Get Your Goals On

“Another year over, And a new one just begun.” – John Lennon

Ready to get your game on?

January is a great time to focus on what you want out of this year.  As you close out last year, you can reflect on what went well and what things you could improve.   Focus on the growth.

January is also a great time to build some momentum.  January and December are the bookends for your year.  It’s interesting how they are both a month apart and a year apart. 

What you fill that year with, is your opportunity.

If you’re having a hard time remembering what it means to dream big, I put together a collection of dream big quotes to rekindle your imagination.

I’ve also put together a set of posts to help you create goals with skill:

• 10 Reasons that Stop You from Reaching Your Goals - I see so many people who achieve their goals, and so many people who don’t.  I thought it would be helpful to nail down why so many people don’t achieve their goals, even when they have such good intentions.
• Are You Living Your Dreams? - Here is a blurb I found from Dr. Lisa Christiansen that helps remind us to dream big, dream often, and live our dreams.
• Change Your Strategy, Change Your Story, Change Your State - If you want to change your life, you have to change your strategy, you have to change your story, and you have to change your state.
• Goal-Setting vs. Goal-Planning - Most people don’t step into what achieving their goal would actually take, so they get frustrated or disheartened when they bump into the first obstacles.   Worse, they usually don’t align their schedule and their habits or environment to help them.  They want their goals, they think about their goals, but they don’t put enough structure in place to support them when they need it most, especially if it’s a big habit change.  Don’t let this be you.
• How Brian Tracy Sets Goals - Brian Tracy has an twelve-step goal-setting methodology that he’s taught to more than a million people. If you follow his approach … You will amaze yourself.  With his goal-setting methodology, he’s seen people transform.  They are astounded by what they start to accomplish.  They become a more powerful, positive, and effective person.  They feel like a winner every hour of the day.  They have a tremendous sense of personal control and direction.  They have more energy and enthusiasm.
• How John Maxwell Sets Goals - John Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author.  And, one of his specialties is turning dreams into reality through a simple process of setting goals.
• How Tony Robbins Sets Goals - This goal-setting approach is one of the most effective ways to motivate you from the inside out and move you to action, so if you have a case of the blahs, or if you want big changes in your life this might just be your answer.
• How Tony Robbins Transformed His Life with Goals - Tony Robbins wanted to change his life with a passion.  He had hit rock bottom.  He was frustrated and feeling like a failure.  He was physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially “broke.”  He was alone and almost 40 pounds over-weight.  He was living in a small, studio apartment where he had to wash his dishes in the bathtub, because there was no kitchen.  He wanted out.
• The Power of Dreams - John Maxwell shares what he’s learned about the power of dreams to shape our goals, to shape our work, and to shape our lives.
• The Real Price of Your Dreams - Tony Robbins walks through helping a young entrepreneur translate their dream of living like a billionaire into what their lifestyle might actually cost.

One of the most helpful things I’ve found with goal setting, is to start with 3 dreams or 3 wins for the year.  I learned this while I was putting together Getting Results the Agile Way: A Personal Results System for Work and Life.  As my story goes, I got frustrated and bogged down by a heavy goal process and lost in creating SMART goals.  I finally stepped back and just asked myself, what are Three Wins or Three Outcomes that I want out of this year?  The first things that came to mind were 1) ship my book, 2) get to my fighting weight, and 3) take an epic adventure.

It wasn’t scientific, but it was significant, and it was simple.  But most of all, it was empowering.

In retrospect, it seems so obvious now, but what I was missing in my goals was the part that always needs to happen first:  Dream big.  We need to first put our dreams on the table because that’s where meaningful goals are born from.  It’s the dreams that make our goals a force to be reckoned with.  Really, goals are just a way to break our dreams down into chunks of change we can deal with, and to help guide us on our journey towards the end in mind.   That’s why we have to keep pushing our dreams beyond our limits.  That way we don’t try to push ourselves with our goals.  Instead, we pull ourselves with our dreams.

If you want to know how to get started with Agile Results, before you get the book, you can use the Agile Results QuickStart guide.  You can use it to create your personal results system.   It’s a simple system, but a powerful one.  Individuals, teams, and leaders use it to bring out their best and to make the mot of what they’ve got.

To give you a quick example, if you want to rise above the noise of your day, just take a quick pause, and write down Three Wins that you want out of today.   If you’re day is pretty tough, you might say, “great breakfast, great lunch, great dinner.”  We have those days.  Or, if you’re feeling pretty good, you might say, “ship feature X” or “clear my backlog” or “finish my presentation” or “win a raving fan”, etc. 

It sounds simple but by having Three Wins to hold onto for today, it helps you focus.  It helps you prioritize.  And it helps you get back on track, when you get off track.  It also gives you a quick way to feel good about your achievements at the end of the day, because you can actually name them.  They are your private victories.

So, if you want to practice Agile Results, just remember to think in threes: Three Wins for the Day, Three Wins for the Week, Three Wins for the Month, Three Wins for the Year.    It will help you funnel and focus your time and energy on meaningful results that matter.   And, you’ll build momentum a moment at a time, as you respond to challenges, exercises your choices, and drive your changes in work and in life.