Thursday, January 1, 2015

Time to reassess your goals? Beyond the simple setting of goals: planting the roots for true success!

Sure we all set goals, but if the foundation to achieve those goals is not solid, the goals go unrealized, often year after year. A goal not worked for is simply a wish. So, how can you realize what foundation is necessary in order to stop wishing and actually achieve your goals? There are many ways, but my favorite way is to create a tree. It can simply be a drawing, or you can get creative and use scraps of colorful paper to create your own tree. This tree represents your life. Through your daily actions you will create a strong healthy vibrant flowering tree, or a wind blown, shriveled up, gnarled tree, you choose…:)

Part one: List all goals - First, make a list of everything that you want in life, now and in the future. Eventually all of those desires/goals will be written on a blossom, but for now, make a list. Your list may include "strong family relationships", "financial security", "to go on pointe", "professional advancement", or simply "eat two vegetables a day for one month".

Part two: Sort life into different areas - Then, write out all the various areas of your life: Those areas may include relationships, career, athletics or dance, house maintenance, your finances, education, etc. Make certain every area is included, leave nothing out. Each area will probably have subcategories, so list those too. Relationships is one area, but may have subcategories such as significant other/spouse, children, friends, family, co-workers, etc.

Part three: Assess the state of each area, and reevaluate goals - Now assess the current state of each of those areas. Akin to our president's annual "state of the union", you need to regularly assess the "state of your life". Are you content with the state of each of those areas, and if not, what improvements would you like to see over the next week/month/year? This is where you reevaluate your goals for the future.

Part four: Figure out what conditions need to exist for success - Going further, ask yourself, what has stopped you from achieving the desired state of your life in the past? Are you disorganized, watch too much tv when you could be exercising, spend too much money on lattes, neglect the core work needed to dance on pointe, eat for your emotions, rather than for nutrition? Decide what conditions need to exist for you to achieve your goals, and then list those conditions. They may include discipline in your nutrition, discipline in finances, organization in your daily schedule, commitment to core work 5 days a week outside of ballet class, prioritizing your activities, etc.

Part five: Create your "life tree", and begin by planning a fertile soil - Draw or paste together a picture, beginning with the soil in the ground. Write all of the conditions you discovered above that need to exist in the soil before your goals are realized. Organization in your daily schedule? Discipline in your finances? Write them all down in the soil.

Part six: Develop strong roots - Moving up to the roots, write the different areas of your life, up to 10 or so areas that we spoke about above. You can write the subcategories in parentheses. Then look down from each root/area, are the conditions in the soil supporting these areas of life? For instance, with finances being one area, are there conditions such as "discipline", "commitment to savings", etc. that will support this root/area?

Part seven: Fill in the blossoms - Now back to the blossoms, remember your list of goals? Write each goal on a blossom, along with your deadline for that specific goal. If you wrote patience on one of your blossoms, how will you achieve that patience? For me that is often some form of exercise. So I may write patience on a blossom and "because I ran today" in parentheses.

Part eight: Evaluate: Do your blossoms have strong roots and fertile soil? - Now it is time to evaluate and see if your blossoms have strong roots to support them, and fertile soil to nurture that blossom. For example, while winning the lottery is not really a recommended goal, it illustrates my point well. If on a blossom you have written "to win the lottery", but down in the soil you don't buy lotto tickets, then your soil conditions are not conducive to this goal. You either need to be realistic and change this goal to something more achievable, or change the conditions of the soil. If your goal is "to go on pointe", then down in the soil should be the condition "doing core work 5 days a week outside of ballet class". If you have chosen not to do the work, re-evaluate your goal, knowing it may not be an achievable one. > Now give yourself a big orange sun in the corner of your tree picture, with the sun representing your attitude. A sunny attitude shines down upon all that you do, and helps your tree to flourish. Step back and take a look at the beautiful tree you have created. Remember though, that the tree and roots needs to be constantly watered, and of course the soil needs tilling now and then. Dead foliage need to be raked away so that fresh leaves and blossoms may appear. That means coming back and re-evaluating the growth, and asking " is my soil still fertile"? "Does my tree receive constant sunshine"? "Does the tree need anything else that I had not considered before"? "Am I doing the actual work to keep my goals realistic, or am I simply wishing? Keep returning to your tree, assessing it's growth, making changes when necessary, and your tree will grow strong and vibrant. Happy gardening!

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