Life Practices – Goal-Setting

Take three months…

This is an exercise that may lead to a very effective life practice of your own making. In doing it, you will engage in proactive thinking…as well as provide a substantive record of that thinking. This can then come to serve as a guide…in promoting meaningful focus and purposeful action that results in change…as determined by you!  In other words, it acts as a ready reminder of what you’d really like to do; or, in your uncertain moments, what you could or should be doing!

Here is the exercise:

Take a look at your life for the next three months – this is a period long enough to do something significant, maybe even measurable, but not so long as to be too vulnerable to the winds of change. As you do, consider the question:

 “What would I’d like to get out of it?”

________

As you contemplate and consider this, take two perspectives. 1^st – take a little time looking forward (over the next three months) as to what you think, or want, or feel you ought to do with your time. Then, 2^nd – project yourself (i.e., imagine) three months hence and now you’re looking back over these same three months; what would you like to have experienced, worked on, and accomplished?

So…do it! What things come up? List them on a card (maybe something like shown below), and prioritize if you’d like. Then post the card in a conspicuous place and see what happens…

GOALS              

DATE: ___________________________________

P (priority):   E.g., a simple subjective rating of  1 = Very Important    2 = Important    3 = Desirable

Activity/Goal:  Brief description of what you’d like to do (or have done) in the next three months

R (rating):  An evaluation you can make at the end of the three months; e.g., using a scale of 1-10, where 1=did not engage at all to 10=met or exceeded expectation. This may be useful in creating your next three month guide…