Okay we’ve made it to this point in the whole journey and we haven’t even really touched on goal setting. So, in that case let’s get down to it. I love goals, and those people that say that goals aren’t important are some of the loathsome individuals that exist. It’s like “wow you haven’t even taken five minutes to figure out what you want to achieve in life, no wonder you feel directionless”.

And now you may already know instinctively that setting goals is an important thing or you might have heard something similar from some other source. However, I’ll still try to boil the reason down to something easily understandable. Think of it like this, most people don’t set goals for themselves, and so they go through life in a haze, aimlessly going from direction to direction; barely able to see an arm’s length in front.

Crazy as it sounds, the majority of human beings live like this; sure they can tie their shoes, wash themselves, hold a job, pay bills and maybe even get a college degree; but when it comes to life fulfilment, there is simply nothing there. That’s because they are never looking forward more than one step ahead and they tend to favour the well trodden path. As a experiment, lets boil down the lifetime of an average person from the western world:

-Born.

-Grows up and attends primary school .

-Attends high school .

-Then thinks “well I should probably go to university”, but if you asked them why they wanted to do that, they would say “Argh, I don’t know, everybody else is doing it”.

-After University they think, “Time to get a job”.

-Then time to find a partner.

-Once they stick to a single partner for a couple years they go and get married.

-Then kids come along, which means probably going to need to stop renting and move out of the studio apartment .

-So, the now family takes out a mortgage and builds lovingly little place in the suburbs .

-Both parents work jobs, they pay bills.

-They eventually retire, maybe go on a vacation or two.

-The man usually dies first, then followed by the widowed wife.

Now look, I’m not saying that is the wrong way to live your life. What I’m saying is, you have to have a reason WHY you should do those things, and that’s where goals come in.

So, striving is the only way to build a sense of fulfilment in what you do in life, but specifically striving for something we believe in; and goals are the perfectmechanism to capture that kind of striving. I mentioned earlier how most people go through life in a haze, well goals are kind of like lighthouses. They are a beacon to guide you forward; now you might not always reach the light itself but you will get closer.

It is worth remembering that your goals can change over time, and they should; but people became frightened at that thought. They start thinking “If I have to change my goals, does that mean the effort I’ve put into my existing goals is pointless?” the answer is no it is not pointless, the sheer fact that you are working towards a goal means you are developing your character and skillset, both positive things. They may also say “It takes so much energy to come up with goals, it’s too hard.” The reality is it isn’t, but if you are having trouble I have a strategy for you below.

We’re at the point where you want to learn to construct your own goals, well guess what. I lied when I said I have a strategy for you. Yep, that’s because I’ve got two strategies for you today, wow aren’t you so lucky.

So this first one helps you to make a set of basic goals if you literally have none:

Step 1. Write a list of about 5 to 6 things you love to do onto a piece of paper, they can be activities or hobbies you get a lot of enjoyment out of doing.

Step 2. Next, for each activity or hobby, you want to think about and write down two ways that you could serve your community doing that activity.

Step 3. Once you’ve done that, you will be ready for the next activity below

Okay, this activity is about giving you a WHY behind the goal and what next action to take:

Step 1. On a piece of paper, write 3 columns (Goal, Why, Next Action)

Step 2. Under the Goal column, write your goal (if you did the exercise above, it would be the way you could serve your community with one of your hobbies or activities).

Step 3. In the Why column, write down a reason why achieving that goal would be meaningful to you or others.

Step 4. Beneath the Next Action column, write what would be the very first thing you could do right now to progress that goal, and when I mean right now, I mean right NOW. By the way, the action doesn’t have to be big, it can be a small step forward.

Don’t worry, over time we will cover more unique aspects about goals, but this should be a good start.

If you have a question you want answered, comment it or message me directly.