Do You Need A Life Coach To Help You Set Goals?
Let’s cut to the chase because I’m sure you’re busy.
Do you need a Life Coach to help you set goals?
No you don’t.
Goal setting is possibly easier than winding Donald Trump up on Twitter.
The Right Questions On Goal Setting
Because asking yourself whether you need help setting goals isn’t the right question or questions.
Two better questions are:
Do I need a Life Coach to stay accountable in moving toward my goals?
Do I need a Life Coach to help me set the right goals?
The answer to the first part is a tad more complicated and in many respects, relies on how successfully you do part two, so let’s look at that first.
I have worked with many serial goal setters and plenty who hit their goals on a regular basis – but something was missing which is obviously why they hired me.
Hitting a goal is all very nice, but not if it’s the wrong goal it isn’t. Because then it’s more likely to leave you feeling empty and disappointed.
That feeling often leads to the setting of a bigger and presumably better goal and the whole process starting all over again.
You Need To Set Goals That Are Values Driven
The right goals are goals that are in alignment with your core values.
They are goals where the journey is almost as exciting as the destination.
If you set a goal of winning a gold medal at the 2024 Olympic games. That is going to require 8 years of hard work no matter what event it is.
If you hate the training and all the sacrifices you have to make how do you think you will feel if you get injured a week before the Games?
But if you love the training, thrive on the sacrifice and get enjoyment on a daily basis, that disappointment will be considerably tempered.
Sure you’re going to be peeved, but the pain will be nothing compared to if you’ve endured years of misery for effectively nothing.
I’m not saying that every second working toward a well set goal is going to be pleasurable, of course that isn’t realistic.
But if it’s a goal that meshes with your values and has real meaning to you, then even the less enjoyable elements will not seem so bad.
It’s Not Easy Setting The Right Goals
Setting the right goals isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Far too many people set financial goals when money has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt to be an incredibly poor long-term motivator.
And even when financial goals are hit they seldom lead to anything more than passing satisfaction and the setting of a bigger financial goal.
This creates the hedonic treadmill and the belief that happiness is an amount of money away.
It never is.
(tendency of a person to remain at a relatively stable level of happiness despite changes in fortune or the achievement of major goals. As a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness)
Others set goals they think their family (especially parents) would like them to achieve. There are tens of thousands (probably hundreds of thousands) of people in this country in jobs they hate because their parents wanted them to pursue that path. I was one of them.
What a total and utter waste.
I do get hired by people to hold them accountable with their goals and I am ok with that, but here’s a secret.
If you are doing work you love, have goals that are values driven and refuse to compromise then you will almost certainly hold yourself accountable.