Goal Setting Guidelines: Goals Evolve Over Time

Section 12.2: Expect Change

Goal setting guidelines are just that - guidelines. Once you master the basics, you should be open to the fact that goals will change from time to time. In the following information, you'll learn how to quickly adapt to changing goals.

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So what if your goals change? The truth is that your goals should change. There is an old saying, "When you are through changing, you are through." That's obviously not what you're looking for so let's think about some alternatives.

Something would really be wrong if your goals and dreams did not evolve as you begin to more firmly embrace goal setting and life management.

You should expect the size and scope of your goals to increase over time as your self-confidence grows, and it will grow as you begin to experience more wins in your life.

Change is a good thing, despite the fact that so many people have an immediate instinct to avoid it. It's important to understand that the reason so many people fear change is due to their fear of the unknown.

As you learn and grow as a result of following our goal setting guidelines, you will learn to expect and embrace change along the way. As you learn to adapt, your dreams will become more vivid and more clear in your mind.

It may turn out that as you begin to see your situation more clearly, something you thought you wanted out of life will no longer be appealing to you. When this happens, get excited! You are truly on your way to greater things in life.

"The best thing you can do in dealing constructively with changing goals, or change in general, is to welcome it - EMBRACE CHANGE."

The reality is that most people's goals must evolve if they are to continue on a path of personal growth. In fact, growth requires change.

Expect change to happen and when it does, work quickly to adapt to it and to respond to it in a positive and productive manner. Why? Because that what successful leaders do.

If you are someone who tends to repel change then you are in effect limiting your opportunities; your chances to benefit from new experiences, and you diminish your ability to advance and grow as a human being.

Goal Setting Guidelines for Continual Change

Change is good, change is right - and change represents progress.

While some change can be harmful and unhealthy, we must not discount changing events until we have first taken the time to inspect them closely.

When change is necessary, consider these factors to ensure your actions will continue to be in alignment with our goal setting guidelines for success:

Quality of Life: Will the change you are about to make improve your overall life experience? Will it allow you to contribute to others and improve the quality of your relationship?
Life Balance: Will making the change improve your ability to better balance your personal and professional goals? While it free up more time for family and friends? Will making a change provide greater opportunities for you and your loved ones?
Short Term vs Long Term Benefits: Make sure you consider both the long and short term impact of making the change. Look down the road 3-5 years and make sure you clearly understand how making a change now will impact your future.
Known vs Unknown: You may or may not have all the facts to feel 100% comfortable that making the change will be a successful move. There will always be some level of risk when making changes. While it is wise to minimize the risk the best you can, understand that some level of risk is inevitable and should not keep you from moving forward. Take enough time to make an educated decision, clearly understanding the risk involved.
Avoid Regret: No one wants to be that person sitting in the rocking chair who regrets not doing something when he or she had the chance. If the change you are considering is important enough to you that you'll always regret not going for it - then go for it!

As you get more comfortable in stretching your "change" muscles, you should maintain the right to do things on your own terms. Adjusting your goals may cause some level of anxiety, but it should still feel right to you.

Do what feels right in your heart; do what works for you; do what assists you in making progress on your big goals, and be sure you don't lose out on an opportunity by dismissing it too quickly.

"A goal properly set is halfway reached."

- Zig Ziglar

Success Lesson #25: Finding Your Right Place

What your friends or relatives or the people at large think you ought to do has nothing whatsoever to do with what you are intended by your Creator to accomplish.

You alone can read the sealed message that you brought with you into this world. It is a secret to all but you and God. Even your dearest friend does not know for certain what it says.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

- Charles Darwin

The difference between success and failure is one's ability to find his or her true place in the world.

It is a sad event to see a man or woman who has missed their calling, and who is unwilling to change their path in order to correct their mistake. They go through life as a round peg, forever working to fit into a square hole, devoid of any realistic goal setting guidelines.

If your position does not fit you perfectly, if the hours drag heavily upon you, if you do not feel a sense of pride in your work, then you are not residing in your right place. You need to leverage some goal setting guidelines that will prop you up and get you back on a clear path to victory.

"There are many occupations where you may make a good living, but in which there is no growth or sense of accomplishment."

Your work should be our greatest character-builder. It should continually hold your interest and push you to want to better yourself. The making of an honorable man or woman, should be the first objective in choosing your vocation.

Too many people work in jobs not by choice but out of necessity. These jobs will not push you out, force you to enlarge your intellect or make you a broader and more enlightened individual.

Whatever you do for a living, avoid occupations which do not force you to grow; which will not make any special call upon your originality, your ingenuity, your resourcefulness; which will not bring your initiative or your qualities of leadership into play.

There is no reason why your work should not give you as much satisfaction and pleasure as a child feels at play.

Connect your work with your passion and you'll never "work" another day in your life.

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