How to Set Goals that Inspire You, Not Ones that Bore You

I hate corporate annual performance reviews and the annual goal setting that goes along with it.  

These mandatory annual processes seem like a check the box exercise. You spend a few hours writing goals that look good on paper but leave you feeling…well, ambivalent.

When I was a corporate professional, this attitude was almost the norm. As a business creator, I get to dream big goals that inspire me. 

Somehow as a corporate professional, you forget how to set goals that pull you towards them versus goals you have to accomplish.

What’s an example?  I’ll take you on a trip down my memory lane.  I promise it’ll be short.  

I had not expected to go to college before entering high school.  Why?  My family was a blue-collar working class family with little inkling about the college path.

How did I end up going to college?  I fell into an academically inclined and college bound peer group. All my friends just assumed they would go to college after graduating. Their assumption became my dream. 

Not knowing much about college, I spent hours in my high school’s career center researching the SAT exam, dreaming about being a student at various schools, and pouring over the course catalogues.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was immersing and rehearsing my college dream. This dream pulled me forwards through the decisions and actions that shaped my high school career.

Discovering the power of immersing and rehearsing helps you break out of your comfort zone. 

Fast forward to present day after many years of setting annual goals via a bulleted list.

When I decided to become an entrepreneur, I started immersing and rehearsing what creating and running a business would be like.  

My coach guided me in a structured and supportive way to imagine the possibility. 

Investing my time in a focused deliberate way, I created a vision compelling enough to break out of my “homeostatic balance.” (I explore this concept in this post. For shorthand, think of it as your current comfort zone.) 

I knew I had broken through my “homeostatic balance” when I stopped asking “Does it make sense to become an entrepreneur?” and started asking “What would it take to become one?” instead. 

Writing goals in a bullet list doesn’t it cut it for me any more.

Now, when it’s time to shoot for a new goal for my business, I flashback to when I aspired to go to college. 

It reminds me to immerse and rehearse my next big dream. When I do it vividly and deeply enough, I naturally shift to figuring out how to make it real. 

Even if you aren’t ready to become a business creator just yet, try “immerse and rehearse” to create more compelling annual goals.

Photo by Giu Vicente on Unsplash