Where will you be in Five Years?
My friend Scott affectionately calls his GPS navigational system “Suzie.” It’s a voice-activated gadget which operates kind of like a genie in a bottle. He tells it where he wants to go, and it tells him exactly how to get there.
If only life were this easy.
In life, it’s hard to choose which road to take when you don’t know where you’re going. How can we expect to get anywhere or make the proper turns if we don’t know where we’d like to be?
A lot of people I consult feel this way. Many are frustrated, bored, burned-out or stuck, and it’s gotten to the point where it now seems “normal.” They know lots of others who feel the same way, a cadre of zombies cast about in the world like so many rudderless ships on an uncharted ocean.
They work very hard, yet gain precious little for their efforts. Around and around it goes.
Recently I was consulting a fellow coach and writer who would like to be more profitable in his business. I asked him what his business looks like in five years. He said, “That’s easy. I want to be writing and coaching.”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing now.” I said. “Of course you feel stuck. You’re already where you say you want to be.”
I challenged him to look more closely at what “writing and coaching” meant to him. Does it mean writing to a specific audience, or becoming the expert in a particular niche? Does it mean networking with other experts in his field? Is it coaching on the phone in his pajamas?
“Well… I want to be more effective,” he said.
Okay, great concept. Decent aspect of a mission statement, but not a tangible goal. Way too abstract.
When asked similar questions, people will say things like, “I want a bigger house; I want a summer place; I want to travel…” Great aspirations, but again, these are not clearly defined goals, and so they have little chance of becoming a reality.
In these cases (and this may be your case too) effective goal setting can begin with a vision for what you intend to feel. When you want to arrive at your goal more than you want to be doing what you’re doing, it causes a lot of stress. Is that really what you want to feel?
To get “un-stuck” make sure your goal is not about having something, which makes the goal static and un-empowering. Instead, set dynamic goals which point to an activity you engage in, and through which you can connect with other people.
For my aforementioned friend this means rather than see himself as a profitable writer and coach, he can see himself inspiring countless people with his work. This enriches and deepens not only his life, but the lives of others. By inspiring and enriching the lives of others, great profit follows. How good does that feel?
You know you’ve set an effective goal when it becomes a powerful daily motivator. Your intentions and actions support what you choose to feel. When what you intend is clear and concise, your goal or vision is already a reality within you at the level of mind and of feeling. Your actions steps become purposeful, and the end result is much more likely to be achieved.