“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs.” – Vance Havner
Would you like a fresh perspective on goal-setting? My last series of articles have discussed how to take a vision that comes from your heart and turn it into clarity of focus for direction. We talked about outcomes, which are the change you want to become, and the indicators, which are the measurement or how you know the change is happening.
Now, we are ready to move to a step that focuses on action. There can be many actions that can take us to an outcome that we desire to achieve. So, typically what happens next is that we start writing a long list of goals. These goals tend to be tasks, and we think that if we just get to the end of this task list, we will reach our outcome. However, I have found that this method tends to make us work harder instead of smarter.
As we bury our head in our task oriented goals, we start to live only in the future and feeling like we are on a treadmill with no rest in sight. In the mean time, we may miss some opportunities that could get us to our outcome quicker. We also lose out on the joy of being in the present – really living!
So, take time to look at your outcome. If you were to focus on one priority action for the year to get you to that outcome, what would it be? In the last article, I gave an example of a leader who had an outcome to be a strengths based leader and an indicator of this being that his staff would be empowered to act in the areas of his weaknesses. His top priority for the year could be to develop a complete understanding and application of his strengths. This would be his one focus for the year.
Next, based on his top priority, he could set quarterly priorities. This is where he breaks that top priority into smaller steps. For example, He could have a quarterly priority to take 3 assessments to help him identify his strengths and to study them. He may also have a quarterly priority to meet with a friend who is already actively living out his strengths.
Priorities are action oriented but broad enough that you are not buried in a long task list. As you focus on completing those priorities, you also remain aware of new opportunities that may take you closer to your outcome. Then throughout the year, you are updating and adding to your priority action steps as a new opportunity is revealed. In fact, as you review your outcomes on a regular basis, you may realize that you completed an action step that got you closer to your outcome that you did not even have as a quarterly priority.
As you can see, this is meant to be a living and breathing process. It includes the process of continual extended times of listening for new insights, and also makes you more aware of listening for the opportunities in daily life. Instead of checked-off tasks, it has more of a flow of a relationship. Instead of being a soldier who is completing his task list of orders, you become a warrior who is ahead of everyone breaking new ground.