Goals

If you're anything like me, I've never really liked setting goals! For me, it sounds a little too formal and I've invested a lot of time and effort into not conforming, even though I've also felt frustrated over not getting what I want!
When I started coaching other people and telling them they must set goals, I thought it was time I 'walked the talk'. So I started to investigate what goals were all about...and to my surprise, I discovered I'd been setting them under a different name.
A better word for me is intention. This is what I've been using for many years without knowing it was still goal setting! Here's an example. One of my passions in life is horseriding and after many years of not even sitting on a horse, I'm now learning how to ride dressage. If I go on to the arena without any specific intention, the horse and I meander around and kind of get somewhere. However, if I have an intention of what I'd like to achieve that day, there is more purpose and focus and usually a greater result...even success! Sometimes the intention is to have fun, another would be to concentrate on my balance and posture, another would be to keep the horse straight...you get the idea.
Then I started to think about this more and realised that dreams and desires are goals too...anything that drives us to get, do, be more than we are right now, is a goal. Part of my goal avoidence was a belief that it had to huge and life shattering...and this is not the case! Setting a simple intention at the beginning of the day and focusing on it, (when I remember to), gives me a different result to wondering aimlessly through the day.
It can be as easy as "I intend to smile more today". This shifts my focus and I start to find more things to smile about...and have you ever noticed how contagious a smile can be?? So it doesn't matter what you label it as, make sure you have a focus, goal, intention, an idea of where you would like to be and then you can be more productive in creating that end!
If your results are not perfect, that's ok, as nobody's are! Review what you did and the results you got, then identify what you can do differently next time. Please make sure you also take time to celebrate the success you did have. Even if, in your eyes, it was minimal, as this will encourage you to do more of the same next time.
Above all, enjoy yourself!