This article was originally published in The Simplifier #38.

Creating Meaningful Goals

By Shawn Tuttle

“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.”
- Ursula K. LeGuin

“Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.”
- Robert H. Schuller

These quotes represent common sentiments that are seemingly at odds with each other: If goals are so important, how can the journey be the most important thing?

Melding these suggests an interesting dance between committing to goals that motivate while enjoying the “now”. This melding offers you an opportunity to embrace each step of the journey as part of the goal—just like a single piece of tile is one of thousands in a beautiful mosaic. Each tile is important in its own right, in its participation with the whole, and in how it relates to the pieces around it. In other words, each piece is a relevant contribution to the full mosaic.

The clearer your vision of the full mosaic is, the more quickly you will assemble it. Maybe you have a feeling, maybe you have a visual, but if you don’t have at least a sense of the vision, how will you discern whether something is relevant or irrelevant to where you are headed?

And so it is with simplifying. Your goal of a simpler life comprises the moment-to-moment actions of your experience as a mosaic encompasses its tiles.

The vision of the goal is the push-off point. So let’s talk about your goal from a practical perspective.

Your Goal
Common reasons for wanting to simplify are:

• to have an organized office
• to be more efficient and effective
• to have more time

When a client states one of these reasons, I’ll ask, “Why do you want this?” Answers usually involve some form of “Who wouldn’t want this? My current situation is driving me nuts!” These aren’t very convincing answers.

Focusing on organization for the sake of organization eventually leads to questions along the lines of “Why am I doing this?” Without a compelling answer, there isn’t much reason to continue.

Identifying a meaningful goal (defined as being in line with your values, interests, and passion) reminds you why organizing your office (and keeping it organized!) is a worthwhile activity. Meaningful or heart-felt goals can be big—or they can be super-big! “To be a published author.” “To buy a house.” “To change careers to ____.” “To run a marathon.” “To be successfully self-employed.”

This point illustrates the underlying philosophy of my entire simplification approach. I believe that setting your sights on a meaningful goal is an essential motivator toward manifesting your goal.

That said, “goal: to have an organized office” very well may be the first step to more heart-felt goals. You can keep this in perspective by remembering that any big goal will embody a number of smaller goals along the way (and that having your work-flow as easy as possible will facilitate all of your work).

But don’t stop here! Push through to the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel—why is it worth it to you to expend the time and energy to organize? The more passionate the answer, the more likely you are to stick with the solutions created.

Basic tip for clarifying your goal: Be specific.

Look at the difference between:

Vague goal: To have more free time.
and
Specific goal: To spend at least one hour a day in a relaxing or fun activity and to take 1 four-day out-of-town trip per month.

OR

Vague goal: To have an organized office.
and
Specific goal: To be able to locate papers/files/supplies within 15 seconds, have a clear desk at the end of every day, and have the only things on the floor be furniture.

The vague goals do not provide your brain with a clear understanding of when the goal has been met. The specific goals do.

Writing down your specific goal helps you clarify and commit the goal to yourself, plus it serves as a reminder. Staying clear and connected with your goal helps you keep your actions and decisions in perspective.

As a bonus to current readers, I am making a simple worksheet available for progressing towards your goal in the context of the 5 Core Concept model (Visualize, Clear, Plan, Do, and YES!) We’ll get to this model in my next article on June 13. You can download the worksheet here. The goal goes in the central oval.

Thinking about your goal daily helps it become a part of your thought process, which in turn helps it become the journey.

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify