We set goals with excellent intentions, however most of us tend to fall short of those life goals and not necessarily because they are unrealistic, but because we fail to make room in our life to achieve the goals and we fail to address where we might have in-congruence either internally or externally with our goals.
Five key approaches that support successful goals:
- Establish Goals – Determine what you want to achieve – make sure it is clear, achievable and desirable.
- Define Success – Define what success looks and feels like, must know what it is to achieve it.
- Release Assumptions, Beliefs, Habits and Behaviors – determine what you need to release in order to make room for new behaviors, habits, etc.
- Design and Execute – design your plan and begin executing the plan.
- Check Ecology – check where you internally or externally are incongruent with our goals and execution plan.
Most of us stop at tactic 4 in the process of setting goals. Then 6 weeks later we wonder why we are not moving forward in accomplishing our goals. Ecology takes into account the consequences of a planned action or change. Ecology considers the outcomes of the goal and whether it is positive for the individual, supports the overall goal of the group as well as the relationships important to us. To be successful, conducting an ecology check before you move forward will greatly enhance goal achievement. If there is in-congruence or negative type of outcomes that will happen if you execute on your goals which are not addressed and considered you will be far less likely to be successful as you will “stealthily” sabotage yourself. You will find those loopholes, either consciously or subconsciously, that will support the lack of goal achievement, which will eventually lead to goal abandonment.
So, how do you know that your goals are ecological? Ask yourself the following:
First, does it work for you? Ask yourself: What will happen to me if I achieve these goals? How will my life change? How might this positively impact me? Negatively impact me? Where might I sabotage myself? What benefits might end? What losses might occur?
Second, how will this affect those important to me (family, friends, coworkers, etc.)? It is not just about whether we are ok, but what about those in my life who are important? Ask yourself: What will happen to those important in my life if these goals are achieved? How will our relationships change? What new boundaries or structure will need to be established going forward?
Third, how will this affect your family or organization and your culture? Ask yourself: What impact will this change have on our family/organization? How will this impact our family goals? How will this impact the culture we have created? What losses might occur?
Ecology is the last check we need to have before we proceed forward with our goals. By exploring Ecology, we support goal success through ensuring we are truly ready to achieve our goals. We look for and find our points of incongruence and address them so success can occur.