Goal Setting for Personal and Professional Excellence (Part 2)
Step 1: Define your dream.
One of the most important strategies for setting effective goals is to choose goals that are personally relevant and meaningful. These types of goals inspire and motivate you to push past obstacles and to persevere through hardships as well as just getting you excited to get out of bed in the morning. The first step to figuring out what is meaningful and relevant to you is to consider your values, what is important to you in the grand scheme of life. Values are those things that really matter to you, the ideas and beliefs that you hold special.
Activity: Brainstorm. What are your core values? What is important to you?
| List your core values here: |
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Once you've figured out what things are most important, start to formulate those values into a dream or vision of the future. The main purpose for your vision is to consider possibilities that inspire and motivate you. History proves that humans are capable of far more amazing feats than they thought possible. Even though there are no guarantees that you will fulfill your dream, you will certainly not accomplish it if you never define it and try.
Activity: This is a challenging yet crucial step, because it requires you to think about what's really important to you. Your responses will be used to develop your outcome goals later.
| Questions to Help Define Your Dream |
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| What accomplishments or achievements would be worth your very best effort? |
| For the next few years, what would you pursue if everything fell perfectly into place? |
| In the future, what do you want people to remember and say about you? What legacy do you want to leave behind? |
Activity: Using your responses from the last activity, determine outcome goals that are personally meaningful to you. This should be a major accomplishment or achievement that is consistent with your values. Then describe with as much detail as possible (incorporating all of your senses) what accomplishing that goal will be like. Determine when you want to accomplish the goal. Rank your objectives by importance.
Set your objectives for the next year.
| Prioritizing Your Objectives | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical: _____________________________ Describe: _____________________________ When: _____________________________ | RANK _____ | ||
| Emotional: _____________________________ Describe: _____________________________ When: _____________________________ | RANK _____ | ||
| Social: _____________________________ Describe: _____________________________ When: _____________________________ | RANK _____ | ||
| Family: _____________________________ Describe: _____________________________ When: _____________________________ | RANK _____ | ||
| Spiritual: _____________________________ Describe: _____________________________ When: _____________________________ | RANK _____ | ||
Step 2: Know where you are right now.
The time for dreaming big must be balanced with an objectively honest self-analysis about where you are at this very moment. This is where you evaluate what assets you have to leverage, and what limitations are standing in your way.
Activity: Start with your number 1 ranked outcome goal. Determine exactly where you are now relative to your chosen outcome goal. This step is not about judgment or criticism, it is simply about being self-aware in order to determine the best (logical) steps toward meeting your goals.
| Defining Your Outcome Goal |
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| 1. Where are you right now in relation to your outcome goal? |
| 2. What strengths do you possess that will help you accomplish your outcome goal? |
| 3. What skills and qualities need to be developed in order to accomplish your outcome goal? |
| 4. What kinds of obstacles or challenges might get in your way (skills, knowledge, resources, etc.)? |
Step 3: Decide what you need to develop.
To begin closing the gap between where you are and where you want to go, you'll have to focus your attention and energy on the activities and thoughts that will have the greatest benefit and that are under your control. This means setting priorities: identifying which skill areas, knowledge areas, and competencies you need to build up in order to achieve your outcome goal.
For instance, the outcome goal of losing 30 pounds may require setting priorities aimed at improving your diet, maintaining a positive attitude, improving fitness, and staying committed to the process.
Activity: Identify three or four priorities that will help you achieve your outcome goal. If you need help, review your answer to the previous question, "What skills and qualities are needed to accomplish my goal?"
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U.S. Army, Joint Base Lewis-McChord. (2013, July). Goal setting for personal and professional excellence (pp. 7–11). Retrieved October 8, 2020, from https://www.lewis-mcchord.army.mil