Defining my Goals
“To have a family who loves and respects God and who want to set and work toward high level goals.”
I recently read an amazing book entitled “Grit” by Angela Duckworth. One of the most helpful ideas to me was Duckworth’s perspective on goal setting. She suggests that we should have one (yes only one) long-term high-level goal. The exception to this would be a person who, for example, has a career and is a parent. They could have a high-level career goal and a parenting goal. But even then, I would argue that with creative thinking, those goals could be crafted as one.
Examples of high-level goals could be, “to spend time with family and friends”, “to strengthen my relationship with God”, “to have a family who loves and respects God and who want to set and work toward high level goals” (that’s mine). They are broad, but not too broad.
Duckworth then explains that goals should work in a pyramid of sorts.
After defining that one high-level goal, Duckworth talks about working on mid-level goals that help to achieve the one high-level goal. Everything else should be left alone! No effort should be made toward anything that does not somehow match that goal. Then she talks about defining daily, small, attainable goals that lead to the mid-level goals. This instruction helped me create my goal pyramid.
Prior to reading this and many other books about goals, I have tended to set my daily goals based on daily factors: how I was feeling, what I did or did not get done the day before, what I thought I needed to get done by tomorrow…. I rarely had any long term, high-level goal in mind. Now that I have defined my high-level goal, I can constantly reflect on whether my daily goals are leading me closer to my high-level goal!
It is my opinion that my thinking long and hard about my goals for my kids, myself, and my family has allowed me to focus my energy toward more simple, attainable tasks. Suddenly, so many things that cluttered my mind, heart and time, just disappeared! It has been amazing! My daily stress has changed so dramatically. When I lose sight of the goal I am ultimately working toward, I feel overwhelmed with the daily tasks of life! When I keep that high-level goal in my mind on a daily basis, I feel at ease!
Next:
Brainstorm words that inspire you regarding your family, your work, your relationships….
Start working on turning this brainstorm into a 1-2 sentence goal statement.
Continue to refine it until if feels just right.
Now, start defining mid and lower-level goals and tasks that will help you reach that goal.
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