Identifying your passion are things you love to do, your dreams, desire, and goals are things you reach for. Some of these may be specific items you want to accomplish, like 'pay off the mortgage' or 'write a book', Others are states of being you want to achieve and maintain, like 'be independently wealthy' or 'have a good relationship with mom'.
you've probably heard that it helps to define your goals as clearly as you can, so you can work towards them and know when you are meeting them. Thus, if one of your goals is to 'spend more time with my family', you might want to specify blocks of time to set aside. But there is a much more important step that comes before fine-tuning your goals. Write them down.
Until you commit your dreams, desires, and goals to paper, they are invisible. They may be known only to you, and even you may know them only vaguely. When you put them down, it's the first physical evidence of your goals. You are beginning to create them, manifest them, give them life.
The best way is to sit down, take a piece of paper, and just start writing what you want. Don't think much. Simply list everything you want for yourself or others, from blue-sky dreams to the most practical goals. Write them as they come to mind, in no particular order and without trying to split hairs in the wording.
The next step is to put them in their order of importance. For this, you could use a process described in The Passion Test by Janet and Chris Artwood. This process only helps you identify your top passions, but also helps in prioritizing your goals.
Take the first goal you wrote down (such as 'pay off the mortgage'), compare it with the second ('help my son get into a good college') and see which is more important to you. Then take the 'winner' and compare it with the next goal. Repeat this until you have gone through your goals list. The winner, in the end, is your top-priority goal. Write it down on a separate piece of paper with a '1' next to it, and cross it off the original list.
Now go back to that original list and, starting from the top again, compare all of the runners-up in the same fashion, one pair at a time in a process of elimination. The winner at the end of this round is your second most important goal. Put it on your separate piece of paper with a '2', cross it off the original list, and run the process again. You can keep going until you find your top few goals or until you have ordered them all in a priority list.
Treat this as an ongoing exercise, something you can repeat every few months. Each time your priority list might come out different. That is fine. You change over time and so do your priorities. But eventually, you will see them stabilize.
The last step is to separate your prioritized goals into two groups: a group that is likely to be impacted or enabled by your new start-up, such as any financial goal, and a group that isn't ('call mom each week'). The second group still matters to you but those goals will not come into play in considering a start-up.
It may not always clear at first whether, or how, a particular goal will be impacted. For instance, spending more time with your family may be one of your goals. A start-up that demands long workdays and lots of travel would probably interfere with that goal, while a business you can run from your home on a flexible schedule could help you achieve it, and others might have no effect one way or the other.
In such a case, keep the goal 'in the play' even though the impact is uncertain. If the goal is high on your priority list, it can help you determine the kind of business you want to start and the nature of your role in it.
you've probably heard that it helps to define your goals as clearly as you can, so you can work towards them and know when you are meeting them. Thus, if one of your goals is to 'spend more time with my family', you might want to specify blocks of time to set aside. But there is a much more important step that comes before fine-tuning your goals. Write them down.
The best way is to sit down, take a piece of paper, and just start writing what you want. Don't think much. Simply list everything you want for yourself or others, from blue-sky dreams to the most practical goals. Write them as they come to mind, in no particular order and without trying to split hairs in the wording.
The next step is to put them in their order of importance. For this, you could use a process described in The Passion Test by Janet and Chris Artwood. This process only helps you identify your top passions, but also helps in prioritizing your goals.
Take the first goal you wrote down (such as 'pay off the mortgage'), compare it with the second ('help my son get into a good college') and see which is more important to you. Then take the 'winner' and compare it with the next goal. Repeat this until you have gone through your goals list. The winner, in the end, is your top-priority goal. Write it down on a separate piece of paper with a '1' next to it, and cross it off the original list.
Now go back to that original list and, starting from the top again, compare all of the runners-up in the same fashion, one pair at a time in a process of elimination. The winner at the end of this round is your second most important goal. Put it on your separate piece of paper with a '2', cross it off the original list, and run the process again. You can keep going until you find your top few goals or until you have ordered them all in a priority list.
Treat this as an ongoing exercise, something you can repeat every few months. Each time your priority list might come out different. That is fine. You change over time and so do your priorities. But eventually, you will see them stabilize.
The last step is to separate your prioritized goals into two groups: a group that is likely to be impacted or enabled by your new start-up, such as any financial goal, and a group that isn't ('call mom each week'). The second group still matters to you but those goals will not come into play in considering a start-up.
It may not always clear at first whether, or how, a particular goal will be impacted. For instance, spending more time with your family may be one of your goals. A start-up that demands long workdays and lots of travel would probably interfere with that goal, while a business you can run from your home on a flexible schedule could help you achieve it, and others might have no effect one way or the other.
In such a case, keep the goal 'in the play' even though the impact is uncertain. If the goal is high on your priority list, it can help you determine the kind of business you want to start and the nature of your role in it.
Putting It All Together
Once you have explored your strengths and passions and clarified your goals, how do you then use this information to identify a business idea that is in your 'sweet spot', where all the factors come together?
I could try to give instructions for making more lists or charts, but it's really not a systematic, scientific process. It's a fluid and intuitive process. Use your feelings as a compass to guide you on the right path. Trust that your enhanced knowledge of yourself will bring forth a business idea. Don't set a deadline for coming up with great ideas, just go with the flow for a while. Reflect on what you are learning about yourself while being alert to what might match up with it. If you're really stuck, talk to people who know you. Sometimes the answer is obvious when do you find it.
- After Motivation
dream, desire, life goals, success, wealth, health, How to know your desires, how to plan for a successful life
Comments