Key Point # 2-Your Goals Should be Based Upon Your Values
My previous post gave you the first key to consider when you’re creating your goals. If you missed it, check out the previous post for the first key. Let’s dive right in for Key #2:
After determining what they want, people tend to look at what they want and jump into taking it on before they stop to think about what they’re doing. When you do that, what happens is that you end up spending a lot of time on things that aren’t really important to you. Sad to say, on a daily basis, people end up spending the majority of time on things that aren’t important to them. As a matter of fact, 80% of the average work day is spent on things that aren’t important with only 20% spent on the things that are important.
Before you morph your thoughts, desires, whims, resolutions, or whatever you might have created into goals, stop to think about how whatever that is relates to something that you value. If it doesn’t, why would you give your time to it? Values have become an intricate part of today’s work environment, and when you think about it they really should be. Corporations are pulling them into the mix, and making them part of the foundation of their business and you should too!
For instance, someone who values their health may create and set a goal to get fit or to get in better shape. Someone who values family might have the goal of spending a designated amount of family time or to take two vacations away with their family. Here, the goal directly relates to a value, and because of that, they would be more likely to succeed. So before you start to create your goals, clarify your personal values. You may not have even thought about this before, but this is definitely the time to do it. Take some time and ask yourself, “What do I value?” Put some real effort into it and identify the things that are most important to you. Then, and only then, can you create your goals. They have to be values-based. When they are, you’re more likely to accomplish them, and you’ll find yourself spending your time focusing on things that matter to you. You can stop spending 80% of your time on things that don’t matter.
Okay, that’s it for Key # 2. Pull out a sheet of paper and get to work on listing those values! Key #3 is coming up soon.