Goal Setting…Hard Work When You Do It Well
“The biggest barriers we face in creating the lives we want are the ones inside our own heads,” Michael Hyatt. I recently read his Coursebook: “Your Best Year Ever: 2021 Edition” and watched the classes. I’m always seeking out new resources, tools and ways of looking at achieving goals to help my clients.
At Teen Focused Coaching, we did a whole lot of goal setting the past few weeks with both teens and adults. We didn’t just make a list of things we want to do… we looked at our dreams, we examined our values, and we constructed solid measurable goals with small steps and accountability. We challenged our thoughts and found reasons WHY our goals are important to our lives. These goals have an extremely high chances of success. My clients feel achievement and experience confidence.
Teen Focused Coaching also ran classes on Values Based Goal Setting with separate classes for teens and parents. We combined Mindfulness, creative visualization, coaching tools and science-based goal setting techniques with some humor and compassion mixed in.
Through coaching, clients look at obstacles to their goals being achieved or making their wishes come true. They examine these obstacles and figure out where they are coming from. Most of the time, they are coming from their minds. In life, we commonly do two things: set goals that are unrealistic or sabotage realistic goals. New goals can seem scary to us, and we don’t yet have the patterns to make them happen.
Michael Hyatt says, “We tend to experience what we expect… (our expectations) shape our perceptions and our actions.” Coaching methods and psychology focus on taking the beliefs that limit us, whether they are experiences from our past, or thoughts we have about ourselves, and challenging those. Sounds easy, right? Ha! Not so fast.
As a child, and through adulthood, I’ve considered myself “unorganized.” I’ve surrounded myself with very organized people and learned from them, but also compared myself to them, thus confirming “I’m not organized,” which kind of became my excuse for piles of papers and assorted objects in our house. When I became frustrated with my desk, I told myself that I couldn’t do it. But then…I used the tools to challenge my thoughts, found many areas of my house that are very organized, and chose a new thought, “I’m a pretty organized person.” This left room for imperfection, and gave me energy and possibility for my desk. It got done.
Teens often think they’re not good at certain subjects or are unable to focus. By looking at successes in their lives, we challenge those thoughts and replace them with energetic beliefs. Over time, they prove to themselves that they are not perfect in every subject, but they can be very successful in many.
Moms often think of everyone else first and put their goals in the background. In coaching we take a look at the balanced life and how moms can challenge the beliefs that are limiting their Moms often put the needs of others first and put their dreams and wishes in the background. In coaching, we focus on the balanced life and how they can set some personal goals. Many times, it’s a release of unrealistic beliefs and patterns that bring joy to moms and help them find activities they enjoy and a few moments of self-care. This year has been a huge challenge, and even more important to focus on what CAN be done, rather than all the things and activities that we can’t do.
Together we will all be successful: personally, academically and professionally with less stress and more fun!
