So, he sat down and started setting goals. Where did you start? Your monstrous goal, of course!
A monstrous goal is the most important thing to you at this point in your life. That is a natural place to start. Well, whether it’s your career, family, or a special relationship, are you neglecting the rest of your life in your goal setting efforts?
I have come up with 15 areas in your life that you could consider in your goal setting plan. This will help you take steps to build a more fulfilling and balanced life. Here they are in alphabetical order:
1) Artistic / creative
2) Race
3) Community
4) family,
5) Financial,
6) Fitness,
7) Friends,
8) Fun,
9) Health,
10) Learning / intellectual,
11) living environment,
12) Personal relationship,
13) Psychological,
14) Recreation,
15) Spiritual
Of course, you don’t want to create goals in every area of your life. It would be a bit overwhelming and could work against you. Choose 3-7 of these areas in addition to your monster target and then go through your target setting process. As you do so, carefully consider which areas may be most important to you.
Below is a brief overview of seven of the 15 areas with some examples of some of them.
Artistic / creative: do you feel like painting or do you love to sing? Maybe you like carving wood, making soap, or playing a musical instrument. Including goals related to activities like these can add color and satisfaction to your life in a way that other goal setting areas do not.
Community: This area includes things like volunteering with local groups (non-profit or otherwise) or political and social activities in the area where you live. It also includes organizations you belong to, such as clubs and other social groups.
Financial – This area may be obvious in some way and may relate to your career. But you may also want to consider goal setting in relation to retirement planning, savings, and investing. You may also want to add information about retirement plans or investment vehicles as part of this area of your life.
Fitness: good health is the foundation of a good life. And, because exercise is an important factor in your health, goal setting in this area is very important. To paraphrase Tony Robbins, you can have a lot of zest for success, but if you can’t get out of bed in the morning, you have a problem!
Fun – Now you can be one of those people who never misses an opportunity to “let loose.” But if you’re like most people, this may be an area of your life that you neglect. So I say, life is too short not to have as much fun as you can while doing all those other goal setting things! Telling jokes, being silly, and generally letting your hair down are good goals to help you keep your life balanced and joyful.
Learning / Intellectual: Keeping your mind sharp and young is a worthy goal, don’t you think? Some ways to do this are by taking classes on stimulating subjects you would like to learn about, reading new books / magazines, and playing mentally challenging games like chess and bridge.
Spiritual – For some people, this may not be an important aspect of life. For others, it might be the most important. Here, I am not just referring to religion and traditionally spiritual issues. Setting goals in this area of your life could include writing down an intention to forgive someone, being more loving to others, or starting a new practice like meditation or yoga.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the 15 areas are important, I chose the ones that I felt most connected to as examples. As you go through the list, find out what will give you the most satisfaction in your life; more friends, more money, more fun, a partner or any of the other areas. A good way to help you make a decision is to rate each area according to its importance to you on a scale of 1 to 10 (one = least important and 10 = most important). You will enjoy your goal setting experience more than ever, but most importantly, you will enjoy your life more!
