Last month I wrote about staying motivated throughout the process of change that is your life reinvention.

Goals, a clear vision, and intention can all be powerful and effective.

However, in my work as a life coach, I’ve also seen my clients become frustrated in using each of these tools under certain circumstances.

Since I work primarily with reinventers, I thought it might be helpful to share my experience on when, in the course of your reinvention journey, each of these tools can most effectively support you. And, just as important, when to avoid them!

This blog entry is about goals. In future posts, I’ll share my perspectives on having a clear vision and on creating powerful intentions.

The Brilliance of Goals

A goal can be a great motivator when two conditions are met:
1. What you want to achieve has a clear destination, or end point, and,
2. It is possible to create a well-defined ‘map’, i.e., a plan with actions steps, to get there.

Example: in my work reinvention, I transitioned from being a corporate consultant and trainer to being a life coach to individuals who are reinventing themselves.

My goal was to become a Certified Life Coach.

This ambition had a beginning point, an ending point (certification awarded), and a clear path to get there (a professionally defined training and certification program).

In this case, the goal motivated me because not only was I reaching for the achievement of something tangible, I could also effectively measure my progress along the way. My goal really kept me focused on my target.

When Goals Go Bad

But, and it’s a big ‘but’ for reinventers, the destination and the path are not always so clearly defined, especially in the early stage of a reinvention.

When most of my reinventer clients first come to me, they know that they are dissatisfied with their lives or their work, but they usually don’t yet know specifically what they want or how to make their desired changes. As I have written before, probably with irritating frequency (!), the first task is to discover their true selves and what they really want.

In the example of my own reinvention, when I first knew with certainty that I wanted to leave corporate life, I really had no clear idea what I wanted my work to be. I knew what it wasn’t. It was fairly well along in my reinvention journey when I actually honed in on becoming a life coach.

So, my own reinvention began with an intention to be open and pursue a self-discovery process. Later, I began to form a vision of the type of work I wanted to do, whom I wanted to work with, what I wanted in a work lifestyle, and that I did in fact want to have my own business.

But these components developed over time. It was a gradual unfolding. I had to be willing to hang with quite a bit of uncertainly while I allowed myself time to be in the discovery process.

Had I created a goal early on, there’s no way I would have picked the profession I am now in. I wasn’t even aware of it at the time that I walked out the door of my corporate job.

In order to stay financially solvent and relatively sane, I built some bridges and I took it in phases, and eventually I reached a point where I could define a clear destination and map to get there, i.e., a clear goal.

Goals do work at the right point, and under the right circumstances. However, you could do yourself a disservice by forcing your reinvention into a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goal before it is time to do so.

Stay connected to your inner guidance, and you’ll know when it is time to create specific measurable goals for yourself. You can tell by how you feel whether a goal will motivate you or whether it will be an invitation to a ‘gremlin’ party.

Helping Goals Help You

Once it is the right time to set a goal, and you’ve established one that truly motivates you, there are a couple of things you can do to remain in ‘right relationship’ to your goal, so that it supports you and doesn’t ‘run’ you.

Stay connected to the ‘why’ or ‘for the sake of’ that inspired your goal to begin with. Stay connected to your dream, and the good feeling that you had about your goal when you established it. It’s so tempting, once we set a goal, to let our dream become a to do list. If that’s all it is, it will turn from motivating to discouraging in no time.

Also, find ways to enjoy the journey. Set interim milestones that are clear and important to you. Celebrate them. Most of us forget to celebrate our level of commitment to the journey, who we are being along the way, and the smaller achievements that eventually get us to the destination.

I’d love to hear from you about how - and when - goals have worked or not worked for you. Let me know what you think. You can leave a comment by clicking on the Add a Comment link below, or you may always contact me by email at lynnefairchild@earthlink.net.

I’ll be back in future posts with some ideas on vision and intention. Stay tuned, and thanks for listening!

Filed under: Your Map, Your Compass, Tools, Survival Tactics on February 29th, 2008