2020 Vision: Set Your Sights
How do you “set your sights?” Do you choose a word of the year, or do you call your shot in some other way? Do you set goals? Intentions? What do you do to motivate yourself?
In the past I've tried jumping immediately to the desired habit with no foundational infrastructure in place. This makes me feel trapped — a big no-no when one of my core values of life is Freedom. As an example, a few years back I set this goal: Blog one time a week on Monday. I immediately resisted the rigid structure. Did this mean Mondays were always dedicated to writing? Where were all these topics going to come from? I set myself up for failure if I miss one week.
That didn't work for me, and yet it seemed to meet the SMART goal criteria (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time sensitive). This year I asked: How do I set goals that generate a sense of freedom?
I'm playing with setting my sights on some big goals, like this one: Write 60 blog posts this year. Big challenges motivate me. They invite all my creative problem-solving out to play. This phrasing gives me freedom to experiment. Some people like to binge watch Netflix. It turns out that I like to binge write, and binge work in general.
This goal could result in a regular weekly schedule, but I could also cram a bunch of posts in the last week of December and still win. I'm remaining curious and seeing how it plays out. I've got the big goal in mind. It's like school – I gotta learn how I work/study/learn/do. And the key part of this — like the pop quiz — is to have periodic reviews and evaluations.
This is an intention of mine for this year: Spend more time in reflection. Evaluate how things are going in various aspects of my life. I do this proactively by planning the upcoming week on Sundays, but it's important also to ponder what's worked and hasn't worked over the previous day/week/month/quarter/year. This allows space to tap into your own innate wisdom.
Here are some questions I use. These keep you free and nimble to reevaluate and pivot, and they’re open ended so you can learn, grow and try new things. Try choosing 2 or 3 and journal your replies with free writing (if you’re new to free writing, check out my video on YouTube to Learn to Free Write).
What's the courageous choice?
Did I/how can I stretch?
How am I using my voice?
Am I feeling how I want to feel? / How do I want to feel? What can I do to feel this way this week?
How are my goals helping me grow?
How am I living my values? What can I do this week to live my values more intentionally?
Does my life have the mix [work, home, relationships, adventure, challenge, love, etc.] I want it to have? What small thing can I do this week to bring in more of what I want?
What am I avoiding?
Who do I need to be to achieve that goal?
Who am I being that keeps me from achieving that?
