Priorities VS Goals Coach Gabriela Mueller
By Gabriela Müller Mendoza @gabrielamueller
What do you want for yourself in 2017? What do you REALLY want? We all want so many things and often all at the same time. At some point, we all want to be in shape, have a beautiful house and a great family, loving relationships, a successful career, money, recognition and more. If you are like me and think of changing and making any sort of progress next year, you will be thinking about how and when to make these changes. Statistically, JANUARY 15TH is the date when, in any new year, over 70% of people will have already forgotten their new year’s resolutions! So early in the year? True.
Do you know that, statistically, around 83% of people live/work without real goals and no strategy? Really. Another 14%, have them only in their heads and only 3% of people actually write down their goals. The action of actually writing down your goals increases your chances of success by up 30 times. Now, before you go ahead and simply write down your goals, keep reading, because the success factor is yet to come. Any long-term, important goal requires us to make a sustained effort. That’s where it gets tricky. There are two main qualities we need to develop in order to reach the life we’d like: focus on priorities, and consistency. So, how do we do that? THREE things:
1. Keep your focus Priorities instead of end goals. You may have thousands of projects and ideas, though only a few of them will make a noticeable, positive effect on your life. When you start thinking in terms of “priorities”, things will start to fall into place and your focus and productivity increases significantly. Prioritizing is easy - ask yourself: What is most important and meaningful in my life today (activities, values, beliefs, lifestyle, principles, standards, hobbies, integrity, etc.) that I am not willing to compromise or sacrifice in pursuit of something else (a goal)? A goal is a future-based, anticipated expectation, possibility or end result which you are working towards, and to be realized in the future.
Now, when we achieve clarity about our PRIORITIES, it eases the process and increases our chances of staying focused. If we keep on doing what we’ve always done, we’ll keep on getting what we’ve always gotten. Focusing on habits and daily behaviors instead of only on the “end-result” gives you consistency. This increases your chances of achieving your goals.
2. Look at your Wheel of Life. The following exercise is a significantly meaningful coaching tool.
Wheel of Life - Coach Gabriela Mueller ref. CTI coaching tools
It will help you identify key areas of your life and it will help you choose your own priorities. This Wheel of Life will represent the areas of your life. The categories are suggestions (you may vary them according to your area of interest). Calibrate how satisfied you are at this point about each particular area. The closer you calibrate your satisfaction to the center (0, 1...), the lower your satisfaction level is. 0 = low satisfaction, 10 = the highest satisfaction. Be honest. This is all about you - you don’t have to show it to anyone. Join the dots - it’s a snapshot of a given time which will show you a visual representation of where you can choose priorities to work on. Choose the area/s which will have a higher positive impact on your life wisely if you were to work on them. I always recommend my coachees start with two or three (no more) and then define their priorities among the few chosen ones.
Based on your own satisfaction, how does your Wheel of Life look now?
What will it look like in 2017?
3. Get accountability. You can follow your own path to define and plan, including a time line. Schedule them into your calendar, again a schedule is better than a deadline (process vs end goal). Set calendar alerts, phone alerts, put post-its up, friendly structures/reminders that will keep you focused. Schedule your steps into your life, keep them close to you somehow. Get accountability going, whether is your support tribe / friends /partner, or you want to keep your goal to yourself it can also be a great strategy though set up a system or structure that continues to remind you or help you register progress.
The difference is, that now you’re focused on the areas of your life that you’ve decided have priority, and not only on the goals themselves. So, when it gets hard to stick to your resolutions (after January 15th 2017) you can go back to a higher and smarter perspective (your Wheel of Life) and remind yourself of the WHY you decided to set a goal in the first place. Something that PULLS you towards your personal vision, and nothing that pushes you based on forced will-power. You’ll increase your chances of being one of the people who actually achieves their desired goals.
I leave you with a quote that I personally find to be true: “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you”. I wish you successful and exciting 2017!
Gabriela Mueller Coach Speaker
Gabriela Müller Mendoza Coach –Trainer- Professional Speaker “Unlocking full potential and dissolving barriers to excellence” Switzerland. www.powerful-change.com Twitter @gabrielamueller
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