Dare to dream! If you did not have the capability to make your wildest wishes come true, your mind would not have the capacity to conjure such ideas in the first place. There is no limitation on what you can potentially achieve, except for the limitation you choose to impose on your own imagination. What you believe to be possible will always come to pass – to the extent that you deem it possible. It really is as simple as that.
~ Anthon St. Maarten ~
Soon the holidays will be over and our thoughts will turn toward setting goals for the upcoming year. You may fall into one of the following groups, depending on how you feel about goal setting:
- You may look forward to it with eagerness, excited to start the next chapter
- You may look forward to it with trepidation, believing that things will probably only get worse
- You may approach it in a state of ho-hum apathy and boredom, figuring that it will just be the same old stuff, different year. So why bother?
If you fall into the first group, hooray for you! You probably treat goal setting as a major component of designing and building a successful life. If that’s the case, you can stop reading this blog and continue hop-skip-and-jumping merrily along into next year. Unless, that is, you want to take setting goals to an even higher level.
If you fall into one of the other two groups, you may have forgotten how make goal setting fun and exciting. You may be treating goal setting as a chore to be avoided at all cost, especially if you create what I call “should” goals. For example, put the word “should” in front of these Top 10 2015 New Year’s Resolutions from the Statistics Brain Research Institute:
- Lose Weight
- Get Organized
- Spend less, Save More
- Enjoy Life to the Fullest
- Stay Fit and Healthy
- Learn Something Exciting
- Quit Smoking
- Help Others in Their Dreams
- Fall in Love
- Spend More Time with Family
Don’t get me wrong. These are great goals. But they each contain a “yawn” factor, don’t they? We know we “should” do them, just like we knew back when we were teenagers that we “should” clean our rooms. But we didn’t. We might have thought it was a good idea, but there wasn’t much of a “sexy” factor compelling us to do it.
Okay sure – punishment might work once or twice – like if your folks took away the car keys until you cleaned your room. But even that loses its edge after a while. You find a workaround. Or more accurately, an “avoid-around.”
It works the same way with “should” New Year’s Resolutions. Just because you “should” doesn’t mean you “will.” If you don’t have a big, juicy reason to follow through, you won’t.
So How Do You “Nail” Sexy Goals that Matter?
You start by taking the “should” out of goal setting. You make setting them fun and exciting and playful and light-hearted. For example, my personal weight/health vision is to “be fit, flexible, fabulous and flirty.” That vision reflects a lifestyle that makes me ask different questions:
- What would be my perfect weight for that lifestyle?
- What would need to change about my eating habits?
- What kind of exercise program would keep me fit and flexible enough so I feel fabulous and flirty?
The answers give me the goals. The vision helps me get back on track when I fall off the wagon.
How You Can Get Started
The Top 10 resolutions above reflect the major areas of life that people are concerned about – health, finances, relationships, and personal growth and well-being. Start with one area that matters to you and playfully ponder the following questions:
- What do I dream about?
- What am I curious about?
- What moves and inspires me?
Let’s say finances is the area that matters to you. Give yourself permission to dream about what it would feel like to have your finances exactly like you want them.
One year, my financial vision was to “savor wild abundance.” Doesn’t that raise delicious, sexy questions?
- How much money represents wild abundance to me?
- What would I need to change about my financial habits?
- What do I need to learn that I don’t know now?
- Who can I learn from who already has what I want?
- Are there other areas of my life where I can savor wild abundance?
The answers become the basis for creating your goals. Actions you can take to accomplish your goals arise naturally and effortlessly.
Goal setting becomes a game to play rather than a chore. Games are fun. You don’t worry about winning or losing, you just play.
Put your beautiful designer brain to work. Forget about resolutions and give yourself permission to make games of your dreams. It won’t be long before goal setting becomes something you look forward to – like a little kid looks forward to Christmas!
Want to learn more great strategies for joyful goal setting? Join me on Thursday, January 14th at 6:00 p.m. PST for my complimentary Introducing January Jumpstart: Nailing Goals that Matter teleclass. After you register, I’ll email you a powerful “success-ercise” you can use to get started designing goals that matter. Register today!