One Question to Help Define Your Goal
This essay first appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 11/18/19.
Have you ever experienced that moment when someone says something and it resonates with you so much that you get goosebumps or butterflies or feel like the wind was knocked out of you? I love when this happens. It’s like God is underlining or highlighting something for me to make sure I really hear it.
I had that feeling last Thursday.
My friend and I went to an event put on by Neha O’Rourke, a career coach and founder of Somewhere in Between Coaching. The event was all about bringing women together who are dedicated to designing a career and life around the things they love. I took away so many great tidbits, but my absolute favorite part was a simple exercise led by Neha. I’m so excited to share it with you this morning.
I am going to ask you three questions and I want you to take a moment to reflect and answer. Don’t stress. Keep it simple and reflect on the first thing that pops in your head. And don’t look ahead!!
- What’s one goal you want to achieve?
- How does achieving that goal make you feel?
- What’s your timing for achieving the goal?
At the event, Neha had some people share their answers to question 1. Then, Neha said…
“Those are all really inspiring. But none of you actually told me your goal.” Wait what?
“Your goal is the answer to question 2. It’s how you want to feel. And there are a lot of different ways in besides the answer to question 1.”
INSERT MIND BLOWN EMOJI.
I loved this and couldn’t stop thinking about it! What I took away from the exercise is that I don’t have to wait until I achieve a goal to feel the way I want to feel. I can feel that way TODAY. And you can too!
The feeling I associated with my goal was “energized.” After the exercise, I recognized that the answer I gave to question 1 is just one of the tactics in my pursuit of “feeling energized.”
What are other things that make me feel energized? For me, that’s presenting in front of a group of people or having a great conversation with a good friend or working on this newsletter or finishing a workout.
While I will still work to achieve the goal I thought of in question 1, I will use some of these other “ways in” to infuse feeling energized in my daily routine, at work and in relationships. I personally am going to challenge myself to find a way to “feel energized” at least once every day this week.
Maybe the goal you thought of was running a marathon because it will make you feel strong or paying off your student loans because it will make you in control of your finances or getting a new job because it will make you feel challenged. Like Neha said, these are all inspiring things. And, I think you should definitely take steps to achieve the goals.
But don’t wait to feel those feelings! You could also feel strong by committing to 30 minutes of movement every day this week. Feeling in control of your finances could mean starting a monthly budgeting process and listening to one of the Ramsey Solutions shows. And, feeling challenged may mean you take up learning a new language in your free time. Heck, identifying that you want a new job because you want to feel challenge may even change how you approach the rest of your time at your current job and create a more enjoyable experience (you could ask for a different assignment, learn new skills and end up feeling challenged right where you are!).
I hope you found this exercise helpful. And if you have any questions, I would love to discuss and reflect together. Feel free to email me or chat me over on Instagram (@MeganMondayMotivation).
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