The photo above is of me with my high school track coach, Marty Bushland. Marty was the first person to introduce me to the process of setting goals. At the beginning of each track season he would have us write down our goals on a sheet of paper and post it somewhere where we could see it on a daily basis. I still have one of these sheets of paper from my senior year of high school. Back then I didn’t realize the power of setting goals and viewing them daily but I am now a true believer in the power of setting high standards for yourself and working towards them every day. The idea behind this is that you become what you think about most of the time. If you see your goals frequently then you’ll be thinking about them more often and they will eventually become reality if you put forth the effort.
Back in 2005 I started working with a more in depth goal setting structure that I think is an invaluable tool for success. I’ve tweaked it over the past 4 years and have come up with a structure that I think works best for me. I break down my goal setting process into four segments: 5 Year Goals, 1 Year Goals, Top Ten List, and Daily Actions List. I try to sit down and re-evaluate my 5 Year Goals, 1 Year Goals, and Top Ten List at least twice a year or whenever I have knocked something off of the Top Ten List or reached one of my goals and need to come up with another one. The best time for me to do this is during training breaks such as November/December and whenever I take a mid-season break in the summer. This typically gives me some mental clarity and gives me the opportunity to take a new direction if necessary.
Five Year Goals
For this post I will walk through the first step of the process: Setting Five Year Goals. This step is important because it forces you to think about what you really want further down the road instead of just thinking short term. Before I start setting goals I write down what is most important to me. These values should be the cornerstone of each goal that you set for yourself. Here are some examples of what I might put down for my values:
Values:
- Jen
- Family
- Friends
- Happiness & Laughter
- Integrity
- Honesty
- Continual Learning
- Healthy Lifestyle
- Teaching & Inspiring Others
- Financial Stability
Then I create a list of things that I enjoy doing most. This is important because your goals should not only be in line with your values but they should also be linked to things that you get a high level of enjoyment out of.
Enjoy:
- Spending time with Jen
- Being with family
- Training with my friends
- Hanging around people that make me laugh
- Competing at nearly anything
- Helping others reach their goals
- Relaxing, watching TV or movies
- Playing cards with friends
- Mastering new skills
Once you’ve got your values and things that you most enjoy doing down on paper it makes the next steps easier because you can go back and reference those two lists. The next step is to remove any self limitations and think about what your perfect life would be like FIVE YEARS from now if you had the absolute power to become anything that you wanted to be. To make this thought process easier I typically break this down into five different sections: Relationships, Profession, Athletics, Finances & Real Estate, and Self Improvements & Hobbies. These could obviously be different for you but they are the five main topics in my life at this time. For each of these sections I think about who I’m surrounding myself with, what I’m doing, where I am, what skills I’ll need to get there, and I start writing down 3-5 goals for each section. Below I'll share one example from each of the categories from my last goal setting session. You may notice that my 5 year goals are not as specific as the 1 year goals will be. It’s more like painting a picture of what life will be like 5 years from now.
Relationships:
- I consistently follow through for those closest to me.
Profession:
- Athleticore.com has over 50K unique visitors per month.
Athletics:
- I am a consistent top 3 finisher at 70.3 events.
Finances & Real Estate:
- We have over 90% yearly occupancy for all five rental properties.
Self Improvements & Hobbies:
- I am fluent at speaking Spanish.
Where Am I Right Now
The next step is to take a look at each of these goals and figure out where I am right now compared to where I will be when I reach that goal. This gives me an idea of how much work and time will need to be put into each goal. It’s also gets the thought process going on how I can get from where I am now to where I want to be. Below is one example from my 5 year goals:
Goal: I am a consistent top 3 finisher at 70.3 events
Where am I now: I’ve recently placed 5th and 6th at two 70.3 events and was an average of 6:47 back from 3rd and 9:43 back from 1st. I’ll need to make up around 8-9 total minutes between my swim, bike and run to be a consistent top 3 finisher.
Now that you know where you want to be in 5 years and you know where you are right now the next step is to set some goals for in between to take baby steps towards those 5 year goals. My next post on goal setting will focus on the 1 Year Goal Setting session to fill in the gap between where you are now and where you want to be in 5 years.