The thing about writing down goals, is that it forces a person to know what he or she wants. Who are we now, and who is the person we'd like to become? This is a foggy area for most people and as you'll see, it shouldn't be. And based on who you think you are, basically, the amount of confidence you have in yourself, sets the bar on your potential success both personally as well as professionally.
Andy Stanley (Dr. Charles Stanley's son), covered this topic well in his book: "Solid as a Rock." He mentions how difficult it is for a lot of people to sit down and figure out what they want out of life. His recommendation is to consider our legacies. What will people remember about us? Often times at funerals, a best friend will speak up and at least one member of the person's family usually speaks. Sometimes someone from work will say something. What would we want them to say about us when we die? When it's all said and done, our reputation (legacy), is locked in upon our deaths. We are who they say we are and there's nothing we can do about it.
With the above in mind, most people don't care or talk about someone's work history in talking about their legacy (i.e. job title, various successes, etc.), but they do talk about character. Will your spouse say how supportive you were? That you were a great husband and father? Will your child say you were loving and kind and were a great role model for him or her to be successful in life? Will your best friend talk about how loyal you were? How no matter what, you had his back? That you had integrity? Will someone from work say that you were such a hard worker who had a great attitude and was a fantastic team player?
If this is what we want, then our goals to shoot for each year are truly character oriented, not "financial success," oriented. It's not about getting a management position, it's about becoming a great co-worker and the rest will take care of itself. You see the difference? The paragraph above is loaded with characteristics (i.e., supportive, great husband, great father, loving, kind, great role model, loyal, dependable, integrity, great work ethic, great attitude, etc.). The trick is to always keep our character goals in the forefront of our minds. They should be on paper and easily referenced, so that we keep the focus.
So the bottom line is that setting goals might not be as hard as we think. We just need to decide what we want people to see in us, and make it happen. I should add, what do we want God to see in us? At the end of the day, it's truly all that matters.
Andy Stanley (Dr. Charles Stanley's son), covered this topic well in his book: "Solid as a Rock." He mentions how difficult it is for a lot of people to sit down and figure out what they want out of life. His recommendation is to consider our legacies. What will people remember about us? Often times at funerals, a best friend will speak up and at least one member of the person's family usually speaks. Sometimes someone from work will say something. What would we want them to say about us when we die? When it's all said and done, our reputation (legacy), is locked in upon our deaths. We are who they say we are and there's nothing we can do about it.
With the above in mind, most people don't care or talk about someone's work history in talking about their legacy (i.e. job title, various successes, etc.), but they do talk about character. Will your spouse say how supportive you were? That you were a great husband and father? Will your child say you were loving and kind and were a great role model for him or her to be successful in life? Will your best friend talk about how loyal you were? How no matter what, you had his back? That you had integrity? Will someone from work say that you were such a hard worker who had a great attitude and was a fantastic team player?
If this is what we want, then our goals to shoot for each year are truly character oriented, not "financial success," oriented. It's not about getting a management position, it's about becoming a great co-worker and the rest will take care of itself. You see the difference? The paragraph above is loaded with characteristics (i.e., supportive, great husband, great father, loving, kind, great role model, loyal, dependable, integrity, great work ethic, great attitude, etc.). The trick is to always keep our character goals in the forefront of our minds. They should be on paper and easily referenced, so that we keep the focus.
So the bottom line is that setting goals might not be as hard as we think. We just need to decide what we want people to see in us, and make it happen. I should add, what do we want God to see in us? At the end of the day, it's truly all that matters.
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