MASTER the Art of Goal Management: Physically, Mentally, and Spiritually
Photo by Frank Frances
Setting a goal is one thing ~ Achieving a TRANSFORMATIVE result is entirely something else!
A goal is a desired achievement or accomplishment. It states what you feel or what a group believes is essential.
You believe, or the group believes, the goal’s value will change life in some meaningful way.
What primary goal are you considering right about now?
Life-based/ Personal Development-related
Health/ Fitness-related
Spiritual
Career/ Professional Development-related
Family-related
Financial
Educational
Lifestyle-related,
If I were to pull the thread on the goal topic with you and say, “[name], let’s get in the weeds together and consider whether your goal is long-term, short-term, lifetime, capstone, foundational, or provisional, could you give me a SMART, or HARD response? Or would you pause, realizing you need to think about it a bit more?
No worries. Goals say a lot about who you are, where you’re going, and whether your values are aligned.
Let’s intro some definitions to help you cultivate the art of goal management.
Long-term goals are accomplishments you want to achieve in the future that will take time and significant planning. Often, they’re tied to your personal, professional, or spiritual desires.
Short-term goals are goals you want to achieve soon, like today or within a year.
Goal-setting is the step-by-step action plan you take on with measurable objectives that show how much physical, emotional, and spiritual energy you spend to achieve success.
Goal Management is the process of setting, communicating, and evaluating more than one goal. The goals can be developmental and/or project-related. The art is in your ability to holistically align, assess, and refine.
Are you familiar with these two goal methods?
A SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
HARD goals are Heartfelt, Animated (vivid), Required (a top priority), and Difficult (but possible.)
Douglas Vermeeren, international speaker and best-selling author on goal setting and human performance, details what research is telling us about goal-setting ~ that 20 percent of the population that does set goals, roughly 70 percent fail to achieve the goals they have set for themselves.
Why?
Vermeeren lists many factors you and I probably encounter when working toward goal success.
Fear of success or failure
Analysis paralysis
Lack of an actual destination
Having too many goals
Lack of motivation to change…
The art of goal management is taking what you masterfully put on paper and deciding to blend the process into your life holistically because setting a goal is honestly about renewing yourself in some manner for the long term.
Even a short-term goal, such as reorganizing your workspace, can give you long-term results. A new design space could optimize your focus and offer you an uncluttered approach to life.
Yep. Focusing on an area of your life will cause you to change some habits, deconstruct and deal with resistant mindsets, and, yes, knock down fear obstacles along the journey.
Sigh…
Those actions should transform and renew your thoughts and attitudes and challenge your spiritual, mental, and physical competencies.
Heck, holistic goal management can humble others [and transform their perspective] as they watch you successfully develop ~ personally or professionally.
Whew! There IS an art to managing goals!
Before you grab your journal or device and shower yourself with a list of goals to choose from, let’s stop and imagine what a transformative end result would look like in your world.
Will your goal-setting process build quality-of-life momentum to near-death routines?
Will the outcome make you feel cleansed, competent, and confident?
Will you be comfortable talking to yourself on a regular basis?
Will the goal stretch you to courageously confront areas in your life that need more nurturing?
Check! Or Check?
Let’s use an integrative and co-active coaching method to help you master the art of goal management for TOTAL TRANSFORMATION: Physical, Mental, and Spiritual.
I call it the DIG IN method that deals with The Blended Self.
MASTER the Art of Goal Management: Physically, Mentally, and Spiritually
📝This post will use the DIG IN method to explore whether your goal is about being or doing. We’ll address your perspective on commitment and fear because these issues can become top goal-busters. As we peel away and cleanse the deeper issues where you and your goal can get stuck, let’s uncover why goal management is a blended holistic process; next, the co-active work begins as we design your goal plan for a primary goal you’ve had your eye on during this Q4.
You'll be equipped and ready to move forward with a realistic approach and timeframe. You’ll also get a downloadable to help you mark progress and see the transformation of The Blended Self in action!
Let’s DIG IN…
Photo by Magnus Unnar
Decisions, decisions…
1. A Being versus Doing Goal.
A Being goal is you saying, “I want to become renewed and innovate cleansing of wrong habits or negative mindsets. I want to grab negative thoughts so I can ignite transformation with practical wins!”
This type can be considered a process-oriented goal because you’re envisioning your future self. The step-by-step process should touch you spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Managing that process will improve your overall resilience and life-coping skills. As you move forward and take your goal from concept to practice, flowing and becoming begin to make sense. You’ll embrace a compassionate, nurturing process.
A Doing goal tends to be results-oriented. It’s more about the destination than the journey. You’ll say, “The steps are the steps. I want structure and logic.” Results or outcome-oriented goal managers aren’t opposed to the process, but they won’t bathe in the process at the expense of the goal.
Performance goals are short-term. Can these types of goals be transformative? Depending on how short the process is, I challenge you to redefine performance. What impact are you making if it doesn’t transform you? How narrow or broad is your physical, mental or spiritual growth investment?
Reflect on your idea of personal or professional success.
Are you ready to write your top three goals? How will you describe a great goal? Are you all set to manage it?
Get ready, set, GOAL!
My co-active role is to help individuals and teams get clarity on their goals and avoid collateral damage and goal burnout. Burnout affects goal performance and well being of the Blended Self.
Working with both types of goal managers, process or results-oriented, the ‘how’ for goal achievement uncovers your initial orientation, and the ‘why’ describes your underlying motive.
The DIG IN method helps you confirm goal intention. It begins with Stillness Time. I encourage you to write down the goal that’s keeping you up at night or the one that’s causing friction in your relationships, personally and professionally. Write down the goal that isn’t aligned with your core values. Identify the goal that will help you increase your spiritual understanding of God and your level of faith in Him. The Blended Self brings your desired goal and all of you into his presence.
If you aren’t comfortable bringing small or large desires, in work, in life, into your quiet time, I highly recommend that you begin by Dedicating Time to Stillness. Studies have shown that stillness brings an increase in clarity, self-awareness, creativity, hearing the voice of God, emotional stability, bringing unity to your heart and mind, etc.
If you’ve never questioned whether God’s presence impacts the direction you’re headed and your goal success, I invite you to use this post to become spiritually curious.
Be true to the process as well as the outcome.
2. Two Goal Busters: Fear and Commitment.
Fear
If you are worried about your skills and exposing how they are slipping, making it difficult for you to accomplish the goal and tasks required, that’s fear of inefficacy.
Maybe you’re stressed about having the resources and support needed to complete the goal with a solid measure of success; that’s fear of loss of control.
Fear can steadily consume the child-like spontaneity and hope that comes when managing the uncertainties of a goal. Outcomes include external factors and a host of ‘what ifs’, along with bouts of overthinking that can smother goal excitement.
Sitting with your fear in order to break its negative hold can be a daunting task to complete. But it has to be done. You must replace fear with faith.
I begin with Stillness time before taking on a new or resuming a continuing goal. This space reminds me there is someone greater than myself. I am accepted already. This goal process gives me a life exercise to grow spiritually, emotionally, and physically (learning new skills). Starting with this daily perspective is helpful and strengthens confidence.
Fear tests your sincere devotion to learning and tries to stop you from taking on challenges that take initiative. It brings you face-to-face with acceptance, failure, rejection, and change.
Changing your internal language and listening out for that negative mindset voice are two of the best ways to overcome fear and holistically grow.
Commitment
How important is your goal? How do you see your role in managing this goal; are you attached to its success? Are you committed, no matter how tired or frustrated you might get throughout the process?
There’s that word again ~ process…
Commitment phobia can liken your goal to becoming an on-again-off-again relationship that lingers for seasons, months, or even years.
I’m speaking from experience! I had to truly understand the goal process to manage it properly. Goal setting changed me. It made me track measurable progress and become honest about timelines. It made me dependable even when the goal honeymoon was over and excitement began to wane. The goal process made me take frequent breaks to check in and say encouraging words [to myself] when the internal or external circumstances were bumpy. It made me establish new spiritual, personal, and professional routines. I had to level up my accountability and surround myself with fellow goal-seekers. My experiences with others reminded me that genuinely transformative goals are marathons, not sprints!
Commitment to the goal will reveal its importance and your actual ability to accomplish it.
How willing are you to be changed by your goal?
How will you handle goal conflict when you must calculate and recalculate the effort, time costs, core value alignment, and skill level to see the lasting impact?
Connecting your goal to another goal can help you visualize how achieving one helps you achieve other life or foundational goals.
Keep the pros and cons of accomplishing your goal handy. Go back and remind yourself how this goal is meeting the needs of the Blended Self ~ spiritual, emotional, and physical.
3. Why Goal Management is a blended process.
Goal management takes intense focus. It’s good to study and learn the best methods that help you focus before creating the goal plan.
I’m clear on what a focused environment looks and feels like for me. I know my optimal hours of focus and have incorporated them into my lifestyle. I’ve counted the costs of my character flaws and freely accepted internal and external changes that must happen for growth. Every day begins with a higher-level moment of quiet, and this time expands my perspective. My God-awareness and self-awareness have increased, and my ability to focus has grown tremendously.
Managing your goal opens the door to see whether your values are being expressed in the things you’re doing or aspiring to do. Core values are your compass and are used as a guide to ensure you’re headed in the right direction. I recommend that every goal is values-based.
Listening skills are another huge aspect of goal management. Listening to yourself by letting your mind tell you what’s helping or hurting the success of your goal. Listening to others can enlarge your idea. Their feedback can help you incorporate a beneficial component that gives your goal-staying power. Benefits can include learning a new skill set, techy tool, or shortcut to achieve goal success. Listening to God will give you the wisdom, discernment, and understanding to appreciate a higher-power perspective that has intimate meaning for your unique purpose within the goal you’re pursuing.
Goal management will teach you how to release and let go of immediate gratification. You will learn how to wait, discern the proper timing of a goal, be patient with yourself and others, and take time to determine whether this goal will rightly connect with the next one.
4. Steps to help you CREATE a TRANSFORMATIVE goal plan.
There are lots of terms, ideas, and steps to pursuing a goal, but only you and God know what it ultimately takes to manage and accomplish YOUR transformative goal plan.
Before you begin, unpack these comprehensive strategies:
>> Get quiet and visualize yourself with a determined effort that permeates your spirit, soul, and body.
This overarching internal conversation should linger long enough for you to hear the personal strategy you need to stay the course. The benefit of this moment is that it’ll help you gauge the growth momentum and resilience you’ll need to accomplish your goal.
I remember when I began a long-term goal. In my Stillness time, I heard it was going to take ten years. I visualized what would manifest from this lifetime goal and the short-term objectives that would become a part of my life-changing process. However, I wasn’t prepared for a lot of the internal and external growth markers because I hadn’t encountered them before. The revelation that confirmation I was actually on the course came from my dedication to Stillness Time. I’m grateful for how resilient I've become by having regular sessions with God, who pulled me along to change, sometimes kicking and screaming, through uncertainty and loss of control (in good, growing ways).
Your determined effort will become evident when it shakes hands with purpose and the core of what you stand for.
I frequently tie in a long-term goal with what’s on my daily and monthly tracking calendar. It keeps me sane, empathetically sound, and filled with joy watching the small results unfold. My advice is that you don’t despise even the tiniest change; time and space will always be steps ahead of your natural mind.
>> Don’t wait too long to enlist a solid Accountability support system.
Uncover the social tribe and user-friendly tools that will keep you accountable in the art of goal management. The interpersonal and technical components you include in this system will continuously remind you [with its bells, dings, and regular calls) that you are ultimately responsible for achieving this goal or pressing snooze.
The spotlight will inevitably shine on you because your integrity ~ how you value honesty and openness ~ needs to be uncovered.
Accountability is beneficial because it lets you know whether you are taking your commitment seriously. Choosing the right personalized support system will help you take responsibility for your actions most efficiently ~ the good and bad ones.
A benefit to a holistic, healthy accountability system is a strong one that reminds you to be patient and flexible, even when roadblocks pop up. You’ll need to stop and understand what you see in the goal process because the mind can play tricks on what a transformative goal looks like.
Remember, you are learning to make sound decisions in uncertain physical, emotional, and spiritual environments. You are also learning how to maintain a growth-centered work environment which will enable you to produce a high-quality result when no one is watching or there to cheer you on.
>> Decide the best way for YOU to track measurable progress.
Begin by breaking up your goals into manageable tasks.
For example, when I have to set a team dynamics meeting with a client, once we identify the long-term goal of the team-building project, a list of tasks is distributed for the organization’s designee and me to review to ensure our expectations are aligned.
A checklist can look like this:
Name the Top two goal objectives (Primary, secondary.)
Thread the Blended Self in each objective with a strategic statement of how the objective will impact the group physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Your Gathering goal: write out the project purpose and vision
Align the reason for gathering with the top three core values (team project values should align with org values)
Designee tasks (Broad strokes action steps)
Team tasks (Broad strokes action steps)
Trainer tasks (Create slides & broad stroke presentation notes for action steps)
With team building projects, I use a CLEAR goals method.
CLEAR Goals are:
Collaborative (Goal fosters a strong team dynamic)
Limited (Goal should be realistic in scope for the time you have together)
Emotional (Goal should make an emotional connection to the team’s energy and tap into the EQ factor.)
Appreciable (Large goals should be broken down into smaller goals for optimal focus; take the next most minor, most obvious action so they can be accomplished more quickly; identify the types of metrics that will confirm that the goal has traction)
Refinable (Set goal with a ‘what matters most’ objective; acknowledge frequently with the team that it’s OK if new situations or information arise, give permission for the goal to be refined and modified due to scenarios out of everyone’s control)
I advise individuals and teams that decide to use goal-tracking apps to compare no more than three carefully. Make sure you know how it works and can use it without getting overly frustrated. Test it out, if possible, before you commit to the selection decision. Once you start using the tracking tool, stick with your choice to see the process from start to finish. You’ll have A-Z results to fully evaluate the app later on. Remember to give yourself rewards for completing a task that really matters. Whether it's 20 minutes to mind wander and scroll a fun feed or pausing to have a dollop or two of whip topping on a slice of pumpkin pie ~ enjoy your incremental successes!
Now, there’s nothing wrong with tracking progress the old-fashioned way. Research shows us that writing tasks down activates a higher level-thought process. It engages you to make more focused actions. You’ll find yourself increasing your awareness to analyze fears and concerns while keeping a positive mood because you’re better able to recognize the triggers. You’ll see resilient behaviors developing to curb those mindset blocks. It’s also been shown that writing doesn’t take longer than digital writing and can be more accurate. A study from the University of Tokyo concluded that the brain responds favorably to memory recall when writing by hand. Your one-of-a-kind personal flair can invoke creative moments.
And who doesn’t like a good scratch-it-off-your-list dopamine rush moment?!
>> Check-ins with yourself and others are essential. Monitor daily goal progress with evening self-reflection journaling. This can make space for root-cause analysis moving you closer to nurturing your renewed self.
Tracking in a variety of ways will keep you from developing a progression blind spot when you forget that change is, in fact, occurring - even if it’s slow or hardly noticeable.
>> Desire Blended Self-growth. Don’t let your goal overtake the holistic you. Stay on top of your work style and individual personality dynamics, and learn what your overworking style looks like. Accept your limits and remind yourself that God wants all humanity to take time for rest. He’s able to restore and ground us spiritually, emotionally, and physically when we lean into quietude. Always aspire to grow The Blended Self.
Another benefit of this desire is that it helps you build a stronger relationship with God and others. As you track measurement and stack your transformative goals and see small lifestyle changes take place, the goal outcome will become horizontal as well as vertical.
💻 set up a 1:1 strategy call with ej. Let's master the art of goal management and set your One Big TRANSFORMATIVE Goal today!
Using the DIG IN method, you’ll approach goal-setting first by making a decision to be or do. Top goal-busters exist, but you’ll have a successful start at managing your goal by gaining the true meaning of The Blended Self. The comprehensive strategies and benefits outlined using a holistic approach will help you create transformative goals and a personalized design plan for moving forward.
Receive your complimentary Goal Ideation Map. Get ready to set a realistic goal plan for 2023.
Use EJ’s DIG IN integrative model as you work to uncover the art of goal management:
Dedicate time to Stillness.
Innovate cleansing.
Grab the thought.
Ignite Transformation.
Nurture your new self.
Here’s to purpose, passion, learning, and growth! ✨