Personal GrowTH-ursday: I Have a Question...

Warning: This is a longer post than anticipated! But last week I received these questions below from a bloggy reader, so wanted to share a bit of my goal making/processing. I frankly love talkin' this stuff (uh...why I started this here blog), and if someone's gonna ask, I'll indulge;-)

Questions from Reader Heather Bleasdell:

1. I have a question, how has writing down your goals for the week (consistently over the last year and a half) affected your life?

I've actually been writing goals like these now for almost ~10 years, but only consistently in the past ~4 yrs, and super consistently when I started this blog in Jan 2009. I came up with the idea from my career as a teacher and counselor. I'd write specific standards/goals for my students for the different academic/behavioral areas. So I applied this thinking to my own areas in life. And my roles and goals have changed through the past ten years;-)  

2. How do you make the distinction between your goals and your list of "things to do"? 

This is a goood question. Because very often my goals can look like my 'To Do' list. But all of my goals stem from my think big, dream big, life ideas and passions I wish to live into as a person. Every Dec/Jan- I (attempt to) write/revise my life goals in a Target $1.99 notebook (pic above) by brainstorm what I want my life to look like 10yrs from now, then 5yrs, 1yr, and 6 months from now. Here's my note pages for the year:

This blue print then gives me direction to attempt to live them NOW by breaking them down into specific steps and actions I can measure. I've found writing weekly goals let's me feel I'm on the path to my big dream stuff.

A basic example: a Home goal: Clean my car/vacuum. This can definitely look more like my 'To Do' List, than a goal. But I actually have an 5yr goal of driving the car of my dreams and loving my car, so one baby step is taking care of my current car, and treating it as it's the car of my dreams.
 
3. At the end of the week, if you have not fulfilled a goal, how do you manage the feelings that come up? 
 I purposefully make my weekly goals SMART. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Related. Again, this is another strategy I used with my students. So instead of writing general, lofty, and/or unrealistic goals such as: 
Health Goal: Eat more fruit and grains this month. 

I'd write: Health: Will eat 4 fruits/day and grains 3 x's this week (or something like that)  Yet, some of my goals are not written the SMART way and that's (mostly) intentional. And I rarely hit all my goals 100%. Inevitably, I hit ~80-95%, and that works for me. It's a work in progress, and doing it consistently at 80% keeps me more on the path than doing nothing.

4. And finally, in your experience, what role do goals play in formulating and achieving one's dream?

Uh...I could write a book with this one! But I won't do that to y'all right now. Short answer: It's the main role. But please don't think I'm sayin' it's  'She lived happily ever after...' over here. Oh no, no, no! But I've been strengthening my 'goal creating' muscle now for a while, and I'm a Believer! 

Now my question to you: Have I converted y'all yet??- Ha;-) If so, start by thinking what you want your life to look like 10 yrs from now. Brainstorm for ~10 min, then think what do you need to do 5 yrs from now to be there? Then 1 yr, then 6 mo from now? See what you come up with. 

Or share with us: In your life, what role do goals play for your big life dreams? Thanks for sharing and sticking through this post! ;-)