Jan

9

Leading with Goals

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Friends,

This is the sneaky season. It’s the time when, if you don’t stop and get it done now, you might just not get it done in all of ‘06. Goals – I mean.

If I had to make a short list of great things about being human, goals would be near the top. A goal says all kinds of things about you: you are looking ahead, you think you can progress, you are not so afraid to fail that you won’t positively try, you plan to persevere. You have a sense of adventure!

I’ve noticed some things in the past few years as I’ve been setting goals and talking to others who are doing the same. I wonder if you agree and whether these good reasons will prompt you to write your goals (or get others to write theirs)?

1. When you actually write a goal down, something starts to work, as if on its own. I have been struck in August or October, when I’ve pulled out my goals, how I have progressed towards goals I had consciously forgotten that I even wrote down back in January.

2. Goals give you a chance to strike out and do something altogether new. For example, if I’m going to play guitar in public by December, I’ll have to do some serious learning between now and then. How great that we can re-create ourselves!

3. Goals help give you focus in the moral world. For instance, you could decide on the goal – since this is Michigan Mentors Month – to become a Big Brother. Just by setting that goal you would line up a series of actions in the year ahead that would be full of goodness and would give you a great sense of purpose! Goals let us declare our worth and then pursue it. (To become a mentor, go to www.mentormichigan.org or call 1-800-VOLUNTEER.)

4. Goals help us get specific about what we mean by a good life. For instance, if I say my goal is to make this (election) year a great year for my kids, then I pretty much have to ask myself: “Okay, what does that mean? What’s a good year for my kids? How will I know if I/we have achieved it?” That takes me down a path of questions for myself – and in this case for my kids too – that force me to really get pretty clear about what really matters to me.

5. Goals give us focus. At the beginning of the year, many people have a zillion ideas about what they might do, and the great thing about goals is they make us say “no” to some things so that we can pursue what we have declared is really important. Without a marker in the ground, you might not run that marathon, take that trip, spend that time with your mom, learn that language, or write that book. But if it’s important to you, you’ll bring in a healthy discipline to clear away the nice things you could do but that don’t measure up to being a key goal.

6. Goals are fun. It’s fun to plan to shoot for something good. And in January and February in Michigan, everybody needs some fun.

7. Goals motivate! That’s why they call it a goal! So put some goals up, and take some shots at ‘em.

Goals are an enjoyable way to test yourself and to . . .

Lead with your best self,
Dan

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