Effective Goals

“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” - James Dean

Goals are an essential part of living. Whether we realize it or not, most of us have some level of goals. For example, anyone who has had a job at some point set a goal (maybe a thought goal vs a written goal). They at the very minimum would have had to think to themselves "okay, I need to make some money to pay the bills required to live independently, so I better get a job." They probably even took it a step further to think "and if I'm going to get a job, what kind of a job do I want? Maybe I want a job in an office instead of one that requires me to work outdoors." Another example of a goal that most people have at some point is to find a significant other to spend their lives with. Maybe once they've found that person, they set a goal to have kids. Or maybe kids were not their goal but fun was, so they ended up with kids anyway (if you know what I mean).

Most of us set some level of goals throughout the course of our lives. What I'd like to talk about now however is a different level of goal setting. If you want to squeeze all the joy you can out of life by taking on purposeful challenges to live life to its fullest, you will want to have more thoughtful, empowering and inspiring goals.

How To Build Powerful Goals
There are several areas of life that most people consider when goal setting. These areas may include family/relationships, career, money, adventure, material things (homes, cars, boats, etc), health and others. I highly recommend categorizing your goals in this manner; it helps ensure you are consciously living all areas of your life in a way that supports your purpose. Regardless of how you organize your goals, what I want to focus on now is how to make sure your goals have teeth!

First, you need to clearly define your goal. For example, you may have an adventure goal stated as such: "I will sail my 30 foot sailboat with my brother John from Boston, MA to Dublin, Ireland before I'm 60 years old." Notice I've put a time frame in to give this goal more weight. I could be more precise if I wanted to and add a number of days that I want to complete the trip in. While defining your goal is an obvious first step, it is of course the most critical step.
Second, you should have some idea of how you are going to complete this goal, though you should not expect to know all of the details, or even most of the details. The important part of the how is to outline at least some of the basic next steps to start moving toward your goal. Using the example above, one of the hows might include the purchase of a 30 foot sailboat (maybe until now, you've only owned a 19 foot day sailer) by age 50. Other hows might include taking a celestial navigation course, taking some shorter overnight trips in advance, reading a book about other captains who have performed similar journeys, etc.
Finally, you need to be very clear as to why you want to achieve this goal. Most people fail to achieve their goals because in the end, they do not have a big enough why-is-this-goal-important. Again, using the example goal above, I want to demonstrate a weak why and a strong why. Weak why: "I think it would be fun". Strong why: "I want to do this for my brother John who I love so dearly and who, since losing his eyesight, has not been able to do what he loves most, captain his sailboat. Sailing across the Atlantic with John would be an incredible experience, and a celebration of the close relationship we've had for all of these years. In addition, it would be a great example to set for my grown children (and their children), who should always remember that strong family and close relationships are the most valuable things in life."
So remember these three steps to setting powerful goals: Define the what/when, how and why. Once you've defined your goals, review them often. I like to review my goals once a month. And if sometimes the winds of circumstance change, I'll adjust my goals and reset my course. Most importantly, remember to enjoy the ride each day. Goals are not the means to happiness, fulfillment and joy. Being present to the wonder of life each day is how you find joy. Goals simply give us purposeful paths to follow so that we can fully experience the joy of living.