Looking at Your F in Goals

I’ve been meaning to write a post about long-term personal / career goals for a while.

The reason it’s not materialised until now is that I wanted to wait until I’d finished doing an experiment on myself. Not as gruesome as it sounds, I promise 😉.

For a period of time I temporarily fell out of love with long-term goals.

Yes, it freaked me out… because it’s not my preference.

Yes, I struggled with it… because it’s alien to me.

Yes, I’m glad it happened… because it gave me a more rounded view.

But why does it matter?

Firstly, I must clarify, I have always believed having something to aim for, that you have committed to, is a good idea.

So why had started to question the true motivational nature of long-term goals?

Was I just jaded? Or was there something in it?

It’s true that the gung-ho talk which had become associated with goal setting and results orientation was leaving me numb. (And still does by the way.)

Plus I was beginning to find all the BHAG (big hairy-assed goals); success at all costs; earning your failure spurs stuff empty and boring.

As someone who has always been results orientated, and proud of it, digging deeper was the answer.

Your F in goals

Looking to my own experiences and those whom I’ve worked with, what seems to make the difference to the success and power of personal / career long-term goal setting is NOT simply down to how smart they are… or how challenging… or how hairy 😄.

There’s more to it.

Flexibility

If setting longer-term goals for yourself is a good idea then being flexible about them is better.

Why?

Well, you change; the world changes; life happens.

Adapting your goals isn’t cheating. It’s keeping them relevant to you and your life.

Measuring what matters is the key to adding power to your goal setting.

Forget failure

Random results. Off-beat outcomes.

In reality, life and your career is much more messy than some neatly crafted and defined goals.

So seeing results and outcomes as part of the experiment that is life recognises learning as an achievement.

Something that helps you to use your goals and outcomes as motivation.

Freshness

It might take you several years to achieve a particular longer-term personal / career goal.

That isn’t unusual.

Keeping the freshness alive in your goals, especially long-term ones, helps you to maintain momentum.

Because you are factoring in changes and progress.

Because you are keeping them relevant and fresh.

So if your longer-term goals are leaving you cold, take time to look at them from a different perspective.

And if you need help re-freshing, re-inventing or re-energising yours, come and join us at the Re-energising Your Career Hub. I’ll be happy to help you look at your F in goals 😊.

Header image by Alexandra Koch on Pixbay