It’s important to have goals. Goals help shape our decisions and inform our behavior. Goals allow us to grow from point A to point B and beyond. Sometimes we have a dream, or a deliberate vision board, or we are called toward a goal by an unseen power and presence.
No matter what the spark for the goal, I believe that taking specific actions and management of behaviors to achieve your goals will be more productive than leaving everything up to chance. For instance, if your goal is to pay for your home in cash, you wouldn’t spend every penny you earn. That behavior without management will never lead you to your goal. Instead you would want to develop a deliberate spending plan that allows for saving enough to achieve your goals.
For a long time, if anyone asked what my goals were I didn’t think I had any. Truly I had dreams, but not goals. I wasn’t taking any action to make them a reality. I didn’t realize the necessity. I didn’t understand that saying I wanted to live and travel through Europe didn’t guarantee it happening. And it didn’t. I missed opportunities to live and work in Europe and that dream remains a dream.
Thankfully I’ve mature my understanding as I’ve continued to grow and have learned from other leaders in thought and action. My life has more considerations now than it did when I was young and new in the professional world. I think the world probably requires more considerations as well. My goals are grounded in providing and balance.
Recently, as I was thinking about action planning, I came across something new to me and expanded from my previous learning. Rather than making SMART goals, ensuring goals are Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Timebound, it addressed the Ecology and Reward of the goal. Make SMARTER goals!
I think this is brilliant and a timely addition in the world when kindness is a value making a comeback and self-care is allowing people to feel the freedom of saying “no” and setting new boundaries for themselves. Ecology is the consideration of impact on self, others, and the broader world we live in. While Reward is being able to say that the actions required to get there were worth it.
Sometimes we pull ourselves through difficult and austere circumstances to achieve something that we think we want but find out at the end that the impact on those we love was more negative than we expected because we didn’t consider ecology. And sometimes asking them to come along and support you because you do see the ecological impact on them, but know it will be better for you, means there is true reward in the goal.
I’m currently working on setting goals in the physical system which will bring great reward and positive ecology for my family. It will definitely challenge me and I expect great change in return. It won’t be easy but it will be worth it.
I’d love to hear your goal strategies in the comments!
From a place of Love,
Jen
Baum Balance 