Anatomy of a (Freakishly Awesome) Goal

Recently I was organizing some old boxes my parents returned to me that I had been storing in their garage and I came across a list of goals I had written for a 12th grade English class project. It was a reflection of my ideal vision of life at the time (and there were some freakishly awesome goals that my 17 year old self set!). As I took a brief mental note of those
I have accomplished during the 14 years since I scribed the list, I felt blessed for the many opportunities I've had so far in life, and proud that I've done my best to capitalize on them. Then I couldn't help but focus on those goals I had listed that still remain unfulfilled. I started to contemplate what about them got me excited back then in 1998? Had I given up on them completely? Are they still aligned with my vision of my ideal life now in 2012?

Growing up, goal setting was as natural to me as eating three meals a day. When I was four, my mom gave me and my sisters each a note pad with the goal to learn how to spell our last name ("Rozwadowska" is not any easy feat when you're still learning how to spell c-a-t). At the age of 11, I spent six months in France with the goal to learn French (and also achieved some non-goals, like gaining extra pounds eating baguettes smeared with nutella and croissants all day every day). When I was 10 and first heard about a soccer star called Mia Hamm - the first female soccer player I saw promoted in the media - I set a goal to step on the field with her one day. So the philosophy of setting and striving for goals has been ingrained in me since I can remember.

Yet lately, I've found myself a bit unmotivated and cruising easy street. I haven't been challenging myself, finding ways to compete and keep uber motivated in life. In fact I was downright boring myself. Like my friend Lacee says, it was "time to call bullshit on myself, time to regain Captain status" (inspired from the William Ernest Henley quote "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul"). So in my quest for motivation I laced up my Nikes and hit the trails for a run and went to that sweaty place where I usually find my clarity, and reassessed GOALS - I wanted to break it down to it's simplest form and remind myself how to set and achieve goals, just like I did that day in 12th grade English class. I came home and scribbled my thoughts on the anatomy of a goal, what does achieving a goal look like when you wind it back and break it down. It's the first step I'm taking to writing a fresh sparkly new list of goals for my life.  (Update September 2012: my list is still a work in progress but if you're interested, click here to check it out. Do you have a list?)

Anatomy of a Goal

• Clarify the goal. Be crystal clear about the expectations of yourself. The goal should come out of the vision you have of your ideal life, what it looks like when you're living the life you love. Antony Robbins says "clarity is power". It gives you the correct filters to apply to your life, a hyper focus on the things that fit into your view on what you need to tend to - like a guided missile. Include by-when dates and be super specific.
• Understand why you're doing it. This gives you the juice, the passion to overcome obstacles, because there will certainly be challenges on the path to your goal. It should move you emotionally and if you're pushing yourself by setting BHAG's (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) you should feel a little nervous and excited.
• Build an action plan outlining how you're going to tackle whatever that badboy of a goal is. It frees up your brain power to focus on the goal and calms the mind down because you know exactly what you need to do. It removes the muddled feeling about how you're going to achieve something and makes the goal seem a lot more achievable. Make daily, monthly, yearly milestones. 
  
• Trust yourself. Your goals are authentic to you and your vision of what you want to be in your future. Create your own path, even if it's hard for others to accept. Believe that you are moving in the right direction with the goals you've set. Don't let people tell you no. Anything is possible, there are examples all around. Just look at the South African sprinter, Oscar Pistorius, who become the first amputee to compete at the Olympics in London this month. If no one has ever done it before, then you will be the first one to do it!
• Be willing to fail. Confront the risks, be honest about the stakes rather than projecting false certainty. It will help you plan for the obstacles and also activate your support system. Success will come.
• Put your goals out there, post them on your fridge, write them in lipstick on your bathroom mirror so you see them every day, tell close family + friends. They will become your support network that you can draw on for strength. It builds serious motivation in not wanting to let yourself down.
• Surround yourself by inspiration daily. Whatever helps you hit your groove. It centers your attention on the positive and what matters most. I get a healthy dose of my inspiration from sweating, so I make sure to get a sweatfest in every day. Make a playlist of songs that fire you up. Mine starts with Firework by Katy Perry and Raise Your Glass by Pink. 
• Never give up and always work like hell. Don't leave any stone unturned. There is no way around hard work. This Michael Jordan ad is one of my all-time favs, a reminder that even Jordan had to work for it every single day of his life. Maybe you're not competing against anyone else but you want to be the greatest YOU you can be - the same rule about hard work applies.
• Give back. As you check goals off your list and set your next round of BHAG's, think about everything you can give to the world - your family, your community, what will your legacy be?

Some other fun stuff on goal setting:

• These same goal setting concepts can be used in every area of your life be it personal, career or health. Lululemon does a great job of capturing this in their vision and goals worksheet. 
• Build a Mind Map to build out your thought process, inspire creativity and visually commit to paper your goals.
• If you're a fan of beautiful visualization, create word clouds and post them where you see them often, as reminders of your goals.

Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks!