Gotta have goals
I'm an artist, but also an entrepreneur. So that means my house is messy but my calendar is immaculate. That means that I think about performance in numbers and explain my feelings in colors. That means that I make intricate goals for my day, my month and my year, and my intuition and intention influence most of those goals.
I’ve been goal-setting for 7 years now. Around October, I take time to set goals for the coming 12 months in an attempt to answer the question, "What would need to happen for me to be satisfied with how I’ve spent my time?"
I’m bad at crafts. I’m good at business. So, I make my goal lists in the form of spreadsheets. Laugh all you want :) A good spreadsheet can be just so damn sexy to me! However, a lot of my co-goaling pals make their goals lists in beautiful artistic posters and more.
That said, one common thing I see in goal lists is a general-ness/vagueness to them. For example, I often see goals like:
“I’d like to be healthier!”
“I’d like to make more money!”
“I’d like to be more content!”
“I’d like to travel more!”
And while these are good goals to have, it’s been my experience that being as specific as possible in my goals has helped me to achieve them.
For example,
“I will do yoga 5 times per week.”
“I will make 20% more total income in 2017 than I did in 2016.”
“I will take my children camping 6 times”
“Chris and I will go to Mexico for vacation.”
You see - each goal has to have an action, and the goal can never be achieved if we don’t define and then do the action.
So, in the end, we want our goals to be specified not just by the aspiration, but by the action it will take us to accomplish that goal.
Once you’ve written your goals out, buy yourself a planner and transfer your goals into your planner for the next year.
When do you want to accomplish these things by? If it’s an ongoing goal, schedule it out!
You should schedule out your goals now because the truth is, YOU are busy. I know that, because we all are busy! You owe it to yourself to not let the busy-ness of life, the same commonality you share with the rest of humanity, get in the way of achieving your goals and dreams.
But first - you must define what your dreams are! And that’s why setting goals is so important: it helps you define what you want your life to actually look like.
For the past two years, on New Years Day, I’ve ended up at brunch with two of my very favorite people in the world, Matt & Kels. Matt & Kels own a recording studio here in Portland, OR (http://www.theryeroom.com/). They are both artists and entrepreneurs, so needless to say, we have a lot in common. Every New Years Day, we chat about their goals for the upcoming year. And during these conversations, rather than thinking broadly, like “I want to own a successful recording studio!” And “I want to make amazing records!”, through drinking coffee & tea and stuffing ourselves with brunch deliciousness, we start to pull at the strings of, “what would make a successful recording studio?” and “what kinds of records do we want to make?”
When I first started goal creating, it was 2010 (going into 2011) and I was going through a divorce. It was a complicated and ugly divorce (as most are). It was extra complicated because we had two small children in the mix, two children that both I and their dad loved very much and were very committed to. It was extra-extra complicated because we had just gotten Coop’s diagnosis of being on the Autism Spectrum. He was 3 and wasn’t really talking (and a lot of other autism-related issues). It was a complicated time of life.
And so when I wrote these goals, I wrote them out of desperation. I wrote them out of a place where I needed my life to change and I needed that change to happen not 10 years in the future, but in my very immediate existence.
A few highlighted goals I set that year were:
* Cooper to speak in full sentences
* To find a new house to live in that I can afford on my own, while working part time and from home
* To establish a working friendship with my ex
There were actually close to 50 goals on that first spreadsheet, but these three were the ones that I felt were the most wildly ridiculous goals. I had no idea how I was going to accomplish these things and felt that if these three things happened, it would be an absolute miracle.
But, I made a spreadsheet, printed the spreadsheet and taped it up on my desk and looked at it every single day. Slowly but surely, these goals became my daily mantra.
I won’t lie to you. 2011 was a tough year.
But, in January of 2011, I transitioned Cooper to a gluten free diet. Within 2 weeks, he said his first full sentence.
In, April 2011, I found a house that I could afford on my part-time-work-from-home salary, a house that my mom could live in with me for free and that had a big backyard in an awesome neighborhood.
And by December 2011, my ex and I, altho strained, were talking most days in a friendly manner about co-parenting, school, and the kids’ well-being. We could attend functions, host birthday parties and do general day-to-day coparenting duties without drama: a working friendship. Life wasn’t perfect, by any means, but by the end of 2011, my life had aligned much more closely to the vision I had for it.
And every single year has been the same. I have story after story of putting ridiculous goals on my spreadsheet, having no idea how I’ll get there, and at the end of the year, being astonished that it happened. For example, in 2013, I wrote in my goals that I wanted to double my total income that year. And in a surprising turn of events, mid-year, I was hired at a tech company and doubled the amount of money I was taking home.
In Dec 2016, I wrote that I wanted my band to play at Doug Fir Lounge in 2017. In the Pacific Northwest, Doug Fir is known as an amazing rock venue that is exclusive. They feature touring bands or on-the-rise local artists primarily, and is arguably one of the best rock venues in the PNW. And at the place my band was at the end of 2016, it's safe to say that this was a lofty (and somewhat unlikely) goal. But just in the nick of time, we found out a few weeks ago that Camp Crush will be playing the Doug Fir Lounge on December 19, 2017. When the date was finally confirmed, I had to just laugh.
The reality is, this is not magic. This is setting intentions and watching your intentions come to life through your every day actions. Once I stated what I wanted from life, I subconsciously began making the shifts and movements that needed to occur for me to accomplish that goal. I set my intention and my subconscious brain began directing me in the right steps.
Ideas for segmenting your goals
My health
My relationship
My family
Money
My career
Creativity
My community
Adventure
And in each of these segments, ask yourself these questions:
What do I want this segment to look like 12 months from now?
What would it take for me to get there?
HOW SPECIFIC CAN I BE? Get specific. Talk numbers.
And then, it takes a little faith. A little faith that asking the universe for what
you want is ok, no matter how lofty, how crazy, how unlikely these requests seem. You are amazing and have a lot to offer the world. And the things that you’re asking may seem unrealistic to you, but maybe your brain, gifts, and experiences that are special just to you have brought you to this exact moment, where you’re finally ready to ask for what you want and take steps toward those things.
Happy dreaming!
Jen Deale
Boss Lady @ Camp Crush / SBP Smoothies / Bailey & Coop