So, you sat down and started setting goals. Where did you start? Your monster target, of course!
A monster goal is the most important thing to you at this point in your life. That’s a natural place to start. Well, whether it’s because of your career, family, or a special relationship, are you neglecting the rest of your life in your efforts to set goals?
I came up with 15 areas of your life that you could consider in your goal setting plan. This will help you take steps to build a more balanced and fulfilling life. Here they are in alphabetical order:
1) Artistic/creative
2) Career
3) Community
4) family,
5) Financial,
6) physical condition,
7) Friends,
8) fun,
9) Health,
10) Learning/intellectual,
11) Living environment,
12) Personal relationship,
13) psychological,
14) Recreation,
15) spiritual
Of course, you don’t want to create goals in every area of your life. It would be a bit overwhelming and could actually work against you. Pick 3-7 of these areas in addition to your monstrous goal and then go through your goal setting process. As you do this, carefully consider which areas may be most important to you.
Below is a brief description of seven of the 15 areas with some examples of some of them.
Artistic/Creative – Do you feel like painting or love to sing? Maybe you like to carve wood, make soap, or play a musical instrument. Including activity-related goals like these can add color and satisfaction to your life in ways other areas of goal setting don’t.
Community: This area includes things like volunteering with local groups (non-profit or otherwise) or political and social activities in the area where you live. It also includes organizations to which you belong, such as clubs and other social groups.
Financial – This area may be obvious in some way and may relate to your career. But you may also want to consider setting goals around planning, saving, and investing for retirement. You may also want to add learning about retirement plans or investment vehicles as part of this area of your life.
Fitness – Good health is the foundation of a good life. And because exercise makes such a big contribution to your health, setting goals in this area is very important. To paraphrase Tony Robbins, you can have a lot of enthusiasm for success, but if you can’t get out of bed in the morning, then you have a problem!
Fun – Now you can be one of those people who never misses an opportunity to “let go.” But if you’re like most people, this may be an area of your life that you neglect. So I say, life is too short not to have as much fun as you can while doing all that other goal setting stuff! Telling jokes, being silly, and generally letting your hair down are good goals to help maintain a balanced and joyful life.
Learning/Intellectual: Keeping your mind sharp and youthful is a worthwhile goal, don’t you think? Some ways to do this are to take classes on stimulating topics that you would like to learn about, read new books or magazines, and play mentally challenging games like chess and bridge.
Spiritual – For some people, this may not be an important aspect of life. For others, it might be the most important. Here, I’m not just talking about religion and traditionally spiritual issues. Setting goals in this area of your life could include writing an intention to forgive someone, being more loving to others, or starting a new practice like meditation or yoga.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, all 15 areas are important, I chose as examples those with which I felt most connected. As you go through the list, find out what will give you the most satisfaction in your life; more friends, more money, more fun, a partner, or any of the other areas. A good way to help you choose is to rank each area according to how important it is to you on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = least important and 10 = most important). You’ll enjoy your goal setting experience more than ever, but most importantly, you’ll enjoy your life more!