Goals and Values

Second day of blogging. As I sat at my altar last night I decided that todays post will be on Goals and Values. Reading the module Goal Setting one of ICAs Advanced classes, I remembered where my head was when I took the class . It was struggling with defining what goals mean to me, what and where I place my values and are there values that I have that I need to rethink. I value honesty, loyalty, trust, devotion, consistency, truthfulness, integrity, operating in all times with spirit, but what do these terms means to me and how am I living bringing forth these and other values? There have been times when almost all of these terms I have compromised on. Only one I have not: integrity.

One of the wonderful things about having a coach is the coach coaches you where your values are and they also hold you accountable as you journey forth. They notice when you are out of grace and by their questioning gives the client space to realize when they are not. This realization can also cause the client to realize that either the goal, value or both might not be something they feel is really important. Part of coaching is the discovery of importance and how that can be defined and redefined by the client as the client grows.

The goals aspect I am still struggling with. In the past I would half hearted set goals that I did not care if I achieved or not. But what was interesting was when I achieved major or minor milestones, I did not know how to appreciate the accomplishments. I did not know that I should. It was like onward to the next hurdle. No time was spent basking in the glory.

Now I am able to pause, breathe and feel the appreciation and pride of my achievements. And I do so all the time now. When I accomplish the goals I set every day I feel such pride in myself and gratefulness that the universe felt that I should. Even the days I do not complete, it is still a magnificent feeling because I realize that other things needed my attention and I gave those things my full attention, the items I did not, well there is always tomorrow or the day after.

My goals are very structured but fluid enough that I can reevaluate and come up with different approaches to achieving the goals. This I am finding works for me: in defining and achieving the goals, I need to have multiple ways to accomplish them. In designing my calendar for example, the goal started out to build a template that I can base all the pages on but have the ability to change certain elements (i.e line spacing) to accommodate all of the items I feel I need for that particular day to use as reference. As I work out in my mind and on paper, this fluidness has allowed me to be more creative in the designing process. It allowed me to focus my attention on what is really important for my calendar and allowed me to realize that I now wish to incorporate craft items on the pages as well (stamps, gluing items, hand drawings, etc.). As this was unfolding, I received a email that a craft store in my neighborhood was going out of business. I went this past Sunday with Michelle, played and bought crafty things to my hearts content. I have achieved the flexibility I wanted in designing and now have all the items I need to move ahead with my creativity. I have defined my personal Goal Achievement Process and I am very happy.

The Goal and Value module notes have help me get a better grip on being comfortable with creating goals and asking myself are all of my values being represented in the goal and achieving the goal. I can use that question to see if I really wish for something or is it still incubating and needs more time before I bring it forth.