It is common knowledge that having a crystal clear objective is the foundation to achieving ones purpose. The problem for most people is that they don't really know what they want. Or their idea of what they want is vague and poorly defined. Sometimes we have too many "wants" and our goals are in conflict with each other. Other times we choose objectives that are not in balance with our family, beliefs, or spirituality. A man who wants to "spend more time with his family" yet has a goal to sail around the world has competing goals, unless of course the family goes along!
In tonight's presentation I would like to talk a bit about Goal selection. We all have dreams, desires and ambitions. From early on we think about things that might "make us happy". We dream of having a pony or a bike or tickets to see Hanna Montana. For those less fortunate maybe we dream about more simple things, a roof over our head, a jacket for winter, food for our brothers and sisters. In the book, and subsequent movie "The Pursuit of Happiness" the true story tells of a man who is desperate to take care of his young son. He also wants to show his young son how to live, to dream big dreams and to "not let anyone take them away". The key point here is that the hero of this true life Horatio Alger story focused on one clear goal, to get out of poverty and to make a life for he and his son.
Choosing a big goal, an important goal and a goal that has depth and meaning in ones life is an important act that prioritizes all of your energies, actions and initiatives. Choosing an important personal goal transcends everything else for you. You may have other goals too: a car, a house, pay your bills, take a vacation, save $100,000, or retire by 55, but your primary goal ill be bigger than any of those. Once you determine your primary goal everything else falls into place.
Many times I work with business executives or owners who have started a business and reached some level of success yet don't have an "exit strategy". They don't know where to go "from here"......Their goal was to build the business, but along they way they lost their way because their goal was limited.
In developing your primary goal or goals make them something that transcends your smaller objectives. Have your primary goal intersect your values, your spirituality and the meaning of your life.
SMART goal setting is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Reasonable and Timeline (having a timetable). Unless your personal goals are guided by these strategic markers your goals may be too vague. Using the SMART steps you create an action oriented goal with a specific outcome by someone with responsibility for completion on a set timetable by a specific person. Use SMART planning and goal setting and remember that you must frequently update, change and modify your goals and planning to reflect the continual sea change in your environment.
In tonight's presentation I would like to talk a bit about Goal selection. We all have dreams, desires and ambitions. From early on we think about things that might "make us happy". We dream of having a pony or a bike or tickets to see Hanna Montana. For those less fortunate maybe we dream about more simple things, a roof over our head, a jacket for winter, food for our brothers and sisters. In the book, and subsequent movie "The Pursuit of Happiness" the true story tells of a man who is desperate to take care of his young son. He also wants to show his young son how to live, to dream big dreams and to "not let anyone take them away". The key point here is that the hero of this true life Horatio Alger story focused on one clear goal, to get out of poverty and to make a life for he and his son.
Choosing a big goal, an important goal and a goal that has depth and meaning in ones life is an important act that prioritizes all of your energies, actions and initiatives. Choosing an important personal goal transcends everything else for you. You may have other goals too: a car, a house, pay your bills, take a vacation, save $100,000, or retire by 55, but your primary goal ill be bigger than any of those. Once you determine your primary goal everything else falls into place.
Many times I work with business executives or owners who have started a business and reached some level of success yet don't have an "exit strategy". They don't know where to go "from here"......Their goal was to build the business, but along they way they lost their way because their goal was limited.
In developing your primary goal or goals make them something that transcends your smaller objectives. Have your primary goal intersect your values, your spirituality and the meaning of your life.
SMART goal setting is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Reasonable and Timeline (having a timetable). Unless your personal goals are guided by these strategic markers your goals may be too vague. Using the SMART steps you create an action oriented goal with a specific outcome by someone with responsibility for completion on a set timetable by a specific person. Use SMART planning and goal setting and remember that you must frequently update, change and modify your goals and planning to reflect the continual sea change in your environment.
2 comments:
As I read the above, French intrudes - "plus que ca change, rien ne change". The more things change, nothing changes as my behavior is the same since high school when I was the one who had studied for tests weeks in advance. Thanks to Russ, I have already completed my 2010 New Year's Resolutions according to SMART principles. For most people, resolutions are intensely private; being me, it’s a sharing experience. Since he also instructs us to choose complimentary goals, I have done so, outlined accordingly:
1) Take a good photo of myself – in natural light.
2) To earn a swag point each time I limit a post in 2010 to less than 500 words.
3) To get wasted on my crack or dance, dance, dance!
4)To use (truthfully) the word "Sexcellent" in a sentence, if I'm lucky, more than once. Such as:
"Hey, how was your weekend"? "It was sexcellent".
"Baby, you look great tonight". "Thanks big guy, I feel sexcellent".
"Hon, you just sunk my ship - that was sexcellent. Let's do it again"!
(Since I've been told by someone in the know that I use words as foreplay, this makes me something of a sexpert enhancing the probability of reaching this goal.)
5) To have hair that moves – useful for hip hop class and for a lover to run his hands through as he takes hold of me passionately in a rough & tumble, ardent kiss. (works with sexcellent)
6) Faithfully catalogue, as a friendly gesture, all of Russ’s online profile iterations for posterity. (could you arrange an email alert every time it changes?)
7) Keep the boys sprung - with help from the urban dictionary with the choice of 39 different, nuanced definitions, I share, besides the most obvious (the male erection) - the most beautiful:
–when you first lay eyes on someone - and even though your logic tells you otherwise you can't help but want to know them and be close to them. When every text or phone call makes you smile. And every song brings a mental picture of them to your head and you wish they were there to listen to it with you. When there is no where in the world you'd rather be but with them. When shivers go down your spine every time you hear them say your name... When it physically hurts you want them so bad. When you can't even put it into words what is going on inside... it just feels crazy and great...
"I'm sprung on you right now and no one else. Not sure what to do with that yet, but it's the truth."
"Shawty we only been talking for a couple of days, but you got a nigga sprung."
As Russ, further proving his usefulness, suggests stating one primary goal, I summed mine up best as "Live Who I Am.” My over-arching desire for this year is to be vibrantly genuine. In an effort to be genuine and true to who we are, we are led generally by our heart. If we remember also with our head to "make haste slowly", the reward of slowing down long enough to make informed choices and thinking mindfully about our actions and reactions is to make the right decisions for ourselves. Allowing our true self to emerge, we might hear and listen to our inner voice long enough to find what we are seeking.
cont'd
I very much desire to emerge as a belated inspiration to my daughters; to show them the power of redemption and of a life lived with enthusiasm, no matter what! Knowing that it will be necessary for our sweet complicity to evolve, I prepare to set them free on their own paths, lonely as my life might be. We all know that what should come back to us – does. It would be deeply gratifying to find my own "love" to show them finally a positive example of a relationship that is empowering and life-affirming. I always dreamed to be a part of that couple, married for 55 years, who had a wall chock full of pictures taken of them hugging during their world travels - sweet complicity is my drug. That I didn't find this still has the power to make me mournfully sad. I can't go back and do it over so that we can be that family who has that hugging wall in our apartment. Maybe what I can teach them now by example will help them find what I missed out on and everything will have been worthwhile.
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