Goal setting is kind of a new thing for me, one I haven't given enough attention to in the past five years. I've always had goals and worked towards them, but I never committed them to paper. The goals I had were just simply part of the life plan- graduate high school, graduate junior college, get accepted to a University, graduate with a Bachelor's degree, get a job in my field, advance in my job.
I have always known the importance of having a goal and having something to work towards, but after graduating college I really didn't continue with regular long and short-term goal setting.
This past year, my employer has been focused on individual career development plans. It is an employee driven process that moves from annual evaluations to a career plan developed by each employee. This forced me to think about short term, mid-range, and long-range goals for myself.
This process prompted me to get a little more focused on not only my professional goals, but my personal goals too. What was the vision I had for myself in 5, 10, 15 years?
It was an intense process to begin with, but once I got some things jotted down on paper it started to get a little easier. I began by searching the web for some personal goal documents. Below is the format I used to make me analyze if the opportunities I was seeking lined up with my personal values.
Sources of Personal Fulfullment:
What is important to me in my life?
What do I really enjoy doing?
What brings me happiness?
What brings me a sense of accomplishment or mastery?
What are the things that I am most proud of having achieved?
What are the issues or causes that I care deeply about?
What could I see myself doing for the rest of my life?
Sources of Irritation and Blocking:
What am I tolerating?
What am I constantly procrastinating about?
What really drives me nuts?
How is life out of balance?
What keeps happening to me that I would rather avoid?
What are the recurring patterns in life that I need to change?
What bothers me most about other people and why?
Personal Strengths and Potential:
What are the things I can do at the good-to-excellent level?
What are the things that I am willing to learn to do at a good-to-excellent level?
Where is my depth of experience?
What are my strongest interests and passions?
What value do I bring to a relationship that tends to be unique?
Who do I know that I can team with to provide excellence in service to others?
What can I commit to and reliably maintain that commitment?
Personal Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities:
What would I like to stop doing or do as little as possible?
What are my blind spots- what mistakes do I seem to keep making over and over?
How do I sabotage my future possibilities?
How is the way I treat others keeping me from developing enduring and mutually productive relationships?
What don’t I seem to be able to understand about my life and its present course?
Personal Goals and Dreams:
What kind of a person would I like to become in three or four years?
How about in ten or fifteen years?
When I dream about who I might become, who is that?
What would I like to be known for?
What would I like to be remembered for?
What do I dream about contributing to the lives of others?
What successes are important for me?
Going through this exercise helped me determine my personal vision . . . pursuing purpose.
I want to be sure that throughout life I'm investing in activities and making choices that will have a positive and lasting impact.
What I discovered through this process is that I was doing a lot of things because other people wanted me to do them, but they weren't things I was passionate about. I have a passion about helping people discover their unique abilities and to feel a sense of value as a person. I have a passion for young girls and teens. I want them to have the self-confidence to stand strong in the midst of peer pressure. I desire to help them understand that the choices they make in life now will have an impact on their future. I want to share my faith with others, to help them understand there is so much more to life than obtaining wealth through possessions.
By determining the items that mattered to me, I am now focused on pursuing purpose. I'm getting more involved in our local Boys & Girls Club Teen Center to help facilitate a bi-weekly mentoring program with the teen girls. It is not an activity I am pursuing alone, members of my peer group are also participating.
Now that I've discovered the activities that I enjoy most, bring me the most fulfillment and determined my personal vision, setting goals isn't such a daunting task.
I encourage you to go through the self-assessment process. It will give you so much more clarity about where your time is going and if the activities in which you are currently engaged truly matter to you.
Once you've determined your vision, you'll probably also find it much easier to say "no" to opportunities that don't support it.
I challenge you to make a commitment to determine your personal vision and mission in January and resolve to pursue activities that support it throughout the coming year.
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