There's a lot of information out there about how to set effective goals. However, the strategies themselves are boring and make you want to cry. Who would want to achieve goals after that?
For your major life goals, your method of selecting and setting them should be exciting and depict the life and death nature of it all. So I suggest leaving behind the business strategy, and follow the Indiana Jones method.
Not sure how this would work? Read on!
(Helps if you have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, or at least a take off of it. If you haven't, just YouTube 'Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark Famous Scene'.)
You should first see the goal in front of you like an idol (this is just for illustration purposes, as a Christian I never recommend idolatry, unless you like plagues). Can you see it? Gleaming on its little pedestal asking to be reached? Good. This is your goal, what you want to achieve and take back home.
Now look at the bag of sand you have been carrying and work out if you have enough sand for the weight of your idol. Sand is the every day material that you will need to give up: time, resources, money, etc. How heavy is your idol? How much will you have to hand over in order to achieve it? Do you have enough?
Holding your breath you ease the goal off in exchange for the sand. It comes free and the cave has not come crashing down. Congratulations! You have just found a goal you can commit to.
But wait, that's only the beginning! You still need to escape from the cave together with your goal to realize it. You can only claim the idol if you get it back home, or else you become another skeleton in the cave. And everyone knows it's once you have decided on a goal that everything in your life tries to prevent you from reaching it.
So, you start well but you soon run into trouble. For Indiana it was a pit full of stakes that he needed to swing across. For you, it could be a gap in your finances that you need some help getting through to the next month, or a sudden time suck that leaves you with not enough hours in the day.
Some kindly person yells to you that you should throw them your goal and they will give you the mundane life item to get you across this barrier. Maybe they say to give up the goal for a sensible job, just for a bit so you can pay the bills.
Do you throw them the idol? Well, if you do, you still have to get out of the cave alive, and you no longer achieve anything at the end!
Maybe you are brave and you keep hold of it, working out some way through yourself. But then life might throw a giant, rolling boulder at you. Just remember, as long as you are running towards the entrance, it is all good.
Of course, when you final come out of the cave victorious with your idol, you usually find a large crowd of people waiting with bows and arrows to take you down. Just when it looks like you have made it, people will try to stop you with criticism or backstabbing. So follow Indiana's advice, and always have an exit plan so you can fly off into the sunset and enjoy your achievement.
That is the way I think goals should be dealt with. A lot more exciting and adventurous than being SMART.
The final thing this model teaches us is that if your goal is not worth the sand you are trading it for, or you are not prepared to jump across pits of stakes for it, then it's not a very good goal. Stick with your sand and your day job.
For your major life goals, your method of selecting and setting them should be exciting and depict the life and death nature of it all. So I suggest leaving behind the business strategy, and follow the Indiana Jones method.
Not sure how this would work? Read on!
(Helps if you have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, or at least a take off of it. If you haven't, just YouTube 'Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark Famous Scene'.)
You should first see the goal in front of you like an idol (this is just for illustration purposes, as a Christian I never recommend idolatry, unless you like plagues). Can you see it? Gleaming on its little pedestal asking to be reached? Good. This is your goal, what you want to achieve and take back home.
Now look at the bag of sand you have been carrying and work out if you have enough sand for the weight of your idol. Sand is the every day material that you will need to give up: time, resources, money, etc. How heavy is your idol? How much will you have to hand over in order to achieve it? Do you have enough?
Holding your breath you ease the goal off in exchange for the sand. It comes free and the cave has not come crashing down. Congratulations! You have just found a goal you can commit to.
But wait, that's only the beginning! You still need to escape from the cave together with your goal to realize it. You can only claim the idol if you get it back home, or else you become another skeleton in the cave. And everyone knows it's once you have decided on a goal that everything in your life tries to prevent you from reaching it.
So, you start well but you soon run into trouble. For Indiana it was a pit full of stakes that he needed to swing across. For you, it could be a gap in your finances that you need some help getting through to the next month, or a sudden time suck that leaves you with not enough hours in the day.
Some kindly person yells to you that you should throw them your goal and they will give you the mundane life item to get you across this barrier. Maybe they say to give up the goal for a sensible job, just for a bit so you can pay the bills.
Do you throw them the idol? Well, if you do, you still have to get out of the cave alive, and you no longer achieve anything at the end!
Maybe you are brave and you keep hold of it, working out some way through yourself. But then life might throw a giant, rolling boulder at you. Just remember, as long as you are running towards the entrance, it is all good.
Of course, when you final come out of the cave victorious with your idol, you usually find a large crowd of people waiting with bows and arrows to take you down. Just when it looks like you have made it, people will try to stop you with criticism or backstabbing. So follow Indiana's advice, and always have an exit plan so you can fly off into the sunset and enjoy your achievement.
That is the way I think goals should be dealt with. A lot more exciting and adventurous than being SMART.
The final thing this model teaches us is that if your goal is not worth the sand you are trading it for, or you are not prepared to jump across pits of stakes for it, then it's not a very good goal. Stick with your sand and your day job.
About the Author:
This and other great tips for managing your life can be found in Buffy Greentree's new book The Five Day Writer's Retreat on Amazon. Or visit www.thefivedaywriter.com for more books, workshops and services for becoming a published writer.
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