The key to feeling like you're making progress

Hiya!

Worried you’re not doing enough? Or moving the needle on the stuff that’s important to you? Enjoy this final installment of “Three mistakes people make around goal setting.”

The third thing that people do wrong when it comes to setting goals is... you don't track the right stuff.

Let me tell you about another client of mine who works in sales and is a top performer. They recently changed her pay structure and she felt demotivated. One of the ways she tracked her performance and how well she was doing was by her commission.

Even though she was a top performer she suddenly felt like a failure and like she wasn't good at her job- in fact- she was close to quitting her job.

Before jumping ship to another organization, I asked her what was her intention (remember, from my last newsletter)? What did she want from her work experience?  

We took some time to dig deep and understand that she wanted to learn and grow, she wanted to take on more leadership responsibility, and to practice using her creativity.

We decided rather than measure her performance using the new metrics set by her job which put her on the verge of quitting (even though she was a top performer) - we were going to create our own metrics.

So everyday I asked her to reflect on 4 questions that tracked her intention:

What did I learn today?

How have I practiced my leadership skills today?

How did I approach a challenge in a creative way?

What am I grateful for?

Once she started tracking her answers to those questions - a whole new world opened up. She felt like she was making daily progress on what was most important to her.

David Cooperider, a leader in positive psychology, says, "The questions we ask determine the reality we create." If you are asking questions that perpetually point to how far away you are from your big goal, or how you don’t have enough of xyz than you’re going to feel like crap and most likely abandon ship.

But if you focus on the process of fulfilling your intention and acknowledge you are actively LIVING your intention now than you’ll find yourself more motivated and ready to take on greater challenges. 

To recap this series on goal setting:

We reviewed three mistakes that people make when it comes to setting goals:
1. They don't take the time and energy to let go of the stuff that's not serving them
2. They set goals without intention
3. They track the wrong metrics - and that can mess up one's motivation

I hope you’ve enjoyed this. As always, I love hearing from you. Has this impacted how you think or approached your goals? Please drop me a line and share!

And of course, if you want some help figuring out your questions or how to ensure you’re working towards what matters, e-mail me and let’s chat!