I've always set myself goals, but only goals around my career.
In 2008 I was working in the City for a bank when the crash happened. Like many I found myself redundant with no job. I made a decision then that I never wanted to feel rejected, isolated or useless again. I wanted to work in a job that gave me meaning and that I completely enjoyed. I became motivated to change my career completely.
My new career goal was to align with my values of empathy, generosity, harmony, and achiever. I no longer wanted to be completely money focussed.
3 months later I landed a contract within the NHS.
1 year later I had a permanent job.
Changing career whilst daunting gave me opportunities to use the skills I already had, but also to gain new knowledge, skills and an new commitment to my new NHS community.
I was on a steep learning curve and I loved it.
I gave myself 5 years, I wanted to be a General Manager, in fact it took me 6 as I made a decision to move to the South Coast - but that's another story!
I started my new job and with it, I wanted to set a new goal.
My difficulty was that I had reached the level of success in my career that I wanted, now I was stuck as to what my next step should be.
After much reading, talking and general gossiping with my friend Marilyn, it dawned on me that I had never made a personal goal. What did I want for everything else in my life outside of work?
The honest truth was I had no idea but I knew I wasn't happy. I had no focus for the rest of the areas of my life, - family, friends, romance, health, hobbies, community, spirituality, I seemed to meander with no direction. Outside of work in these areas I felt I had no confidence, no motivation, empowerment or energy.
It was here that the idea of my Gap Year was born. The goal was to take a year out to travel, do new hobbies, to think about the next phase of my life.
Like many, as a teen I had Saturday jobs and then I'd worked through college, university and then full time, I was now nearing 50 and I had worked continuously for 35 of those 50 years. It was time to take a break!
So the idea was born and now I had to turn it into a goal.
First I needed to write it down and it went as follows
By January 2019 I will be starting my gap year in which I will travel, see my friends and family, start a new hobby, have romance in my life, be able to wear a pair of size 12 jeans and will reflect on my life and make a plan for the next 5 years of my life.
This was a big goal, but I had 5 years in which to work on it.
The easiest thing was to break each area down into smaller and smaller goals making it easier for me to stay on track.
Next step was to take the first step, a journey of a 1000 miles starts with one step. That step was taken by deciding that my travel destination was Hawaii. Now I was on my way…….
Setting goals both short, medium and long term can be daunting, especially if never done before.
Now 5 years later, life is very different.
If you want to find out how my goals turned out, then why not join my facebook group The Space Hoppers with Liz
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. If this post has made you think and you would like to make a change, then contact me and we can have a free 30-minute chat about how I can help you.
About the Author Elizabeth Pickering is a Resilience coach, who helps people find success, focus and balance in their life. I take them from feeling overworked, overwhelmed, stuck and stressed to feeling energised, empowered and falling in love with life again.
Working with sole traders, business owners and entrepreneurs, I keep them on track towards their goals, giving them energy, focus, motivation and the freedom to enjoy their life.
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