Destinations: Milestones

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable…

~Denis Waitley

Have you ever stopped to think about what you want your life to mean? What it is you really want to accomplish? Have you thought about what you want to be doing in ten years… or even five years' time? Are you clear about what your main objective is at the moment? How does it contribute to your vision for your life? Do you even know what you want to achieve by the end of today?

Many people lose sight of what is important to them and fail to keep a direct line of sight to the why of what they do. It’s easy to lose sight of. From experience, I would say that most people do a whole lot in a day (a month...a year) that adds very little value to their overall life, however they just get lost in the demands of the moment…

By setting aligned goals that are based upon managed timelines, you can add purpose and direction to your life, while at the same time understanding and focusing on the overall why of what you do from day to day... and year to year.

Here is Step 1:

Setting Lifetime Goals

The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime (or at least, by a significant and distant age in the future). Work backward from the future. Setting lifetime goals gives you an overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your life, and hence, your decision-making process.

To provide a multi-lane highway for you to travel through life on, it is important to bring broad, balanced coverage to all-important areas in your life. Establish goals in some of the following categories that may be important to you:

Family/Friends - How do you want to be seen by your spouse and/or your children... how about by members of your extended family or friends? How will you express what’s important to you? What legacy would you like to leave behind someday for those you love?

Career - What do you want to achieve in your work life? What is your life's work? Do you see a career change later in life? What will you contribute in your retirement years?

Financial - How much do you want to earn, by what stage in your life? How is this related to your career goals? Will getting to your ultimate destination require funds? What about once you are there? The financial means you need in life may not be available if you do not plan and have a financial roadmap as to how you will arrive where you really want to go.

Physical - Do you want to ensure good health deep into old age? What steps are you going to take to achieve this? What needs to happen today, next year…in five, ten, twenty years to ensure you have the physical endurance to travel well. Do you want to travel into later life in a Porsche or a junkyard special? Will you fuel up with “regular” or “supreme” gasoline for the journey?

Pleasure - How do you want to enjoy yourself? What do you enjoy doing today? What would you thoroughly like to take up as a hobby in retirement? What will it take for you to enjoy life, appreciating and utilizing your gifts and talents far down the road?

Service - Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how? What is your legacy? How will you achieve it? What will it mean to other important areas of your life, such as your family? I hope, in this instance, you are not traveling alone – there is no legacy without impacting those who matter.

None of these things happen by osmosis – YOU have to plan and set goals in order to become the person you want to be and to have achieved what you want to have achieved by later life.

Spend some time brainstorming, then select the goals that best reflect what you want to do with your life. As mentioned in previous posts – alignment is the key. Your goals should always interrelate and align so that you are never confused by which way to travel.

Step 2: Break it down...

Once you have established where your desired destination is, set a five-year plan of smaller goals that you need to complete if you are to continue traveling toward your lifetime destination.

Follow up with a one-year plan… a six-month plan… a one-month plan. Continue narrowing your focus toward progressively smaller goals that you should reach to achieve your lifetime goals. Again, each of these milestones should interrelate and be based on the bigger road map toward your desired Destination.

Finally, create a daily “To Do List” of very specific things that you need to do in order to continually move toward your lifetime goals. This is not a list of “what I need to do at work today” or your personal errands…this is a short list every day of things you can do to continue moving toward those ultimate goals. It may take a bit of an effort to get into the habit, but the payoff is BIG!

Finally, review your plans often, and make sure all movement points in the direction of your most coveted destination. If you need to re-route – DO IT!

Are you moving toward your desired destination?

I hope this provided something to ponder this week. Please engage the discussion and let us know what your roadmap looks like. Always feel free to contact me at sherilmackey@gmail.com. Check back soon for the next installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

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