Welcome back to the 4-part series of change. First and foremost, have you answered the questions from the previous week? These answers are there to help you envision a future that you want and an ideal self that you hope to achieve. In part 2 of this exercise, we will reflect on our current behaviours and how it contributes to or hinders your journey to reach your goals. Furthermore, we want to set realistic and attainable goals in order to set ourselves up for success! As per the last exercise, have a place where you can note down your responses before you begin.
Let us take a moment to think about how your life would be in one year if you remained the same. If nothing changes, what kind of person will you become? Do you like this person that you are thinking of? Now, let’s stretch this to five years. If you make no changes in the next five years, do you like the person that you see?
As you reflect, note down all the things that you are thinking of achieving and things that you want to see in yourself by the end of the year. The following is an example of the steps required to get to our goals.
Possible steps towards your long-term goal
May envisioned herself to be able to play drums by 31 December 2022, would she be able to achieve that if she continued the way that she is now? Currently, she knows nothing about playing drums. She has never touched a drum set before and has poor coordination. So knowing all these conditions, do you think May will be able to play the drums in a year or five years time if she does not change anything in life now?
The answer is pretty clear, No. If she wants to learn to play the drums, she has to make some changes in her current lifestyle in order to achieve her long-term goal. Hence, her current behaviour is not aligned with her goal. So, in order for May to do that, here are some short-term goals that she can take.
Sign up for drum classes by 1 April 2022
Watch 3 youtube videos on how to play the drums a week
Practice the motions 3 times a week for 30 minutes to improve her coordination
Are the steps feasible?
By achieving these short-term goals, May would be taking steps towards her long-term goal of playing the drums by the end of 2022. However, are these steps doable for her? Are there factors that are stopping her from taking these steps?
Some possible factors that could be stopping her from taking these steps:
No money for these lessons
No time to go for lessons and to practice
Given that these are the factors that are stopping May from achieving her goal of learning to play the drums, May would have to reallocate her resources in order to reach her goal. Thus, the next step in the process is to prioritize and make compromises to her current lifestyle to accommodate her goal.
Reallocating resources
Similar to May, we all have finite resources that we can use to achieve our goals. Thus, after we decide on our short-term goals, we have to prioritize our existing commitments in our lives and look at how we have been using our mental, physical, and financial resources. There will definitely be areas that we cannot compromise. Thus, the difficult part of this exercise is to decide in which aspect of your life you will be able to make sacrifices to accommodate your goals.
In May’s case, her current income is used on her phone bills, rent, food, and insurance premiums every month. Furthermore, May meets with her friends twice a week to visit fancy restaurants and drinks. These factors limit her financial resources and time. Hence, to gather money for the drum lessons, May would have to prioritize and decide which are the areas where she can reduce her spending and also free up some time. Moreover, as it will take some time before she can save up for the lessons, she can first invest in a set of pre-loved drum sticks and follow videos on Youtube to learn and practice. By taking these steps, May would be able to achieve all of her short-term goals.
Using the resources that she had reallocated, she will then take steps towards her long-term goal of learning to play the drums. After all, an accumulation of small steps will eventually bring us to our big goal. The important thing here is to make a consistent effort towards it.