By now most of us know that effective goal setting is more than just listing what we want to achieve and crossing our fingers that we make it happen. We’ve heard about S.M.A.R.T. goals, and of course we need to be committed to an actionable plan. But there is a growing movement to delve deeper into the reasoning behind these goals and to examine whether or not this is something you genuinely want to achieve or if it’s a societal expectation that you’ve never really given much thought to.

Very often, objectives are not accomplished because the underlying motivation has not been identified. This lack of clarity allows goals to dissolve into yet another item on an overwhelming to-do list, and slide down the priority rankings in favour of urgent work. A crucial part of this new approach – and one that was previously considered out of place in a business conversation – is bringing how we want to feel into our goal setting process.

Especially for a creative entrepreneur, your work directly affects your daily experience. If you’re not designing the life you want to live, you’re wasting the opportunity of your lifetime.

So how do we uncover our true desires?

1: REVIEW AND REFLECT ON 2018

It starts with a simple, quick stocktake of the last year. It’s recommended that you step out of your normal environment, and eliminate distractions. We don’t all have the time or means to rent a cabin in the woods for a weekend, but a quiet café with your devices on airplane mode for a few hours is good enough. There are many differing opinions about how to go about your own “State of the Nation” review but the simplest method is to answer 3 basic questions – which can be applied to your business, or every area of your life:

• What went well?
• What didn’t? (and what lessons can be learnt from this)
• What are you willing to let go of (outdated goals or projects that never get started but still occupy mental space, frustrating relationships, bad work habits, marketing tactics that just aren’t yielding results…these can either be deleted or delegated. Consider your own strengths and finances here)

You should now have a pretty clear picture of what needs to be improved upon in 2019, and you’ve hopefully freed up some time in your schedule by saying goodbye to those old, unnecessary tasks.

2: OUTLINE AND EXAMINE GOALS FOR 2019

From here, list your dreams for the coming year and then, crucially, scrutinise why you want these things. Once you get clear on what outcome you’re striving for, you’ll either find the motivation you need to commit rationally and emotionally to your goals, or you’ll realise that there is actually a better path to fulfilment. A helpful practice is the “5 Whys” – let’s look at a hypothetical example:

GOAL: Get lots more clients (note: goals often start out as vague ideas like this)
|
WHY? To expand your jewellery manufacturing business
|
WHY? To be able to hire more staff
|
WHY? To delegate work and have more free time
|
WHY? To feel more successful and less stressed
|
WHY? Because you’re tired of feeling like you’re doing all the work but not finding ‘success’ quick enough

You don’t always need to go down 5 levels of this form of questioning; sometimes the second or third answer will reveal a powerful truth to you (and sometimes you might find it helpful to keep asking “why” until a penny drops). Once you’ve uncovered your underlying motivation, examine whether your goal will in fact get you there. In the case above, our hypothetical jeweller might realise that they’ve never actually defined what success means to them, and that the pressures of the higher operating costs, responsibility of more salaries to pay and more commissions to manage may in fact lead to less free time and more stress. Perhaps a more satisfying goal for our jeweller would be to put all their energy into acquiring one or 2 premium clients who will provide more profit for less work.

With your true desires revealed, your goals actually become a means to a greater end result – a clear investment towards an ideal future – and one that keeps you on track during trying times.

Researchers agree that on the whole, people find it highly satisfying to hit a goal that requires us to raise the bar (but not struggle so much that our motivation and performance are negatively impacted). This is done through getting incredibly specific with your own figures. An exercise to ensure your financial goals are completely tailored to your situation is figuring out your ‘enough’ number. By working out the income needed to fund your ideal lifestyle, you can put the systems in place to reach financial targets that actually work for your business expenses, leisure, family and travel needs, instead of constantly striving for more money that you don’t have time to enjoy or being disappointed if you always seem to fall short.

We tend to think small when it comes to ideal lifestyle design, but highly successful people shoot for the stars and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t. Tim Ferriss, author of several bestselling books on business and lifestyle hacking, has a free process for this he calls “Dreamlining”, including sample templates and calculators. The biggest takeaway from this is that by really crunching your numbers you may be shocked to learn that your ideal lifestyle is more easily attainable than you think.

Ferriss has another useful exercise for those who struggle to dream big. “Fear-setting”, he maintains, enables us to purge our brains of the vague worries that paralyse us. The simple act of laying out your worst-case scenarios (in detail, and with a plan to correct them) creates a sense of control and makes nebulous uncertainties seem completely manageable. Define and conquer!

“Goals that are both specific and difficult lead to the highest performance.”
~ Edwin Locke

3: IMPLEMENTATION AND FOLLOW-THROUGH

Once you’ve identified goals that you’re confident and excited about, chunk them down using the S.M.A.R.T goals approach (or whatever variation of this you believe works for you) and divide your plan into daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and 6-month action steps. It’s important here to be realistic about whether the end result you’re looking for can be achieved in 12 months. Tim Ferriss likes to ask: “Am I making this harder than it needs to be?”

His philosophy is to stack the odds of success in his favour by setting himself easy daily targets. For Ferriss, “The feeling that you’re winning is a precursor to winning on a really large scale.” This is not so much about scaling down your dreams, but rather building in enough time and resources to support the process and reduce the pressure around it, while enjoying the momentum created by the easy wins.

Check-ins to hold yourself accountable and to course-correct are a necessity – in whatever increments fit your schedule and personality. Some people will thrive on reflecting on their day each evening, some will find Sunday evenings the right time for a weekly review, and some may only need to check in monthly or quarterly. Many studies support the effectiveness of doing this in writing, but it need not be long-winded or overly time consuming. Quick bullet points are enough, and may be broken down into a similar formula as the yearly review, but with the last point adjusted slightly:

• What went well?
• What didn’t? (and what lessons can be learnt from this)
• What will you do next to stay on track? (does this involve delegating, delaying or deleting parts of your goal?)

Reflecting on your progress also allows for adjustments to your plan. If you’ve reached the 6-month review and you’re a month behind in your action steps, it’s much better to adjust your end target rather than to give up on the goal entirely and feel like a failure, or risk burnout trying to play catch-up.

“Most people overestimate what they’re going to do in a year, and they underestimate what they can do in a decade or two or three or four” ~ Tony Robbins

There is no shame in scaling back your target, outsourcing parts of it or extending the project timeline, especially if life has thrown you unexpected curveballs or your circumstances have shifted.

4: ENJOY AND CELEBRATE!

Enjoying the process greatly assists in the success of a goal. If you can feel like you’re growing as a person in the daily tasks associated with the end result, you’ve already won. This is especially useful if you find you need to adjust the targets midway, or if the act of finally achieving your goal leaves you feeling strangely underwhelmed.

Finally, reward yourself! We don’t give ourselves enough permission to celebrate our wins. When you hit that target, treat yourself, savour the moment and reflect on all the tantalising new dreams you know you can achieve. And if you come short but you’ve still made progress, celebrate anyway J

Best of luck for 2019 from Team CPM!