5 Questions To Inspire New Goals For 2020

5 Questions To Inspire New Goals For 2020

After setting yearly goals now for about 7 years consecutively, it’s become a habit. If done right, goals can be inspiring, fun, and productive. But sometimes even great habits like goal-setting can become boring and unproductive.

I have a longer process for goal setting that’s tied to my vision and 7 life priorities or key life areas. So, I have an overall vision, 7 priorities, and goals (short and long-term) for each priority.

But today we’re going to skip all that and focus just on the goals. And like Simon Sinek says, let’s “Start with why.

But why even set goals?

Well, how can we achieve anything without knowing what we want or having a plan to get it?

You can’t win championships without a plan.

Goal-setting is the best tool I know for creating the habit of focusing our energy on the things we believe matter most. It’s also is a system for replacing poor habits with better ones.

Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”  Habits shape whom we are becoming. But how often do we actually shape our habits?

Goal-setting gives us the opportunity to not only choose what type of person we want to become but to focus our greatest resource- our time. And similar to a GPS with a set destination, our brain works best when given coordinates to lock into. Otherwise, it’ll just create random habits on its own without our input.

But sometimes even positive routines like this don’t lead to the results we’re looking for because we’re uninspired and just going through the motions. Warren Buffet explained this way when he said, “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”

That’s why sometimes we need a little change and get out of our mental routines. Initiating change in ourselves is hard but there’s help. This is probably what personal development expert Jim Rohn had in mind when he said, “We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.

The point of these questions is to light your creative spark so you can reflect on the possibilities that keep you excited. These are also great questions to use in your journaling.

Okay, so here are my 5 questions:

  1. What would make next year awesome?

For example, get a pilot’s license, give 10% to church, meet with a financial planner to create a retirement plan, start a business, go back to school, or buy 10 investment properties. The point is to THINK about stuff that matters to you and excites you.

2. What are the three most important things I want to achieve in my lifetime?

This question helps us refocus our energy and thoughts solely on those things we care about the most. These are long-term goals but we can break it up into smaller yearly goals.

3. What do I want to experience more of next year?

This is a great question to be more intentional about the things we want to experience more of or less of. Being intentional and deciding is the beginning. Everything starts with a decision.

4. What do I really really want?

As a leader, I suspect you’re not selfish. But think about yourself for this exercise. Be selfish; ignore cultural expectations, and get specific about what you really really want out of life- in your health, finances, career, etc.

5. What is one skill or hobby I can learn next year that I’ve been curious about for a long time, but have been putting off?

Recently my daughter started taking drum lessons. One day, I decided to take a lesson as well because I was curious. And I loved it. What are you curious about?

Next, write down all the ideas that come to mind –on paper- when answering these questions and then choose a few that get you the most excited.

Lastly, turn them into goals using the SMART framework: Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Realistic. Timebound.

Do you have any great questions that can help others plan for the new year?

PS: The problem with most goals is that they are not tied to our overall life mission and vision. If you want to learn more about this topic check out my book Leader by Choice.

Before Following Your Dreams…

Before Following Your Dreams…

I attended my sister’s high school graduation recently. Before her big day, though, I was wondering what advice I’d give to a graduating class if I was asked to give a speech.  I scribbled some ideas, but my list was long, boring, and predictable. (Commencement speeches are harder than I thought!)

The most popular commencement speeches are given by super successful/famous people like Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Oprah, Jim Carrey, and so on. These speeches usually say inspirational stuff like:

“Find your passion”,

“Follow your dreams”,

or

“Do what you love.”

I love those speeches, but I’m tired of them.  The advice is great but unusable. If people knew what they loved they’d be doing it instead of listening to speeches!

I was about to give up on my speech writing idea, but after taking my sister’s picture something clicked.

The “follow your dreams” message is great.  But there’s something else we need to do first. My advice is not as deep. Most people avoid simple advice because it’s — simple. Advice doesn’t have to be complicated like calculus to work.

So what’s my advice?

Keep your promises. That’s it. Everybody can go home now.

Well, let me explain a little more…

One of my new favorite books is The Power of Habits by Charles Duhigg. (This guy can turn the most boring subjects into incredible stories.)  Duhigg breaks down why we do what we do in life and business. And how to change it.

He shows that it’s easier to REPLACE a habit with a new one then it is to break a bad one. He also shares a step-by-step framework on how to do it.

Duhigg explains that nearly 40% of the things we do are based on habits and not actual decision-making.

40% is a lot!

He says,

Habits are powerful, but delicate. They can emerge outside our consciousness, or can be deliberately designed. They often occur without our permission, but can be reshaped by fiddling with their parts. They shape our lives far more than we realize—they are so strong, in fact, that they cause our brains to cling to them at the exclusion of all else, including common sense.”

Almost everything that we do is based on the accumulation of habits. For example:

  • What we eat
  • How we exercise
  • Where we sit in a class
  • How we work

The list is endless…

This good and bad. It’s terrible because we can easily fall into routines that are hurting us without even knowing it because we do it on autopilot. According to Duhigg, our brains don’t recognize habits as good or bad.

Instead, our brain sees behaviors that have become easier for us to repeat (autopilot) so it requires less energy.

On the flip side, this also means we can develop positive life improving routines like saving more money, exercising more often, eating healthier, etc… The right habits put us on an automatic path to self-improvement.

Keeping your promises, in my humble opinion, is a fundamental habit.    Just think of all the times you’ve heard people say:

  1. “I’ll do it tomorrow.”
  2. “I plan to …”
  3. “Someday I’ll…”
  4. “One day, I’m going to…”
  5. “I’ll start my diet on Monday.”
  6. “I’m going to write my book” (I’m working on it!)

Unfortunately, the day never comes …

People who accomplish the things they say are a rare species. They’re nearly extinct like Chia pets. They’re the minority but they’re disproportionately represented among high achievers.

Why?

Promise-keepers don’t accept, use, or give excuses.  People who take action are the only ones who get things done, because they EXECUTE.

Think of a heart surgeon.

They don’t have time for games or excuses. They either get it done or they don’t. There’s no gray area in heart surgery. There’s no “I tried my best, but…”

But you don’t have to be a surgeon.

And don’t think that keeping your promises on the small stuff doesn’t matter. That’s exactly where you develop this powerful habit. Practice on the small stuff, so when the big stuff shows up, you’re ready to crush it.

Why is this so important?

Aside from the awesomeness of being a person of action, promise-keepers keep commitments they make to themselves.  One day you’re going to listen to a commencement speech, get really inspired, and promise yourself that you’re going to find your passion, follow your dreams, and do what you love.

But then something called life will get in your way.  Like Mike Tyson said,

“Everybody has plan until they get punched in the face.

When the punch comes, and it will, it’s the people who do what they say that will stick with it.  The real genius of peeps like Oprah, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, and Jim Carrey was in their ability to keep the promises they made to themselves.