2015 Goals Revisited

 

We’re almost halfway through 2015 which means this is a perfect time to sit down and reacquaint yourself with those New Year’s resolutions and goals that you set forth to conquer earlier in the year.

Consider asking yourself the following questions when looking at and revisiting your goals:

1. Is this goal that I established back in December/January still important to me?

Do keep in mind that if you haven’t tackled this goal yet or forgot about it, it might be easier to want to answer this question with a NO. But please make sure to be honest with yourself. If it truly is a significant goal that you still view as important in your life and haven’t began working on or finished it yet, keep it on your list.

On the other hand, if you really do think that this goal is no longer relevant to you now, then by all means remove it.

If you’ve been actively working on and successfully reaching that goal then I salute you! Awesome work, my friend.

2. How do I know if a goal is still important? If you’re not quite sure how to answer question 1, read more here.

Good question…maybe these other points of reference will help guide you:

• Will working on this goal help me to: become happier, advance me in my career, make more money, live my life more optimally (this is vague I know and varies from person to person), become healthier, feel more fulfilled, etc.

Goals can change from time to time based on life’s spontaneous happenings and/or unexpected changes in your life. And that is ok. Be flexible enough, but don’t forget to hold yourself accountable to the ones which haven’t changed.

3. What is keeping me from accomplishing these goals?

Identify the major culprit for that particular goal, write it down, and make it your sub-goal to focus your attention on that root cause of you not being able to achieve your goal.

Now you may find that often the underlying problem to you not attaining your goal could be answered with: “Not enough time” or “Not enough time in the day” or “I’m too busy”. These are all variations on the same rationale for not reaching your goal. Though some may have more time than others in a day (for instance someone who has a 40-hour/week job vs. the unemployed person), it often comes down to priorities and how that person chooses to spend their free time.

I wrote another similar blog post about goal setting and priorities — check it out for some other perspectives on this topic: http://wp.me/p5E8l7-4A

4. How can I better prioritize these goals?

Keep in mind there is no right answer here, but here is a suggestion.

Look at your goals. On a scale from 0-10, from the goals you’ve deemed ones still worth focusing on, rate them accordingly (0 being not a priority, 5 being a medium priority and 10 being an urgent priority). I would suggest that if you’ve ranked any of these less than a 5 to consider removing them from your list. They may seem like goals to you but if they’re not as important as the higher ranking ones then maybe they don’t need as much of your TIME.

Arrange all of the goals that have made the cut in descending order on your priority scale. Those with a 10 should be worked on sooner than those with a 7. This will help you refocus your attention and know where to spend the majority of your time.

---

Here’s an example illustrating using the questions above to REVISIT YOUR GOAL(S):

GOAL: Exercise 4 times per week.

Re-evaluate goal: Is this still important to me? — “YES!”

How do I know this? “When I do exercise regularly I feel healthier.”

What is keeping me from accomplishing this goal? — “I just don’t have enough time.”

Identify the culprit: TIME (not enough free time)

Possible solution: If TIME is my underlying cause of me not achieving my goal, it’s really a matter of me not prioritizing that goal. What can I shift around in my daily life to make this goal a top priority? “Perhaps I’ll shift around my goals and eliminate learning how to paint as a goal for 2015 as I’ve ranked this a 4 on my priority scale. This will free up a few more hours in the week to exercise.”

---

CALL TO ACTION:

Take some time this week or next to revisit those goals of yours that you’ve set forth earlier in the year and rewrite, delete, and/or shuffle the priority ranking of them around so that you have a new understanding of what is meaningful to you now at this halfway point in the year and also what is preventing you from crushing your goals for the remainder of the year.

Did you find this post helpful? If so, please share with a friend, loved one, or colleague. Thanks for reading!