Goals are a must.
Do you have goals? Most of us have goals even if that is not what we call them. Subconsciously we work towards things. Possibly we want to be healthier and look better without a shirt on... that is a goal. Maybe financially you want to be capable of retiring at the age of 55 or 60... that is a goal. It might be something as simple as you want to lose 5 pounds, spend more time with your spouse, or save for a family vacation... those are all goals.
Now that we have established our core values and worked out a regimen for our time we need to look at what drives us to move forward. What causes you to charge the hill of life day after day? What you seek to accomplish is the carrot in front of you that keeps you pushing forward. The need for goals is massive and will help you stick to the regimen you have established.
3 areas to set goals in.
The most important thing that your goals must do is be inline with your core values. This probably goes without saying but sometimes we can be swayed off course especially when looking at long term goals. Your core values are the foundation of being a Warrior and will help you make day to day decisions, but your core values must be a part of your short and long term goals. If one of your core values is financial discipline then a goal to save money for a gambling trip to Vegas might not work for you.
You can set as many goals as you would like but on your list you should have these 3 areas covered.
Spiritual, Health, and Financial.
You must continually work on your spiritual life without question. Goals to help you accomplish this should be a mainstay in your life and part of your daily regimen. Completing books, starting a bible study with men, covering subjects that pertain to the Warrior spirit are goals that you can set for your life. Daily devotional time should be part of your daily regimen. One of my goals for the New Year is to spend a few minutes every day with my kids doing a devotional.
Health is so important for you to maintain quality of life. Goals pertaining to your health should be part of your daily regimen. Set goals that are attainable so that you will maintain a positive attitude. Decide how long it will take to accomplish goals for your health. I personally want to lose 20 lbs over the next year. That is a semi long term goal but I need to set up milestones to know that I am on track. Breaking down long term goals into smaller short term goals is something every successful person does. 5 lbs every 3 months sounds more manageable than 20 lbs for the year and keeps me going to the end of 3 months.
Financial goals are something that my wife and I have talked about endlessly through our marriage. I will at some point dedicate an entire post to becoming debt free which is our long term financial goal. It seems that when you are disciplined with your finances other areas of your life seem to fall into place. I am not sure why it works this way, but it simply does. An easy first goal for financial discipline is to set a budget if you do not have one already. This is very important and should be part of your monthly regimen. Next you might need to start saving for a new vehicle, that would be a financial goal. Our family goal is to completely be free of consumer debt in 2 years so we have broken that down into monthly goals of what we need to save and put towards debt. This helps to keep us accountable and throughout the year we will see small successes of eliminating debt as we move toward our goal. You might be ready approaching retirement and have a goal of an amount you will need. Financial goals can literally be small or large and everything in between. Sadly money is a necessity and unfortunately most of us let money manage our lives instead of the other way around.
How to set goals.
Now that we have established the three key areas to cover with goals; How do we go about setting goals?
Ask yourself what is important to you. For my family right now the most important thing is for us to become debt free. We are willing to forgo many things for this goal to be accomplished. You will find that as you look at what is truly important to you that you will gladly forgo things to reach these goals. As you look at goals and start to research what it takes to accomplish goals you will decide if the goal is really what you want. I love the violin. I believe it is the most beautiful instrument and can induce emotion more than any other instrument. I however do not have the desire to put in the work that it would take to become even a hack at the violin. I do not want to practice hour upon hour during the week. I am simply content to listen to those that have mastered the instrument. That is how you should look at your goals for your life. Just because you love something it does not mean that you should make it part of your life's goals.
In each of the 3 areas, Spiritual, Health, and Financial, ask yourself what is truly important and what you are willing to do to accomplish your goals. Some will be easier for you than others and some will be quicker to reach than others.
How to reach your goals.
We have established what areas need goals as well as how to approach goal setting. You have discovered what is truly important to you and what work you are willing to put into the reaching of said goals. Now how do we maintain the excitement and discipline to reach these goals.
We have discussed some of my goals for my overall health. I have made a real effort to understand what it will take to lose 5lbs every three months, which will finish next year with me reaching my goal of losing 20lbs. I will have to eat a certain way and spend time doing something active on almost a daily basis. I will also need to have the ability to change the plan when it is not working or I have hit a plateau. I am willing to put the work in at the culmination of the goal, but how do I maintain the dedication needed to reach this goal.
First thing first... I will write the goal down. This is a way to hold yourself accountable and it will be available for your review. Write a couple of statements about why you want to accomplish this goal. You can go back later when you are wavering and see why it was an important goal at the moment of conception.
Next I would share the goal with someone or a group of people. When other people know about your ambitions then your are more likely to push through tough times to accomplish these goals. There is a built in accountability of keeping your word and not failing in front of others. If needed setup a regular accountability meeting or phone call. This is especially helpful for me when it comes to training.
Once the goal has been set (for this example my goal of losing 20lbs over the next year) then fit it into your daily, weekly, and monthly regimen. Possibly scheduling events like a 5k or a goruck out in the future for motivation. I might need to have someone to hold me accountable if it is something I struggle with. These are all things that can help you accomplish goals.
Be realistic with your shortcomings. That is important for goal setting and obtaining goals. I would be doing myself a disservice if I was not honest about my lack of ability to stick to a diet for long periods of time and pretended that I did not need the help of accountability.
Establish the habit. This is something that I mentioned in the 2nd step to becoming a Warrior. All of the goals you set you must try to fit the necessary changes needed in your daily life to accomplish these goals into your daily, weekly, monthly regimen. Habits must be formed. This will be the only way most of your goals, especially long term goals, will be accomplished.
Going back to my family's goal of becoming debt free. We had to make changes in our spending habits and the way we value things and money. The budget became our financial Bible. I will go into more detail in a future post, but we allocated certain amounts of money monthly for things like entertainment and even money for my wife and I to spend freely. If the money is not there we simply do not do or buy anything. This was definitely a change in habit for us, but with this discipline we have become much happier and have started to see results in accomplishing our goal.
Make it second nature by setting it into your daily regimen and committing to the goal daily.
Share some of your goals for the upcoming year. Let me know what things you do to help you achieve your goals.