Which is why I now choose to look at my goals as Life Goals.

Simply put, it’s impossible to separate personal from professional — they’re one in the same, and we have to stop treating them like two different things. One affects the other in a positive, negative or neutral way.

This became very clear to me recently when a family member became sick for an extended period of time.

When this happened, most of my “professional goals” shifted to caring for my family, house, shopping, cooking, laundry, etc. Yes, I still needed to keep projects moving forward for our clients (thank goodness for my awesome team), but all of the professional goals for my business went on hold.

And if I were to look at this situation as personal goals vs. professional goals, I would be failing completely at one of them.

But if I take a step back and look at my Life Goal: to be the best husband, dad, person and business owner I can be — but always to put my family first when they need me — then I’m right on target.

This isn’t to say that I cater to every whim my family has. That wouldn’t be healthy for anybody. But when there’s a crisis, they come first.

This new revelation isn’t without conflict. In fact I’ve found that I often have two incredibly good goals that are in direct conflict with each other — and then I have to choose which goal to focus on, at least for the short-term. The decision ultimately comes down to what fits best into my Life Goals — but no matter what I decide, the choice is often bitter sweet.

As you can see, I don’t have all the answers (if I did this article would be longer). But I have found that Life Goals make it easier for met to keep on track in all aspects of my life — for the LONG TERM. I say this because if we get caught up in the short term, when we may be focusing most of our energy on family or business for days or weeks on end, there will be no semblance of balance at all.

But if we take a long-term view, we’ll see that our efforts CAN balance out over time — with great effort being made in different parts of our life at different times.

I wish you a belated Happy New Year, and best of luck with your Life Goals!

Related articles:

• Running a Small Business & the Art of Balance
• Running a Small Business & the Art of Discovering Goals
• Running a Small Business & the Art of Defining Goals
• Running a Small Business & the Art of Setting Goals
• Running a Small Business & the Art of Overcoming Obstacles

The post Choose Life Goals — Because Personal & Professional Goals Don’t Exist appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Recently, I was reading Book 3 of an excellent series called My Struggle, by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Although the series focuses on the events of every day life, it offers many opportunities for self reflection.

Early on in the book, Karl Ove brings up the concept of self-perception, which got me to thinking about it in my own life — professionally and personally.

• How do I perceive myself as a dad, a husband, a writer?
• How do I perceive myself as a business owner?
• How do others perceive my business and the services we offer?
• And maybe most importantly … how do I perceive the world?

Perception is not only how I describe these things in words, but also how I feel about something. Which makes my perceptions very powerful, as they will ultimately create my reality.

It was Muhammad Ali that once said, “what you are thinking is what you’re becoming.” On the same note, Henry Ford said, “whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”

I bring this up because no matter where we’re at in our lives, we’re probably busy and running around trying to keep up. But sometimes it’s important to stop, and ask ourselves the questions listed above.

Otherwise, our tomorrow will look just like our yesterday.

This is fine if our goals match up with our perceptions. But if we’re not examining our perceptions of the world, and our place in it, how do we know for sure where we stand? And how can we expect things to change if we’re not aware of what needs changing?

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You read that right. This book is all about you, and believe it or not — it’s extraordinary.

To begin, write down your story thus far, including some of the major peaks and valleys that have lead you to where you’re currently at. These can be personal, professional or both.

This is the story that’s been written SO FAR, and now comes the truly creative part …

YOU GET TO WRITE THE REST OF YOUR STORY.

Sound scary? Tempted to stop reading (in other words, are you resisting)? That’s OK. But please read on for the sake of your own future.

What we’re really talking about here are goals. And whether your goals are crystal clear, or completely unknown, this article can help move your story forward. Regardless of where you’re at, whether it’s been the most challenging chapter of your life or the most successful, don’t allow someone else to write your story.

Let’s take a look at a process that can help you discover, define, set and accomplish your goals. In other words, what needs to happen — step-by-step — in order to have the story end like you want? If you happen to know exactly what your goals are already, feel free to skip the discovery section and dive right into defining your goals further.

A Practical Plan to Attaining Your Goals

Discovering Your Goals
I wasn’t kidding about writing stuff down, and although there’s no need to literally write an entire book (unless you want to), you’ll need to take out a piece of paper, open a Word doc, or if you’re like me … a Moleskine.

Now, get comfortable in a quiet place where the kids won’t disturb you. Mute your phone, and shut down you email. Close your eyes (or keep them open) and imagine what you’d like your life to look like five years from now — if there were no obstacles in your way. What would you like to be doing with your life or your business? Whatever comes to mind, no matter how outrageous, write it down. And don’t leave out any details!

If you feel stuck, simply ask yourself the following question: what do I love to do the most? 

Create your list of goals based on the answer to this question. Let your answer be your focal point, so everything you write down is connected to it in some way. If you focus on doing what you love, you’ll be more apt to do a fantastic job with it. As far as things you “kind-of like to do?” They don’t make the list.

Once your list is complete, set it aside for a couple of days before going back to it and eliminating all but the most interesting things you’re most passionate about. You now have a list of goals to choose from. Which will be the plot points in your story?

Clearly Defining Your Goals
Vagueness leaves us directionless, but goals brimming with details give us a crystal clear view of what our future looks like. Add as many details as you can to each of your goals, making them as vivid as possible. A clearly-defined goal is like an address you type into your GPS. It’s very specific. There’s no doubt about where you’re headed. And if you can’t literally visualize what a goal looks like, just describe it in words.

Setting Your Goals
Next up is setting a step-by-step plan of action. Just remember, you may not have the whole plan in place when you start, but you will be clear on your destination. To begin, document as many preliminary steps as you can. As one of my mentors Zig Ziglar used to say, “go as far as you can see. When you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.”

The most important part of setting goals is to make sure each step (or action) is “bite-sized.” In other words, make sure it’s something you can handle. Five manageable steps get accomplished, while one giant leap often leads to a big fall.

Overcoming Obstacles
Early on, every writer learns about building conflict (obstacles) into their story. And although you won’t intentionally be planning obstacles into your goals, although some of us may be in the habit of getting in our own way, there may be times when you’ll face an obstacle or two on your way to reaching your goals.

I always like to say, an obstacle is like a hurdle, and sometimes it’s just plain easier to walk around it than try to jump over it.

If an obstacle manifests, examine it and turn it into an opportunity. What do you need to do in order to remove the obstacle, crush it into the ground, or simply avoid it? A positive outlook, even in the face of short-term failure, is a major contributor to long-term success. Look at Thomas Edison. Each of his 10,000+ failures to create a workable lightbulb could have been an obstacle that stopped him from continuing. Instead, Edison used failure as a lesson as to what to do differently next time.

Keeping your plan of action flexible, and making revisions as necessary, is a surefire way of increasing your odds for successfully accomplishing your goals.

Put a Date on It!
A goal with a deadline of “one year from now,” is doomed before you start. Why? Because next month your deadline will still be one year from now.

More powerful, and more effective, is to put a specific date on each of your goals. It’s human nature to step it up when a deadline approaches. Make it attainable — and make it specific.

May your story be legendary!

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