Navigating Success: A Trio of Strategies to Propel Your Goals Beyond Boundaries

Have you had goals on your mind and haven’t moved closer to achieving them yet? If so, this is for you! I’m going to share 3 strategies to set up your powerful goals for success. 

There are many schools of thought about how to set goals and if to even set them to begin with. I’ll share what my collection of beliefs are from going through countless goal setting sessions with my mentors, friends, coaches and clients. All you have to do is sit back, relax and simply take it all in with an open heart and mind. Consider another perspective and see how it lands for you. Some of it will and some of it won’t, that’s okay. We’re all allowed to have our own perspectives. And if you’re anything like me, you may want to grab a piece of paper and pen so you can jot down whatever does resonate for you.

So, we’re talking about goals, what exactly is a goal? I believe goals are there to make us grow, to set the first step towards the future we want. To drive us into action. We want to shock ourselves with what we can do and accomplish. Let’s get into the strategies.

In order to continue to work towards that goal, the first strategy is to design what the true outcome you desire actually is, what are the results you’re going after? Break it down for yourself and here are 5 criteria to help you create a well-formed outcome or goal:

1.     Stated in the positive (say what you want, not what you don’t want)

2.     Initiated and maintained by self (you don’t need to rely on someone else changing, no excuses)

3.     Achievable within the timeframe you decide on

4.     Has a specific sensory-based description (so you know how it feels or looks to achieve it. It would be easy to measure or you have a description that would tell you when you have it)

5.     Appropriate chunk size – biggest chunk must be worthwhile yet small enough to feel and believe it’s attainable (my example of “changing humanity one life at a time” to “lifting and empowering at least 1 person every single day”) 

Consider this…my coaching programs are typically 120 days, so when we do this in your first session, I would ask you – what are some outcomes, maybe 2 or 3 that you’d like to have happen over the next 4 months? What would you be experiencing that would have you feel like – This was so worth it, I did it! I made this happen! We want a specific, precise, achievable outcome here. If it’s vague like “I want peace of mind”, we keep digging, “Peace of mind in what way” and “how specifically would you like to be feeling?” and “What would having peace of mind do for you?”.

Once you know the desired state you want, you have your well-formed outcome/goal, the second strategy is that you need to know WHY you want it. In order to set your goal up for success you need to have a burning desire for it and uncover what your MOFA is (or Motivating Factor). This is what’s REALLY driving you towards that goal.

Okay, so let’s say you decided you want to exercise 3x/wk. Great, the next question would be  “what will having that movement 3x/wk do for you?” What’s important about that? Determine the answer and then ask yourself those same questions a few times until you land on something that feels really important to you. What is the important thing that is driving you to change or make the changes now that you haven’t been willing to make in the past? You might even add “On a scale of 1-10, how important is this?” You want to find something that is at least an 8, otherwise it’s not a weighty enough driver. So if this happens to you, keep exploring until you find a valuable enough reason that you are making the commitment to follow through in ways you never have before.

And then the 3rd and final strategy I’ll share on this for now, is anchoring your big MOFA. An “anchor” is something physical in your environment that will remind you WHY you are doing this. Why are you making this effort, especially at times when you don’t feel like it, which is bound to come up. It could be a screensaver on your laptop or a reminder you set on your phone to pop up with an inspiring message, it could be a ring you wear, your favorite bracelet, earrings, or necklace, a song you sing or post-it notes around the house. The best anchors are those that tap into the 5 senses, so when you see/feel/hear/taste/touch it, it will remind you of your big MOFA. My anchors to maintain a level of love, light and joy are singing “Dancing in the moonlight”, having “Everything is figureoutable” as a reminder on my phone that pops up mid-afternoon and when all I want to do is chill and veg out, my joy ring, my grams necklace, bracelets, stones and candles remind me that I am creating a positive impact on people’s lives.

Creating anchors will do 2 things for you, it’ll be a pattern interrupter – something that stops you dead in your tracks when you’re tempted to make a choice which may not be in alignment with your outcomes. It’ll also just give you an influx of energy of like “oh yea, I want to do this for myself!” And give you that creative spark that you had when you created those outcomes/goals. Anchors can help prevent us from making incongruent choices for ourselves, and they can also give us that little infusion of life like “oh yea, I’m excited about making this good choice for myself at this moment!” How much sense is this making to you? I hope it’s useful for you.

So, to set your powerful goals up for success, you can:

1.     Write out the descriptive outcomes in the positive state of mind (what do you want)

2.     Dig deep into your MOFA – what is really driving you towards getting that outcome

3.     Decide on anchors that resonate with your MOFA and connect with those anchors

Experiment, stay curious and open, have fun with this, this is your life, your goals, your future, your choice. Change takes effort, is the quality of your life worth some effort? Absolutely! I’m just here to help spark your dreams and be the springboard for you to access your own intuition so you are empowered to make decisions for yourself that feel true for you and your life. Before you go, let me know what landed for you and on a scale of 1-10, how important is it for you to make these changes for yourself right now?

With that, cheers everyone, and Keep Living on Purpose!