Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Eye on the prize

Goals. I cannot live with out them. I set goals for every aspect of my life: a goal of how much sleep I should get each night, how many times a week I should make it to the gym, and even how quickly I can finish a book.

I recently led the final meeting of my ImPRessions account, and we started talking about what everyone was doing for the summer and what he or she wanted to do next year. I then imposed my bit of wisdom on them: it is important to have goals. One of the girls told me that I reminded her of Rachel Berry from Glee with her obsession of goals (which I take as a compliment), but I was serious, and still believe that goals help us succeed.

The trick is choosing the right goals. You don’t want to set an unattainable goal; that will only set you up for failure and end in a downward spiral toward depression. For example, I would not realistically set a goal of becoming a Broadway star. That goal is not likely to be met, and setting that goal for myself would only give me false hope.

You also don’t want to let yourself off the hook too easily. Setting goals that are too easily met only limits your potential, which is no way to live. I’m a believer of pushing yourself, because that is the only way you will grow.

So, here is my advice for setting goals: identify two or three things that you most want to accomplish. For me, writing my goals down helps solidify my dedication to reaching it. Then figure out what individual steps you will need to take to accomplish your goal. It doesn’t have to be written by any means, but you should give it some thought.

Having said all of this, sometimes the best option is to simply go where the wind takes you. I’ve realized in my 21 years that on occasion, things do not go according to plan. This has been the most difficult lesson for me to learn, because I try to do everything “by the book” and cannot live without structure. But recently, I’ve been forced to do so (see my post “The power of collaboration”) and have grown because of it.

What are your thoughts on goals? Do they help you succeed? I would love to hear what you think.

This post was inspired in part by a post written by Skip Lineberg on the blog "Professional Studio 365."