea! And on the right hand side of the page I wrote the opposite of what was on the left, or wrote what I want to change. For example: I wrote my current weight on the left, and on the right I wrote my goal weight. On the left I wrote that I'm always running late, and on the right I wrote that my goal is to be always prompt and on time.

So I now have a long list of 'What I want to Be' which is just the beginning of setting and achieving my goals and becoming the person I really want to be.

I found sitting down and truly examining myself and what I want a little confronting, but also very enlightening and inspiring. We are all on a journey and there is always something to learn, some way to grow, a way to be a better version of ourselves. I think doing this exercise for me was like reading the road sign on that journey & working out which way I want to go next!

I'm going to share this very valuable exercise here. Why not try it out yourself!

This exercise involves writing down a list of 50 things I want in the next 1 to 10 years. Break these down into groups of: 1/What do I want to DO? 2/What do I want to BE? 3/What to I want to HAVE? 4/Where do I want to GO? 5/What do I want to SHARE?
Next step is to decide how long each of these goals would take you to achieve - 1year / 3 years / 5 years / 10 years. Then check my goals are balanced over the 1-10 years - don't have them all to be 1 year goals with no long term goals.

Choose 4 goals from each time category & write a detailed description & a paragraph on WHY you want this goal.

If it's a big goal - create sub-goals or steps along the way to help you achieve it.

Read over your top 16 goals EVERY DAY! This helps you to focus on where you are going.




Do you like the idea of setting goals and working towards achieving what you really want in life? Exercises like this are just the tip of the iceberg of our Personal Development curriculum. If you would like to know more please contact me.

To your success!

Susan