Setting goals (what we call your peak) and ultimately achieving them is the quintessential part of self-leadership. Those goals give you the reason to push yourself. They create perspective. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and personal levels of importance.
Setting your peak might seem simple, I mean we all have goals, right? But if you want to truly set a peak for yourself to reach, you need to look past the obvious. For that, I use the “3 why?” principle, any goal that I come up with in my mind, I force myself to ask why 3 times to find the true root of that goal. You’ll find that most goals that you initially set are really just part of what your overall idea should be. This provides an opportunity to deep dive into the purpose of your goals.
So, how does that go?
I have conversations with clients like this quite frequently: So, let’s talk about this first goal you have set. Client,”Easy, I want to make more money.” Why do you want more money? “So, I can create a better life for my family.” Why? “Because my family is the most important thing in the world to me and I want to provide the best life possible for them.” Why is money the key to that? “Because you need money to do those things, like send my kids to college or leave enough to provide a lasting legacy for generations.”
Okay, now we have a goal, to provide a lasting legacy for your family for generations to come! Can money be a part of that? Definitely, but there are other avenues to leaving a lasting legacy behind and if the process of making more money means less quality time or a tarnished relationship with your family, then you unfortunately missed your mark. Situations like this are why we need to ask “why?”. Because if this client had just set the initial goal of “make more money”, they may actively pursued that and damaged their relationship with their family. Or, they may have given up because they saw what it was doing to them and then created a mindset that made goals in life not worth hitting.
So, let’s dive in on how to start changing your thought patterns to hit these planned goals.
These are my 4 “must have” thought patterns to make hitting your goals simpler in the long run:
Prepare as if it’s NOW– When you establish a goal you should treat every day as if you are hitting that goal (or about to). How would you act? Would you do anything differently? It’s so easy to procrastinate on goals because they can feel so far away. This can allow for those goals to sink further back in our mind and eventually we forget they even existed. But purposely preparing for them everyday will keep them fresh and thus feel more accessible to hit.
Excitement becomes a habit– Emotions become habits (remember this is all about changing the way you think). And when you allow yourself to be excited about something a few things occur: 1. You are naturally happier, excitement is an emotion we can all enjoy, 2. This enables you to handle minor setbacks or failures when trying to reach this goal, and 3. When you change an emotional habit, it will carry to more than just achieving your goals in life.
Ask “Why”– Why do you want this? Why do you need this? But, why does this make you a better person? Why does this make me a better spouse, father/mother, or friend? Why would accomplishing this change my life? Even after doing this to initially set your goals I would challenge you to do this often, it creates perspective for what you are trying to accomplish.
Keep the goals in stone, but the plan in sand– How you end up achieving your goals will constantly change and evolve, but the goals stay the same. If you find your goals changing due to life obstacles, go back to asking “why?” because they are not where they should be.
I challenge you to really work on setting your peak with 3 thought out goals and see how actively pursuing them can change your life. And if you find yourself needing more help or direction, contact me for further goal development coaching! Keep climbing!
Philippians 4:13
