There are lots of methods for thinking about how or why to make a particular goal real. Sometimes we are told to set SMART goals (goals we know we can achieve) and sometimes to set stretch goals (goals we cannot achieve without growth). But starting with the goal is like planting a seed without knowing whether it needs more sun or more shade.
What if instead of starting with a wish list of goals, you started with the values you hold, your beliefs about what is good or what makes a good life. Try it now, but don’t make a list. Make a circle all around the edge of your page, a circle made of all the strengths, characteristics, and beliefs that you want for yourself, or that you want to see in the world.
How can you make those values real? You have to take action: you have to do behaviours that embody the strengths and characteristics important to you. Go ahead: fill in behaviours or actions that you are doing, or that you could do, that would give your values some physical, observable reality.
Next ask yourself: If I did these behaviours, what would change in me or around me? How would I make an impact in the world? Write these in the centre of your circle.
Now you have more than goals: you have goals that can be expressed through tangible behaviours that represent values important to you. You don’t have one-way motivation (from where you start to a goal), you have energy that flows between values, behaviours, and goals. And that kind of energy is hard to resist: the more you have of it, the more you want to engage with it.
This is how to ensure that you are motivated by the goals you choose.
