Coaching Tips
Setting Direction.
Part 10 - How do you know your goal is worth getting?
“In the next 15 years, we can halve childhood deaths.
That’s doable.”
– Bill Gates, Microsoft Co-founder and Philanthropist (at Davos 2013)
Microsoft co-founder and Philanthropist - Bill Gates, at Davos 2013, speaking about Childhood deaths. "In the next 15 years, we can halve childhood deaths. That's doable."
Photo credit - George & Julie Cunningham
Have you ever done something and felt really good about it?
Perhaps it was beating your personal best, achieving your sales targets or simply helping a friend out. The fact is, you know it was worth doing and worth the effort.
So, what happens as you think about your goal? How do you know it is worth getting?
With some goals, it is easy to see their worth. For example, the research into and creation of a smallpox vaccine by Dr. Edward Jenner around 1796 was aimed at saving lives.
In 1980, The World Health Organisation declared smallpox eliminated worldwide due to vaccinations. Before the vaccine, smallpox was one of the deadliest infectious diseases, killing around 300 million people in the 20th century alone.
For other goals, such as setting up a consultancy business, it may be a little less obvious.
Recently, a client’s goal was to leave his corporate job, where he felt overworked and undervalued, and take his knowledge and experience to other companies on his own terms.
By doing so, he knew his opinion and advice would be valued and he would only work the hours he wanted to work, and would be paid handsomely (properly!) for them. This meant he could spend more time with his young family and be a real part of their growing up.
On further discussion of the wider benefits, my client realised that, if he was successful, he could employ others. He could provide the work environment that he craved for others to also benefit from. This would provide a high standard of living and work-life balance to a wider community, which, in turn, would filter down to the next generation, creating a legacy from his endeavours.
Another client was determined to knock a few seconds off their run time and keep pushing their personal best. Someone else I coach wanted to go just that bit further before resting, increasing their endurance day by day. The result for both would be improved times, distance and pace in their chosen sports.
After further discussion, they both recognised the benefits for their physical and mental health and the good example this would set for their children about pushing their perceived limits.
So, today, as you think about your own goals, ask yourself “How do I know this is worth getting?”
Once you have your answer, keep asking “What else does this mean?” until you have found all the things that make it worth getting. What other improvements are you making or generating for yourself and others?
If you’d like any help exploring your own goals then get in touch – call us on 0151 931 5184 or email us at enquiries@nlpliverpool.com
Next time we’ll explore the question “When, where or with whom, does not having it (your goal) work for you?”
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