Values 3 The Big Goal

When talking about the Big Goal we must first define that goal. It is a dream or goal that feels big to the dreamer. Everything begins with a wish or dream and we turn it into a goal. There is an Art and Science to setting and achieving Big Goals.

First the Science, I like to use the S.M.A.R.T. Goal approach to turn your dreams into goals. S.M.A.R.T. is the foundation for goal setting in that it creates the steps you need to take to define and achieve your goals.

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  S is for SPECIFIC. We turn your dream into a specific statement.
  M is for MEASURABLE. The statement created must be measureable usually either in time or units
  A is for ACHIEVABLE. The question to ask is have others achieved your statement or are they in process of achieving your statement.
  R is for REALISTIC. With your life, do you have the time, energy and patience to complete the dream? Do you have the skills necessary or do we modify the statement to acquire the necessary skills?
  T is for TIME. Set a specific time frame for accomplishing your goal. When do you want to reevaluate your goal statement?

For example, let’s say that your big goal is to read more books. In this statement you have a dream. We want to turn this dream into a goal so we get more specific. I want to read for an hour a day for five (5) days per week. Now we need to exam this statement utilizing the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting technique. We made it specific. It’s measureable as one hour per day. We know others have done this so it is achievable. We know you can read so it is realistic. We need to set a time frame. Let’s say you want to do this for three months starting tomorrow. So we add that to the goal statement. I want to read for an hour a day for five (5) days per week starting tomorrow and continuing for three months. We have just defined our Big Goal.

Secondly, the Art portion is the achieving the Big Goal. The art is in the flexibility needed to achieve the goals when life happens. On a daily basis we must revise and evaluate how life’s interruptions are affecting our pursuit of the Big Goal. As part of the strategy to ensure success, we set the plan to achieve the goal and we set a backup plan. We also will set a strategy to keep the goal at the forefront of our thinking.

For example, using the statement above, we decided in week 1 of our test to read from 5 – 6 pm Monday – Friday as soon as we got home from work. If something comes up after work, then we will read from 10:30 – 11:30 before our normal bedtime of midnight. We put these time frames in our day planner so we are reminded of the goal. During the week we will notice how much we are reading, when and how focused we are during our sessions. We can record our thoughts in our daily planners. At the end of the week we will evaluate to see if adjustments need to be made to succeed in our goal.

We have a few steps to the Big Goal value; setting the goal, daily maintenance and noticing, evaluating the success and succeeding. The biggest secret in achieving a Big Goal is breaking it down into small parts, planning on, deciding and preparing for the work needed to succeed.

Value #2 Inner Motivation

To understand Inner Motivation one should start by understanding the different types of motivations. The top five (5) motivations are:

Utilitarian – meaning one prefers some practical or useful results to come from ones efforts, time, energy or money. People with this value are results oriented sometimes towards money, more productivity or better health. When people with high Utilitarian value volunteer, they want to see practical results to their efforts.

Altruism – someone who values service to others to benefit a certain person, group of people or cause. People with Altruism value want to see that their efforts are used for the good of others.

Aesthetics - can be a beautiful architectural design, art in general or noticing beauty in simplicity of elegance. People with Ascetics high on their values list; see the beauty and interconnectedness to life and its rhythm. Remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder so for a mathematician this could be a theorem or equation while for an artist it could be colors and textures.

Tradition – value of families and connecting through families. This could be around holidays, religious tradition (ceremonies, holidays, and rites). Usually it is not related to liberal or conservative but more about continuity.

Theoretical – value of understanding how things work, why they are the way they are. Usually people with high theoretical follow science, chemistry, biology or religious activities understanding how and why life all fits together.

The next step is to understand how one ranks these values and how specifically they show up for you. Most people need to take an assessment to rank their values. This will help one to understand more deeply and quickly how they show up in your life. This assessment will help you to understand how to spend your time, energy and money to align with your values.