Setting GoalsCAREER
by Laura Interval
“The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.”
Think about this for a minute. When you go on vacation, what do you do? Who are you? When you’ve taken time off from work, you’re in a beautiful place, you don’t HAVE to DO anything. What do you consistently do? Do you read, fish, swim, paint, write? What is your natural state? Look at that Mark Twain quote again. If those two things are not the same for you, then you need to get your vocation goals in line with vacation goals. So, think about this in a different way. If when you’re on vacation, you read for example, and your present job has nothing to do with reading, then you may be happier in something like publishing or editing. If you answered “fish and swim”, why not consider being an adventure guide or sports equipment representative? If you’re laying on the beach in a lounge chair sketching palm trees then maybe you should be illustrating travel articles for good money at home. In other words, there is tremendous need out there in the world for people to do what it is that you love doing! You are much more likely to have more value in society by doing something that you are passionate about. In fact, it’s your responsibility to make your vacation your vocation! So, let’s do a career goals exercise: I want you to picture yourself 5 years from now.See yourself in the perfect career that is based on your vacation. What are you doing? What does it feel like? And without thinking too hard, for the next few minutes, I want you to WRITE the answers to these questions as clearly as you can. Remember, it’s about writing these goals down. Don’t just sit and think it. WRITE IT. When you write them down, you make them real. What is the job?
Now, let’s make a timeline to build your bridge from today to your 5 year vision. As an example, if you were writing about yourself being a fishing guide in Montana who owns his own guiding business, how do you get there? In other words, where do you need to be 2 years from now, 1 year, 6 months, 1 month? Here's an example: 5 years: Montana fishing guide with own guiding business 2 years: Living in Montana, working as a guide for another company 1 year: Working on fly fishing skills, working part time for a local guiding company 6 months: Taking a business class, guiding friends on fishing expeditions 1 month: Research being a fishing guide, find a mentor This is a hypothetical example, of course, but you get the idea. By working backwards, your steps become real and clear. You develop a plan that consists of realistic goals with specific actions to get you there. These smaller achievable goals will bridge you to your larger goal. So, by writing down your future goal, and writing down the series of steps you will take starting TODAY, you’ve drawn a very detailed map of how to get from here to there. When you know where you’re going, and you know what action is required for each step of the way… you WILL ACHIEVE IT! Take a look back over your goals. Do they excite you? Do you know WHY you want them? Anthony Robbins says the WHY is more important than the WHAT. In fact, he says your ability to achieve your goals is 80% WHY and 20% WHAT. So, the last piece of this puzzle is your WHY. What does it mean to you? How great would it feel to know that everyday of your working life… is play? If you love your job, you’ll never work another day in your life and your vacation will become your vocation! You have your clearly defined goals, you have your WHY and now you need to take action towards the first step, your one month goal. TODAY. How do you feel? If you did these goals fully, you may feel a little emotional and exhausted! But you should also feel inspired and revved. You are now in the top percentile of achievers . . . just having written down your goals! Reminder: I developed my morning TASK to keep me on track. This technique grounds me every morning and guides every decision I make now.
Find the technique that works for you and do it, everyday and before you know it, it will be habit. Who you want to be will become who you are.
Next Goal:
|
