I recently read an article that made me reflect on how I set and track my goals. The challenge is to live life purposefully. To be effective life goals need to be brought to mind frequently.
I have a system that I use for keeping track of my tasks, my priorities, and my calendar. It drives what I do on a daily basis. However, this article forced me to think about how I track my purpose. I have business goals that I track. I have life goals that I could verbalize. But I don’t have my big goals captured in a way that they would be in front of me at all times.
I knew I could do better. I decided to take some actions.
1. Write down my big goals. This is needed to bring clarity to what I want to achieve. I had written yearly and monthly goals, but they seemed too tactical didn’t capture the true essence of what I wanted to achieve. I wanted my goals to include not just “what” but also “why”.
2. Visualize my goals over time. I want to be able to sense how my goals will feel in one month, three months, one year, five years, and even ten years. Goals are easier to connect with if they are less abstract and more real. Not just in the sense of a number or a target, but how achieving them will affect your life.
3. Reaffirm these goals on a daily basis. Every day I create my daily task list, I have added reading my goals every day. I want to answer the questions: Am I aligned? Am I working towards my purpose? Is the “why” still important?
4. Reflect daily. This may be the most important part of a daily routine. You need to know if you stayed on track. I want to ask myself everyday these two questions: Were my actions today effective in moving me closer to my goals? What do I need to adjust for tomorrow?
Every day counts. It is too easy to be distracted and become disconnected from your “why”. Living purposefully requires daily attention, but it is a discipline that pays big rewards. How are you staying connected to your goals and dreams?