The end of the year inspires many of us to think about our goals. This is natural and a good thing. However, the way we obsess over goals can be very destructive. Many companies undermine the morale of their teams, lower their impact and dismantle their own culture because they are unable to use goals as motivators for greatness. They use goals as a yardstick for reward and punishment, which creates pressure and distrust inside an organization.
The secret to hacking goals is to change the perspective on them. Don’t focus on the goal itself. Focus on the transformative energy which is attached to it. If you go to college, you must ask yourself what goal you are serving. It is hardly the piece of paper on the wall, the potential pay grade or the status that might come with it. Those are byproducts. It is the prospect of a better life or to serve your purpose in a high-level education profession that will lead to happiness.
If you have a large bank account as a goal, the reframed, inspiring goal would be financial independence, the ability to provide, or the freedom that comes with paying off your mortgage. We don’t work for harmful, depressing numbers and metrics. We work for transformation and inspiration.
If you set for yourself the goal to serve 2000 clients next year, it’s not to make tons of money or to gain critical acclaim in your industry. It’s to spread your message further and touch more people with your valuable services. THIS will lead to money and happiness. While some might argue it is the same, there is clear scientific evidence that it is not at all. The first goal – 2000 clients next year to make tons of money- is impersonal and uninspiring and it will be hard to find support within your own ranks and among your clients, even within yourself. The second goal – spread your message and your valuable services- however, touches people at the heart. Your team will gladly be part of this and support that goal.
As you step into the new year, do this simple exercise of reframing your 2020 goals:
Write them all down and then dwell on every single one. How important are the goals to you? How can you reframe them so that they are about a change of energy? If you have weight loss as a goal, shouldn’t the goal be about feeling better about yourself or your physical fitness? If growing your business is your goal, could it possibly be about increasing your impact? If your goal is to go on vacation, could it simply be about finding more time for yourself or with the family?
Once you have finished the reframing, I advise you to visualize the goals. Find images that represent the feeling of the reframed goal and make it a priority to look at them, once a day, for a few minutes to really internalize the sensation of that goal. The more you do it, the more it will become natural and inform your thoughts, actions and gestures.
