Throughout our lives we all set goals - for school, business, relationships, parenting and so on. And in many cases, they remain wishful thinking, or we don’t fully achieve them the way we would like. Over time, setting goals that we don’t accomplish can be dangerous because they can trap us in a cycle of believing that our dreams cannot come true. They can drain and demotivate us, making us lose hope, and diminish the belief that we can accomplish great things. This can result in getting stuck in a discouraging routine and prevent us from growing and achieving the things we truly desire.
For our goals to be effective, and give us the desired results, they need to be empowering.
Empowering goals are unique because they are meant to inspire us, to make us feel that everything we want can be within reach. They give us a long term vision and fuel our short term motivation. All of a sudden, we know what we want, why we want it and how to get there. And here is a bonus; when we feel motivated and inspired, our self-esteem increases as well. When we set empowering goals and accomplish them, they become the fuel that will push us to grow and achieve things that we only dreamed of.
Crafting goals that meet these criteria requires determination and thoroughness. Here are four steps to help us with this task:
1. Visualization – To get the motivation we need to push us through to the next level, we need to paint a detailed mental picture of ourselves accomplishing our goal. We need to ask ourselves, how would our life look like? How would this goal make us feel when we reach it? And finally, look at everything that this dream will touch once it becomes a reality.
2. Create a Roadmap – Once we know what we want, we need to figure out how. So we need to create a plan with dates and steps that we will need to take in the short term and the long run. These steps need to be clear and detailed, but most importantly, realistic.
3. Change of habits – So when we talk about realistic steps, we need to take ourselves into account. We need to understand what it is that we need to adjust from our daily activities and habits to make these empowering goals, achievable. So for example, if we want to exercise regularly, purchasing a gym membership will not be enough if we don’t make time actually to go the gym. What are we willing to change, eliminate or add into our lives and our daily routine to make things happen?
4. Have support – There is plenty of evidence that our success rate significantly increases when we have support. Someone that can encourage us and keep us accountable. Making changes to help us achieve those objectives we always dreamed of, can be scary, overwhelming and sometimes confusing. However, it can also be an incredibly exciting endeavor! And having someone on our side like a professional coach can make a whole lot of difference in our journey.
Our goals are meant to help us reach our dreams, and we don’t have to wait for the “right moment” to set them. So today, as you read these words, I want to encourage you to reach out and make this day the beginning of your new life. A life that you could be proud of and happy to share with yourself and others. Set your empowering goals today!
"IT'S NEVER TO LATE TO SET ANOTHER GOAL
OR TO DREAM ANOTHER DREAM"
Ilhiana Rojas is a certified Transformation Strategy Coach with a lifelong career of guiding people and teams to success.
You can learn more about her Coaching Programs & Workshops at www.belivecoach.com, or reach out to her directly at info@belivecoach.com.