Not sure what your goals should be? Read this…

Not sure what your goals should be? Read this…

This is a message to those who don’t know what their goals should be.  For those who want to achieve something, but not sure what and therefore they don’t. Does this sound like you? Tune in then! If you want to achieve something but are not sure what it should be for next year, or you keep being stressed because everyone now talks about setting goals for the next year and will start achieving them, but you have done it year after  year and not much has changed. Does this sound like you?

You know what? First of all, sometimes it is ok not to have goals for a period of time and just enjoy the flow of life. That could be your goals if it suits you. I had this situation a few years ago – actually – about 8-9 years ago. I usually need a plan, something aspirational to aim for, to go for it and to achieve. But there was a period in my life when I was not sure anymore what I wanted to achieve next professionally. I had a great role in my corporate job – HR Director and member of leadership board in the biggest and most successful company in the industry, there was really no way to go higher. I had a good life and friends. Everything was sort of ok. But I felt stressed. Totally stressed. As I could not set my goals for the next year. I was not sure what I wanted. It is a stressful situation for someone like me, who likes planning, setting goals, and aiming for something bigger.

It was so stressful that I eventually went to a couple of doctors for help. I went to a GP and said I need some medicine against stress. I’m stressed for not being able to set goals. He looked at me funny and prescribed some nerve calming tea. That did not help. I went to a homeopath – I thought maybe a non-traditional medicine could help. And she said, after having listened to my story – “it’s ok not to have goals for a period of time, it’s meant for enjoying the flow of life. Do not set fake goals just for setting them as you will be more stressed by not achieving them. You do not achieve goals which are not truly yours.”

And you know what – it  is true. It is better not to set goals than to set ones that are not yours. As you  struggle to achieve them and if you do  – you will not be happy at the end. So – I took her prescribed anti-stress medicine and advice to enjoy the flow of life for a moment until the clarity will come to me on what I wanted to achieve.

Yes, it is true – do not set goals that are not truly yours as it is dangerous. Dangerous from the  perspective of – you will be disappointed for not achieving them. If you are not 100% in to achieve them, you will not. And your subconscious mind blocks you from going 100%  into something that you are not passionate about and do not feel like achieving these goals will be a great gain and pleasure for you to achieve or by not achieving, it will be a great pain or loss. This is one of the reasons New Year resolutions don’t work or why you have not achieved the goals you set – they are not truly your goals, that you truly want to achieve , based on your personality, passion, purpose and higher vision of your life. Maybe they are goals that are forced onto you by society, by your spouse, family, friends or by you not knowing yourself really well.

A  couple of things you can do – increase self awareness through the journey of your personal brand development – exploring what are your talents, values, purpose etc and then setting goals in congruence with yourself. A great tool that can help is – The Success Planner Book. I have developed it exactly for this purpose – go check it out, get one for yourself and for your mate and ensure you set your goals in congruence with who you truly are.

The other thing you can do is – think about people whom you can help with your goals and mission. A great way to do this is – reflect upon your life story – the challenges you have overcome either in your professional or personal life, how did you overcome them, how did it make you a better person and what you can pay forward and teach others. I find this as a really strong cause and solid ground for goals setting – how can I best help other people, inspire them to achieve, overcome difficulties, succeed in their life, career or business. And through that reflection you might discover your cause, your calling and obtain clarity on what your goals should be for the next year.  It could be something you have struggled with in the long past and that has made you the person you are today, that might be something that was your challenge recently – it does not matter. The important thing is – if you had such a challenge, there might be other people who have similar  challenges and would benefit from learning from you.  This is your reason to live to help them grow.

There are a lot of examples that people develop their businesses successfully because of this, or people develop their careers successfully because of this approach. I encourage you to reflect today – what has been a challenge you have struggled with, resolved, what is your story and with whom and how  can you help to resolve a similar challenge.

As an example – a few years ago I struggled with raising my profile and being impactful in the corporate business I was in. I could not understand what is the issue as I have been really successful within the same company previously and with quite a few other companies in the market. When I explored, what is the issue, I understood, that the job I had to focus on at the time did not play to my greatest talents and to my passion. Part of the job did, but 50% of the time I had to work with and focus on issues that were not appealing to me. Of course, I could do the job as I knew how, but not being passionate about the content and not being able to really invest my best talents into achieving the outcomes, did not bring in me the greatest energy, self belief, confidence and impact to achieve results.

Now – one of my focus areas as an entrepreneur is helping organizations to empower their leaders, professionals and talents to be their best, to have clarity for themselves on how they can best contribute and have  courage to aim for and focus on how they can best deliver value – in a way that is true to and in congruence to themselves and brings value to the organization and customers. So many times I have seen the wrongdoing in organizations when people have been placed in the roles that are not congruent to who they are or are aspiring to be. And they lose focus, confidence, self belief and energy. Through my workshops and online programs I help people have clarity, self belief, confidence, impact and influence and raise their profile to be the best version of themselves – for themselves and for people they can best help.

I encourage you to revisit – whom is it that you can help and chose one of your goals related to that. If it brings value to the organization or your business – even better! But keep in mind,  revenue comes afterwards – first – whom and how you can help. Enjoy succeeding.

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