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It takes a conscious effort to align the way you act and your decisions with your long-term goals. If you do, though, it’ll absolutely be worth it.
So, where do you start?
Start at the end.
It might sound corny, but think about where you wanna be in 5 years. 10 years. Even longer.
Setting comprehensive goals is complicated and personal, but there are some things that everyone should consider.
WHAT ARE YOUR MORAL VALUES?
A code of ethics is either at the core of every decision you make or just a small safeguard to stop you from making mistakes. Regardless, it’s helpful to define what it is you stand for.
WHAT ARE YOUR FINANCIAL GOALS?
Are you looking ahead to owning your first home? Do you want your business to be successful with ten happy people on your team? You may well need a financial advisor to look so far into the future.
WHERE DO YOU NOT WANT TO BE?
As important as knowing your goals is also knowing the opposite. For example, you might choose to steer clear of going into debt. Besides some obvious common things – like staying on the right side of the law – it’s entirely personal.
So, you have an idea of where you wanna be; maybe you have a full document filled out! Let’s talk about aligning the goals with how you act.
What can go wrong?
Say you’re running blind. You charge through life without comparing your decisions and actions to your end goals. What, exactly, are you missing out on?
A large issue that people face is a sense of regret and unfulfillment. Too much time spent climbing the wrong ladder, and you’ll look back and see all the things you missed out on. Maybe you didn’t hold yourself to a standard that you can be proud of. Or you missed a golden opportunity because you were locked into crisis management mode. Should you have spent more time with your family or volunteered more?
Reflection is something that all of us do, willingly or not. If you don’t think ahead, you won’t have a great experience looking back.
Regret can be a powerful motivator, but there are plenty of positive reasons to look ahead.
What benefits can I expect?
Aligning your day-to-day life with your long-term vision can bring many obvious and unexpected benefits.
You can frame your day-to-day choices as small wins in the right direction. Small wins build momentum, and gaining that traction can help you to compound your successes into larger and larger wins. Before you know it, you’re acting with a tremendous amount of confidence and self-assurance, achieving things that looked impossible previously.
You can make decisions more quickly and easily by automating part of the process. You know where you want to end up, so choosing the option that puts you on the right path can simplify a good number of things that pop up.
Also, decision paralysis – where you have so many options that you can’t easily choose one – becomes a lot less of a factor when you can narrow them down with pre-selected criteria.
Finally, many people out in the world are dangerously charismatic. The type who could sell sand at the beach. If you can rely on your decision-making criteria, you leave yourself much less vulnerable to being swayed in a direction that isn’t in your or your business’s best interests.
It all sounds pretty great. So, how can you set your feet on the right path?
How do I set myself up for success?
Here are some of the things that I’ve found that help me:
DECIDE WHAT NOT TO DO.
Have a set of criteria that you can use to throw options out of the window right off the bat. For example, in my case, if I had a client or project come up and they’re in the coal industry. As an individual and a businesswoman, I need money, so the project is tempting. However, as the person I want to be, working for that industry is not aligned with me, so I turn it down. I feel better about myself and more true to who I am. Even better, it allows me the space to attract the projects I really want to work on.
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE.
Sharing your goals with others brings them out of the world of mystique and into reality. Just saying things aloud gives them power.
People who share your goals can provide you with support and accountability. Cheerleaders are super crucial to success, and it’s always good to be a cheerleader in return.
If you’re fortunate, you can surround yourself with more successful people than you. They can help you grow into your ideal self much more quickly.
STICK IT IN YOUR FACE.
It sounds silly, but having a visual reminder can prompt you to reflect on your macro goals. If you’ve been in our office, you’ll know we have a big people over profit neon sign. It really helps!
So, what else?
Because everyone has different goals, everyone’s path to their destination will be different. But what’s important is that you find your own way at the end of the day.
We have our own goals at Studio Sondar, and we do our best to follow our path. It isn’t always easy, so we’re always open to hearing great success stories, works in progress, and awesome tips to stay on track. We’d love to hear where you’re headed, so feel free to drop us a line at hello@studiosondar.com.au
