Ain't No Mountain High Enough: Setting Personal Goals

We’re a little over a month into the year and whether you’re optimistic, pessimistic, or indifferent because you believe time is on a continuum and the calendar is a man made invention - the new year is an opportunity to accomplish new goals. Now is a better time than ever to set your goals for the year because, well, Beyoncé told us "a winner don't quit on themselves." In one form or another, I have been writing down my career goals for over 10 years. Given the effectiveness of this practice, I felt that it would be a good idea to begin documenting my personal goals. But first, I had to shift my thinking from a goal-based mindset to a value-based mindset. This shift in thinking spurned me to begin thinking about what are the core values that motivate my goals. I wanted to share five guidelines that I found helpful.

Write Them Down:

When I previously thought about defining my values and setting my goals, I thought that spending the time thinking about them by memorizing them would suffice. But I found that there is power in formally writing them down in declaration to the universe that the things I've jotted down are what I intend to live by and accomplish. Whether you execute this on paper or digitally, it’s still a very impactful exercise. I, personally, take it a step further and have them detailed in a spreadsheet and written on my dry erase wall so they are visible to me daily.

Define Your Values:

In the process of trying to achieve the best version of ourselves, human beings have been defining their values for some time. In fact, Thomas Edison was known to keep his values printed on an index card so he could evaluate himself daily to determine if he was living out his values. So what are values? By definition, values are, “a person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life.” In making the shift from a goal-based mindset to a value-based mindset, I first needed to reflect and consider what values are important to me. I developed six values that are frameworks by which I live by: Connecting, Learning, Challenging, Exercising, Reflecting, and Appreciating. Underneath each of these values I have associated specific behaviors or actions that clearly define what these values represent to me. 

Set Your Goals:

In reference to goals, Nelson Mandela, once said, “after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” A lot of us believe that goals are a point of arrival on a long journey. We achieve that hilltop moment and either become discouraged by the thought of next hill or rest on the laurels of the accomplishment. A goal-based mindset can engender complacency because you've prepared yourself to reach the pinnacle and rest. However, a value-based mindset, that is directly aligned with your goals view goals as checkpoints along the never-ending journey upwards. So it's important to set goals that are directly tied to the overall values that you've defined for yourself. 

For example, if one’s goal is to get married. Then once that person gets married, they may lose the desire to maintain the passion of their relationship since the goal has been already accomplished. However, if your value is to Connect with someone in a meaningful way, then getting married is simply a goal you’ve accomplished on the never-ending journey of formulating meaningful Connection with your partner.

Quantify Your Goals:

Once your goals are set, take things a step further and quantify them. Quantifying your goals sets a target for how many times you want to take an action. Adding a numerical metric to your goal sets a clear target for how many times you intend to accomplish that goal in a given day, month, quarter, and year. This will also allow you to take larger goals and break them down to smaller, more digestible, targets. Finally, quantifying your goals begins to holds you accountable to a frequency metric that you’ve set for yourself.

Hold Yourself Accountable:

We’ve all heard the saying that, “goals without a plan is just a wish.” So in order to not have my goals just turn into a glorified wishlist, I hold myself accountable by setting a recurring reminder in my calendar to evaluate myself on how I am progressing on each of my goals every quarter. This three-month reminder to revisit my goals allows me to hold myself accountable for the goals that I set for myself. This check-in allows me to update any metrics based on what is going on in my life and determine what I need to focus on in the months ahead. 

What I love about value-based mindset is that I'll continually be living out my values as I strive towards fulfilling my goals. As I accomplish my goals year after year, it ultimately benefits my emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical well-being. These rich gifts to myself will continually develop me into a better human being and a more effective contributor to my community.

In short, values are the highway and goals are the checkpoints or tolls along the way. When you have a value-based mindset you never truly reach the “hilltop,” but when your values and goals are aligned you continually are propelled to climb to soar to higher hilltops!

I’d encourage you to take the time to determine your values and write down your goals for 2017 before the month is over.