How to: Goal Setting Brainstorming
As we prepare for the new year and new decade, I’ll be sharing with your my process for developing goals over the next few weeks. To begin, I do some goal setting brainstorming. Goals and goal setting are processes that are designed to serve your brain. Goals provide a structure that allows you to supervise your mind. Otherwise, your brain is looking for comfort and ease. While comfort and relaxation are okay sometimes, we humans want to live purposeful lives, so goals help drive purpose and design your future.
Now you can do goal setting or set a goal any old time of year, but there really is something magical about a new year or a new decade that can be motivating.
When I sit down to do some goal setting, I like to start by dreaming really big. My 2020 goal brainstorm has already freaked out my partner. I start by writing all of the different ideas, options, or things I envision for myself. The challenge in this exercise is not to self-edit. Even if the concept is wild, or you don’t know you, if you want to pursue it, keep writing so you can get all your thoughts out and on paper.
While you can goal set at any time, I like to do it after some milestone event. New Year’s day is trendy; birthdays are also a typical time for me. In the workplace, people tend to set goals around their fiscal year schedule. Do you have a time of year that you prefer to set goals?
Is there a season where it’s easier or harder for you to accomplish things? I take this all into account when I start to map out my goals for the year.
After brainstorming all of your ideas and reality checked your time, now you can edit what you will set out to accomplish. Because our brain likes to keep us safe, it can be hard for us to pick a goal(s) that stretches us beyond our current belief systems. At this point, it’s crucial to cultivate the courage to listen to that higher self of what you want and not what society, your community, or your ego says to do. The next post will outline how to dive into your WHY and how you can use those thoughts to anchor ourselves when things become challenging.
