7 Steps to Setting Life Goals that Really Matter

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7 Steps to Setting Life Goals that Really
Matter

• How often do you wish you could stop the clock,
  slow things down, get more time for yourself,
  reorganize, restart your life?
• Time flies, yes, time sure flies

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• Weekend Mirage
• You work long hours each day eagerly looking
  forward to the weekend.
• Ah, the weekend, your time, your pace, your
  space.
• But when the weekend does comes along, so do
  forgotten tasks, unexpected errands, uninvited
  guests and unwanted interruptions.
• Before you know it, whoosh, the weekend is over
  and you are far from relaxed.
• Sounds Familiar Right?

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• The Deadline Factor
• You get back to your workplace on a Monday
  morning feeling shortchanged, the work challenges
  there suck you in and demand your complete
  attention.
• You are your role and you live up to it.
  Meetings, more meetings, conference calls, things
  to do, reports to submit, analysis, market share
  data, crazy deadlines, conflicts, confrontations
  and the week has just begun.
• By Wednesday morning you are already aching for
  a peaceful weekend again. But then, another busy,
  unplanned weekend whizzes by leaving you with
  that same sinking feeling of helplessness and
  lack of control.

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You really wish you could stop the clock, get
off the ride, reorganize your life and
restart. Dont you?
Your Precious Life Because you believe there is
more to life than working long hours Because you
believe there is more to you than just your work
role Because you believe your family needs more
time with you Because you believe you deserve to
have more fun Because.
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The Simple Truth Well, the truth is you can.
Yes, you can restart your life right now. You
can have more fun, pursue your hobbies, do stuff
you love and also enjoy greater work life
balance. Neither do you need to stop the clock
nor take time off because let us be real, thats
just not possible. You have bills to pay,
commitments to meet, you live in a hectic world
moving at a hectic pace. So what do you do?
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Set Life Goals You start by making a simple
plan. To help you become clear, become happier,
to get you closer to things you want to do and be
in life, to maintain balance, to keep important
things important you need to have a plan. A
plan is what professional leaders the world over
use to communicate and achieve the vision for
their company, their teams, their workers and
shareholders. Military commanders, CEOs,
leaders, coaches, trainers, mentors, everyone
believes in and practices the concept of a plan.
The same process can help you achieve your
desires. Your life plan will be a strong
foundation and the blueprint of your success.
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A plan is what brings awe inspiring things from
the drawing board into the real world, be it
magnificent tall structures, super fast trains,
massive bridges, deep space satellite probes,
life changing technology or cool gadgets that get
sold in the millions all of them come to life
thanks to a clear plan. Your life is more
valuable than all of the awe inspiring things
mentioned above, isnt it? If so, why is it that
you do not have clear life goals yet? If you are
like most people, you will say its because you
have been meaning to set them but have been too
busy at work. If you are like most people, you
will also admit that in the meantime days have
turned into weeks, which have turned into months
and those months have become a few years now.
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 am a life coach and trust me I hear this from
clients all the time. However, it does not have
to be this way.
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Here are 7 simple steps to making a plan and
setting life goals that really matter 1.Stop
Complaining You continue to complain about the
lack of work life balance, about not being able
to pursue your hobbies, passions, not having time
to focus on what really matters, about not being
able to achieve what you truly are capable of.
Yet you do nothing to fix it. Complaining sucks
away your energy and creativity. Stop this today
and learn to redirect your attention on how you
can live a better life despite the demanding
workplace.
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2. Become Aware Like with any plan, begin your
life plan too with a situational analysis.
Reflect on key areas of your life like health,
finance, relationships, career or business,
leisure time and spiritual growth/inner peace.
Next, for each of them answer the below three
questions 1.Where are you?2. Where do you
wish to be?3. How can you get there? As you
work to answer these you must set clear
milestones to check progress and achievements.
Using a rating scale can help.Rate key areas of
your life on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being poor,
3 being good and 5 for excellent. Give the rating
for current and desired status.
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e.g. Current rating for leisure/hobbies could be
1 and your desired rating maybe a 4.
3. Prioritize Like everyone else you too have
just 24 hours in a day and your work plus
commitments at home are bound to take up a
substantial portion of your time. Your desires
will always be more than the time on hand to make
them come true. So get real, learn to prioritize
and ask yourself which ones are important, which
life goals will have the greatest impact on your
life in the short, medium and long term.Which
ones if pursued will bring you joy, fulfillment
and greater meaning in your life. ( hint its
not money)
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4. Get clear on your desires Its only when you
know what you really want that you can start
working towards achieving it. If your current
rating for leisure/hobbies is a 1 and your
desired rating is a 4, you can gain further
clarity by asking yourself What must happen in
my leisure time/hobby life area for me to give it
a rating of 4? An answer then might be It will
be a 4 when I fulfill my desire to learn to play
a musical instrument. 5. Make it
specific Vague targets get vague results. By
being specific you eliminate trivia and lesser
important desires to focus on what really
matters. Going with the previous example you may
restate your desire as It will be a 4 when I
fulfill my long held desire to learn to play a
piano
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6. Be realistic Your life goals should stretch
you however not be completely out of reach. If it
takes about 12 weekly sessions to learn the
basics of playing the piano, you must give
yourself 3 to 4 months to achieve it, not lesser.
Else you are setting yourself up for failure by
being unrealistic. So your desire statement would
now be something like It will be a 4 when I
fulfill my long held desire to learn to play a
piano in 3 to 4 months from now ( or specific
date and month of the year). 7.Take
action Dreams and goals widen your horizon, help
you imagine what could be, however, you need to
take action to makes them come true.Every action
you take must a have direct impact, it should be
relevant, timely.
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Move you forward and get you closer to living as
per your life plan. Continuing with the previous
example If you wish to learn basics of playing a
piano in 3 to 4 months from now, actions would
involve looking for piano teachers, signing up,
buying a keyboard or a piano for practice and
start attending the classes. As much as you
start taking action towards your life goals, you
must also stop spending time, acting on things
that are not aligned to your life goals. That is
the only way you can have more time pursuing
activities that really matter. Notice how you
began with shifting your attention from
complaining to contemplating, then became aware
on key areas, then expressed desires, worked to
gain clarity, made it specific and identified key
actions that would help you achieve it. You can
use the same seven steps to define and work to
achieve rest of your life goals to
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Watch out In his insightful book Do the
work Steven Pressfield writes about resistance
and how it comes in the way of holding people
back from fulfilling their dreams and desires.
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As you begin on your new life plan, you are bound
to face resistance from within, a voice in your
head that tells you why you cant do this, how
you will fail, be laughed at, made fun of. If
you let the voices dictate your decisions, you
will start finding excuses, skip action and fall
back into old patterns of thinking,
acting. Ignore the voice and continue to take
action. Keep your eye on the prize, on the
benefits of sticking to and achieving everything
in your life plan. Commit to it with your
supportive friends and family members, ask them
to hold you accountable, work with a life coach,
keep a calendar and track you progress. wake up
each morning and visualize yourself taking
action, moving forward, moving closer.
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imagine how it will feel when you have achieved
everything in your life plan effortlessly and
joyfully. Do everything you can to stick to the
life goals. Choices, choices, choices Remember
everything you experience today is because of the
choices you have made in the past. By simply
choosing to set life goals, you are taking the
first and most important step in living a happier
and more fulfilling life. Give your plan the
importance it deserves. Stick to it, choose to
take consistent and persistent action and you
will see positive changes across key areas of
your life. Your life is invaluable, set and work
on life goals that really matter!
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It is never too late to be who you might have
been. George Eliot
Points to ponder 1. What are some things you
have been wanting to do but have not begun
yet? 2. How would you feel if you did these
things, experienced them? 3. What must happen to
make them come true ( please be as specific as
possible)? 4. What resources do you need to get
started? Who can help you? 5. When will you
begin on your life goals?
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ABOUT SRIDHAR LAXMAN
I am a Professional Certified Coach with
International Coach Federation and a graduate
from International Coach Academy. I am also a
student of Jack Canfields The Success
Principles Coaching Program. Its my passion to
help people live to their true potential.
For more certain updates and for life
coaching. Contact Lucid Minds Coaching
Lavelle Road, Bangalore-01.E-mail
 info_at_sridharlaxman.com