How to set goals - three questions to ask yourself
Oct 31, 2022
Do you ever wonder where to begin with setting goals? We hear so much about goals and SMART goals that sometimes I think we can lose the essence behind what makes a great goal.
There is so much possibility out there it can be hard to know where to start so I have simplified this down into three areas.
I recommend asking yourself these three questions as a starting point.
What should you ask yourself when setting goals?
1. What do you want to experience in life?
Do you want to fall in love, travel the world, raise children, leave a legacy, or start a business? What do you want to experience in life? Perhaps it is owning your own home, driving a particular car, exploring your passions. What experiences do you want to have in your life? What experiences will give you happiness?
2. How do you want to develop and grow?
It is proven that learning contributes to our happiness and our fulfilment. Learning new skills, challenging ourselves, and showing ourselves what we are capable of has a huge impact on our mental well-being and on our confidence.
What things in life are you curious about? How do you want to develop as an individual? It could be learning a language, a new skill, it could be re-training. Whatever it is, when we are learning our brains thrive.
3. How do you want to connect and contribute?
It is also proven that connection to others and contributing to society, plays a part in our own fulfilment levels and our quest to live with more meaning in our lives.
When you give to others, your levels of happiness go up. When we feel connected to others, we have increased self-esteem and we feel more fulfilled. Those who volunteer or work in roles that support people have increased happiness and enhanced well-being.
How do you want to connect to others and what do you want to contribute to?
Your answers might lie in supporting your community, through charity or volunteer work, connecting with people who have similar interests to you or share similar values.
What next?
When you next decide to think about and set yourself some goals, consider the three above areas and questions to help you.
Once set, ask yourself:
On a scale of 1-10, how much does this goal challenge me?
And:
On a scale of 1-10 how much does this goal excite me?
If you score less than an eight for either of these questions I would encourage you to revisit your goals. What could you change so you are challenged more? Does the time scale need to be tighter? Are you playing it safe and do you need to dream bigger? Good goals should scare you a little, they should feel like a challenge. And more than anything, your goals should excite you.
Good luck with setting exciting and challenging goals that really inspire you. If this has got your thinking and you would like a goal setting session please book a call with me here to find out more.
