Let’s Make a Goal

A few weeks ago, I attended one of my Women’s Leadership Series meetings. We talked about creating our brand name, but the part that stood out to me the most was when we talked about goals. The guest speaker had us create a T-chart that had our personal goals on one side and professional goals on the other. A lot of the other women in the room found it easier to create their professional goals rather than their personal goals. It kind of bewildered me for a moment because for me, I enjoyed writing down my personal goals more than writing my professional ones.

I had never done that before. I had never written down my personal goals before. I don’t even think I have ever even written a New Year’s resolution before. It was powerful to see them on paper. They went from ideas in my head to tangible words on paper. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. My goals are not just silly ideas, but they are attainable. I can actually get them done.

Now you’re probably hoping that I share these goals with you on this post, but I am not going to. I was taught in my Organizational Behavior class last year that if you share your goals, you are less likely to do them. Weird, but scientifically proven. It has to do with getting praise for having the goals that make people less likely to do them. I promise, though, once I have accomplished some of my goals, I’ll let you know what they are.

So, I titled this post “Let’s Make a Goal” for a reason. I want you to make a goal for yourself. My professor shared with my class this semester a quote from Lewis Carroll, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” Sounded exciting to me, but going aimlessly can get frustrating sometimes. This is why the corny metaphor of using life as a journey and the goal as your destination exists.

When you make goals for yourself, you give yourself a purpose. Once you have a purpose, you can create a plan to fulfill that purpose. Now I do not believe that everyone only has one purpose, so you should not have only one goal. I know that I have several. If you have a purpose and plan to fulfill that plan, you have something to look forward to every day. Are you one step closer to your goal? If not, it is not the end of the world and if you are, you can give yourself a reason to celebrate. How you get to your goal is the fun and creative part, but reaching your goal is the exciting part. While reaching for one goal, you could be completing other goals on your way.

There is no limit to how many goals you can have, just make sure you are not making unrealistic ones. There are so many incredible things you can do. Do not give yourself unattainable goals. These goals are not meant to stress you out or burden you. They are just to make life more interesting. You probably fulfill goals every day without even realizing it because you never wrote them down.

One goal that I have is to write more blog posts. Granted, I have never been good at being faithful to my blog, but I like thinking that the little things I learn can help someone else.

So please, give me feedback, share my posts if they help you or you know people they might help. Feel free to share your accomplished goals with me or how my blog posts have helped you.  If I am too vague on ideas, ask me to expand on my thoughts. Let’s grow and learn together.