"Begin with the end in mind," encourages Stephen Covey. Before 
you can set meaningful goals for yourself, you need to know 
where you want to go. If you clearly understand where you want 
to be, you can make sure your actions bring you closer to that 
place each and every day. 

Corporations spend billions every year on strategic planning. 
Executives involve themselves in similar planning sessions 
with their executive coaches-they examine their strengths and 
weaknesses, they look at their career and personal goals, and 
make decisions about where and how to spend their time and 
energy.

Life coaches do the same things with individuals. They explore 
and clarify your identity, your values, and your true purpose 
in life. How can you know what you need to do, where you need 
to spend your time and energy, if you don't know what is most 
important to you? This is difficult and important work. And it 
is hard to do alone. Taking the time to make personal definitions
for yourself will make the process of goal setting and staying 
on track much easier.


Here are three essential elements you must consider before 
writing down your goals:

1. Examine your identity: Quite simply, who are you? 
Self-awareness is the cornerstone to emotional intelligence and 
so important that this one feature will do more for your success 
in life than any other social competency. If you know yourself 
well, you can choose a path aligned with your strengths and 
weaknesses. You will not get distracted by people, places and 
things that are not congruent with your true purpose.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to gain clarity:

When thinking about myself, what am I most proud of?
How would my friends describe me?
How would my co-workers describe me?
What does my family say about me?
What are the three most important areas in my personal life?
How have I changed over my adult years?
What are my strengths?
What do I avoid or dislike doing?


2. Define your values: What are your most fundamental beliefs? 
Identify three that are most important to you. The more clearly 
defined your values are, the more energy and focus you will have 
for your goals. Values provide the basic structure you need to 
build your personal life, your career, your business and any 
other aspect of your life.

Look over the following list of values and rank each from 1 to 
10 (with 1 representing values most important to you).  Be sure 
to add any that are important to you but not on this list.

Security               Wealth                 Good health
Relationship           Relationship           Relationship 
with spouse            with children          with family
Fame/recognition       Job/career             Power
Happiness              Friendship             Retirement
Owning your own business   Long life          Travel
Respect of peers       Spiritual fulfillment  Charity
Having fun             Sports/fitness         Learning/education
Peace/tranquility      Influence              Integrity/ethics
Artistic expression    Community involvement  Ecology/environment
		

What are the five values you ranked the highest? Those five 
values should be receiving 80% of your time and energy. Write 
down your five most important values and post them somewhere. 
This will drive your actions and keep you focused on what is 
most important. 


3. Establish your goals: Goals should be SMART-specific, 
measurable, attainable, realistic and time-framed in order 
to be effective.

Goal setting is not easy. It is hard work requiring time and 
thought. It means soul searching. Fear of failure-and fear of 
success-can stop you from setting clear goals and achieving 
them. But with preparation and the help of your coach, you 
can unleash the energy and passion to achieve your goals 
beyond your expectations. 

To learn more about how to set SMART goals, read part 3 of 
Success and the Art of the Goal: 
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