Forget goal setting, start future mapping

Mapping Your Future

The benefits of goal setting have been promoted for centuries. Aristotle told us that we're a goal seeking animal that only has meaning in life if we're moving towards our goals. We all know that we're supposed to write down our goals and put them in a place where we can see them on a regular basis and say positive affirmations. However, this traditional goal setting method is out of date and doesn't work except for the extremely highly motivated individual who is going to achieve their goals anyway no matter what they do.

Don't focus on goal setting so much as Future Mapping. When it comes down to it most people are more interested in living a good life rather than the good life. So when it comes to setting goals, you need to take a step backwards before you can move forward. What's missing in most goal setting methodologies is the concept of exploration. Exploring what drives your behaviour, knowing your core values, checking that their aligned to your purpose in life and then building your plan from there. Most people have so many things they'd like to do that they can become overwhelmed or even upset when they realise that life is too short to do and have it all.

When you know your core values, you understand what is more important to you. It allows you to understand the decisions you make, you know where you can focus your time, you get the difference between the must haves and the nice to haves and you no longer feel guilty at saying no to things. Your realise that your life-long dream of learning the saxophone is just not as important to you as hanging out with your friends after touch rugby.

And you don't have to sit on a rock under a waterfall for ten years to figure out what your purpose in life is. In fact you don't have to discover it at all. You can create it. You didn't choose to be born, your parents had more say in that matter than you did and it's fair to say you weren't even consulted. So rather than going through life wondering what your purpose is - create it! Explore the things that excite you. What are you enthusiastic about? What are you passionate about? When are you at your best? What gets you up in the mornings and has you jumping out of bed raring to go? These are all clues as to what your purpose in life may be. It doesn't have to be anything monumental - it just has to be something that makes you feel alive and gives you a sense of meaning in the world. And you may call your purpose something else - it may be your drive, your calling in life, your highest goal, your mission, your vocation, self-actualisation, your dharma, your heartfelt desire, the very thing that you can't afford not to do. If you are clear on this, then this is the first step to living a rich and fulfilling life.

Once you have clarity on what drives you then you need to look at your current reality as this tells you where you are starting this journey from. You need to take stock of all the resources you have at your disposal that will get you to where you want to go. Your next step is to have a vision of your future reality and be clear as to where it is you want to end up. When Alice was in Wonderland she asked the Cat which way she ought to go. The Cat told her that depends on where she wanted to get to. When she responded she didn't really care, he told her then it doesn't matter which way you go. The same is true when it comes to setting your goals. Once you know the place you want to arrive at, then you need to tactically map your path. You can't just leave it to chance - it's your life we're talking about here, it's far too important. The final piece to successfully map your future is the one that is most often left out and forgotten about. You must embed your goals.

Embedding is reinforcing your commitment to your goals on a regular basis. Just setting your goals and never looking at them again is called dreaming. You'll never achieve your desired outcomes unless you constantly condition your mind and body to take action and move forward. You must take action in order to make it reality and the pay-off is that you'll live a life of meaning and achieve your desired level of happiness. When it comes to you sitting on your death bed and looking at how you lived your life, you'll be able to enjoy it all over again knowing that you lived your purpose. So don't just sit there thinking about it. As the Chinese proverb says, talk doesn't cook rice. Take action. Begin it. Do it now.

Wade Jackson

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