3 Steps You Need To Take Before You Set Any Goal (Part 1)
By Doug Bennett aka The Goals Guy® with special guest Daniel Lawson
What do you think is the difference between the goals that come to fruition and those that don’t? Could it be taking consistent action, having the right support, or do you think it might be something else?
If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while (thank you), you’ll know that I am The Goals Guy®, so it was particularly refreshing for me to chat to adventurepreneur, business owner and coach Daniel Lawson on the Goals Do Come True podcast (click here to listen), because he shared a few insights that sparked my interest at a deeper level.
Originally from New Zealand, Daniel now lives in Bali and assists thrill-seekers to build their ultimate adventure lifestyle business.
Daniel shared so many juicy insights that I’m going to sprinkle them over two blogs (the second one will be with you on 5 December).
Daniel: “I believe that goals don’t work very well for people because they jump straight to writing down their goal versus taking care of the steps that need to happen even before you commit to a goal. You need to pay attention to the thinking behind it and the structure within it, because then writing the goal is a different experience.”
In this blog, we’re going to explore the three steps that Daniel believes you need to take before you put pen to paper.
3 steps you need to take before you commit to writing down your goals
Daniel recommends the following steps:
1) Notice the themes in your life
Daniel: “You need to have a really strong understanding of where you sit in your life because if you are getting ready to turn all your focus towards a goal, you need to make sure you’re not going to neglect other areas of your life.
For example, if you focus too much on creating a business, you will have less energy to put into your relationship, and then if you stop getting the support that you need from that relationship, you’re going to feel very alone in your business and that’s not going to help you achieve your goal. Start with your baseline in mind; there’s a wholeness that we need to focus on so that you connect with what’s really important.
Often I find that people know where their life is already at capacity, but until they admit it and commit to making a change, their goals won’t happen because they’re already avoiding challenging areas that need support.”
2) Take stock
Daniel: “The second step I encourage my clients to do is to focus on three to five things that have gone really well in that area [their answer to #1]. We do this because when we connect with things that we aren’t so good at, we’re coming from a place of lack.
For example, most people want to lose weight because they feel they don’t look good or they feel sluggish. They tend to focus on that problem rather than acknowledging that they are already exercising more or have increased their water intake. When we focus on what’s going well in any area, we feel empowered to move forward. You can brainstorm all the things that are going well to help you shape your goal later on.”
I really appreciated this insight from Daniel because it’s a sure-fire way to start noticing where you’re already achieving a level of success, which in turn can help you to build momentum.
3) Define and gather your inner resources
Daniel: “Even though we haven’t even got to the goal-setting part yet, we know the area of life that we’re going to be setting the goal in, and we know what’s going well and what needs to happen differently. When you reach this stage, you can begin to think about the attributes that you need to make a shift to your current situation.
You might need masculine energy with a lot of drive and determination, or you might be ready to tap into a more feminine energy where you extend self-compassion and increase your self-care. You might need both, but either way you need to recognise what you need right now before you move forward.”
Entrepreneurs are notorious for skipping self-care in favour of sending one last proposal or working an extra hour, but unless you’re a brain surgeon nothing is so important that you can’t blank off two hours in your diary for the most important person in your life (that’s you by the way). You need to schedule in that time as much as anything else because it will help you be more compassionate, well-rounded and more interesting.
Consider your strategy
What do you think about the three steps Daniel shared? Would you prefer to dive into setting a goal and taking action, or do you recognise the merit in assessing where you’re at, taking stock and gathering your inner resources?
Now consider the question I asked at the start of this blog: what do you think is the difference between the goals that come to fruition and those that don’t? Can you see how getting clear on the themes in your life, taking stock of where you’re at, and gathering your inner resources will help set you up for success?
Stay close for Daniel’s second set of insights, which I’ll share in next week’s blog.
In the meantime, do you have a goal that you’re working towards? Would you welcome my professional support and accountability to bring it to life? If so, why not click here to book a complimentary discovery call with me?