Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Goals, Goal Setting, Anxiety, Achievement, Success - Shall I go on?

Clients are coming in with new ambitions, new ideas, new energy and ready to set and achieve new goals. Great news. Bad news? Thinking it can be done in a flash like everything else we've gotten used to doing with the press of a button or click of a mouse. One problem - we're not computers. So setting goals and achieving them can sometimes feel like it's taking time. Nowadays when things take time people can become frustrated, distracted, impatient. So let's look at this as humans and not machines.

Setting Goals. SETTING GOALS. Setting goals. Goal setting. "I want to set some goals."
"I want to achieve my goals."
"I can't seem to set goals."
"I can't seem to achieve my goals."
Questions and comments I hear all the time.

I have a question. What are goals?
I guess that begs an answer. Hmmmm. Well, goals are or can be;
Exciting
Thrilling
Fun
A pain
An adrenaline inducing concept
Elusive
Confusing
Conflicting
Multiple
Desired
Difficult to achieve
Easy to achieve
Easy to figure out
Difficult to figure out
Difficult to articulate
Easy to articulate
What one is expected to do
What one wants to do
What one needs to do
What society wants
What the family wants
What the soul wants
What the psyche wants
What the intellect wants
What the five senses want

How's that for a start?
Confusing? No kidding.
Maybe the dictionary can help us narrow it down. I went to Dictionary.com and received 10 responses to a request for a definition. Ok, they're confused too.

Some people start their coaching thinking they'd like to achieve x,y or z goal only to find as the coaching progresses that what they thought they wanted isn't actually what they really wanted.

So, if you're feeling confused or not sure, or don't know what you're thinking, or thinking you're not knowing what you're thinking, let me put your mind at ease.
You're not the only one.
You are not alone.
You don't have to do it on your own.
You don't have to have it figured out in one day or one session or one month.
It's an ongoing process that doesn't have to be written in stone.
You can change your mind.
You can have more than one goal.
You can have more than one goal at a time.
You can have multiple and/or conflicting goals.
It's a matter of working through it, figuring it out, getting it clear in your mind and self, taking steps to achieve it/them and overcoming challenges along the way.

You can do it.
You don't have to do it alone.
It can be done.

So now really have a great day your way,
RK

Rebecca Kiki Weingarten M.Sc.Ed, MFA
Daily Life Consulting
rebecca at dailylifeconsulting dot com