An Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living.
Goal Setting & Prioritization
“The major reason for setting goals is to compel you to become the person it takes to achieve them."
-Jim Rohn, Entrepreneur & Motivational Speaker
One of the most important daily activities that my wife, Brittany, and I have learned to do is goal setting. In fact, when you enter our home, one of the first things you'll see is a giant whiteboard with our daily goals written on it.
We also do one-sheet exercises to write out our quarterly goals for personal growth, health, lifestyle, business, finances, charitable contributions, and relationships, including those with our “tribes” (our professional communities).
Finally, layered on top of that, we create written 5-year BIG goals that we evaluate and adjust four times per year. We are a goals-forward family!
Brittany and I move fast; we are continually building and adjusting what we plan to accomplish in all areas of our lives. Our visions change nearly monthly, as we constantly consider what it is that we want to be, to have, and to do with the time we have. So, it is essential that, together, we develop clarity on what we both want with respect to all three. The more clarity we have, the better aligned we are, the more power we have to achieve our goals.
Obviously, goals are not static. They evolve and pivot based on our growing life experiences. But it is crucial that we take the time to seriously reflect on what it is we hope to accomplish.
As Socrates shares with us, "An unexamined life is not worth living."
Just as importantly, we need to take the next step of committing those goals to writing. The process of writing them down makes us look deeper, consider more, make an intentional, stronger commitment to reach those goals, and thereby increase the chances that we will accomplish them. Intentional living is key to living a Big Life.
How do you know what you're working for or living toward if you don't have clear, written goals?
Jim Rohn says it very directly, "I can tell you right now, if you don't have a list of your goals with you, I can guess your bank balance within a few hundred dollars."
Ouch. And, it's true. The people who succeed are those who know how to goal-set; they have a clear vision.
Although setting written goals is key to success, unfortunately, goal setting is normally not taught in school. So, here are a few tips on how to start:
Ask yourself what has to happen in your life over the next 5 years for you to say, “AWESOME! Those were the best 5 years of my life!”
With that in mind, write down your goals, and rank them in order of priority.
Ask yourself what type of person you would have to become in order to achieve all those goals.
Write down the skills, knowledge, and attitude you will need to acquire in order to hit those goals.
Then, write down the type of people you'll need to surround yourself with in order to accomplish your goals.
Once you have figured out what you want, the more you can work on your goals by creating more opportunities to achieve them. And, when you share your goals aloud and in writing with others, it has the effect of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As Paulo Coelho writes in The Alchemist, "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."
So, let’s get started and share our goals here! I’ll even start: One of my big life goals is to help 5 other people become net worth millionaires through real estate.
Love the quote!