EVERY TIME I work with someone, whether it’s in a 1-on-1 coaching session or a course, this thing happens.
People come in with a more or less defined ‘goal’.
Maybe they’ve read the NLP rules on how to put down goals and then written them down in a positive, measurable form and so on…
I want to earn X within this year
I want to double my earnings in three years
I want to lose 5 kilos
I want to run a marathon in X hours
and so on.
This apparently makes sense, and is definitely A FIRST STEP in moving from unawareness to awareness.
The problem with this kind of approach to improvement is that while it makes sense in the short term because it gives you the feeling of progress… in the long term it doesn’t generate the kind of satisfaction you would expect in your personal and professional life.
And it’s very difficult to keep short-term goals and a sense of long-term or very long-term direction in mind AT THE SAME TIME.
Let me give you an example.
Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always had enormous clarity about the lifestyle I wanted to ‘grow up’, mostly related to how my day should be, where I wanted to work, with whom how much and so on. And of course how much I wanted to earn.
Most people have a career goal of earning more money because when they have more money they can quit their jobs and dedicate themselves and have more free time and finally do what they want.
IN THE SHORT TERM this makes sense.
In the long term these people find themselves after 10 years working a lot and MAYBE earning a lot but with less and less free time.
This is why from the beginning I made choices that preserved my free time AND allowed me to earn what I wanted at the same time.
I didn’t lower my financial demands, but I did change my goals.
Sure I gave up some things.
I turned down jobs, consultancies, hires in companies that would have given me more visibility. And not because I didn’t feel like struggling… but because I knew that if I made that decision it would take me far from my direction.
Clarity is a beautiful word, but the risk is that it doesn’t mean anything.
For me, clarity is the ability to keep goals and direction aligned and to continually have them ‘talk’ to each other.
To do this I need to be clear about what my horizon line is.
How far you can ‘see’, while also knowing that every step you take in that direction will make you see a little further.
Lots to see, but this can be a start.