Goal setting for me was pretty easy when I was younger. If you think about it, the milestones are all sort of set for you.
Goal one: Crawl. Goal Two: Walk. Goal Three: Potty-train…skip a few- Learn to read, Drive, Graduate, Graduate again (maybe even graduate again?) Get job, Get promoted, repeat…
But what do you do to challenge yourself to grow once you’ve checked off all society’s boxes? What happens if the goals you set for your job end up not really being all that fun or fulfilling after all? How do you get off the merry-go-round of life and decide for yourself what’s the most important?
Even harder- Once you decide what you think is most important, how in the heck are you supposed to figure out how to make THOSE things happen? I’m not ashamed to tell you I found myself gripping the steering wheel in traffic on my way to work one morning wondering what in the world it meant if the things I spent all of my time talking about, focusing on or doing were completely different than the things I would say were actually the most important to me. How did that make ANY sense?
I’m blessed with the most amazing husband. When I tell you he’s my biggest fan, y’all I’m not kidding. He sees all the dreams I have for us and for myself as absolutes in our future, and he’s 100% supportive of all my zany ideas for how to make them happen. He challenges me when he thinks I’m shorting myself, and he celebrates with me when I realize a goal. That challenge part isn’t always easy- and it was his voice that kept prompting me to think differently; to take advantage of the opportunity to do something different. Simply stated- he begged me to dream bigger and go make THOSE things happen.
But I was so overwhelmed. For me, it became clearer and clearer that my dreams didn’t fit with the career path I was on at that time. If I didn’t work in an office, have a calendar full of meetings, hand out a business card with some silly title or answer 20 voicemails a day then how did I define who I even was? I clung to all the things I was comfortable with in my job because being busy kept me occupied. So guess what happens when you don’t change anything: The merry-go-round I was on just kept on turning. I wouldn’t get off. I needed a sign. (Isn’t that funny?)
I believe in signs because I believe that’s how God speaks to me. He created me, after all ; all my silly inner voices and doubts, and He knows I basically need to be hit over the head with the obvious to be able to really understand what His plan for me is. And so- I got a sign.
Scrolling through Instagram one day I came across a post from Southern Weddings magazine (which was my wedding planning “happy" website) about their sister brand Cultivate What Matters. The post was something so simple, yet so incredibly powerful. It stopped me dead in my scroll.
“You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? You should go do them.”
Bam. There is was. “Okay, okay, okay” I thought. “I get it.” But in my head I knew that was SOOOOOO much easier said (or read) than done. So I did what any chronic Instagram-scroller does. I clicked the link to that profile and began exploring.
And that, my friends, was a click that changed my life. I’m not kidding.
I met Power Sheets that day, and I knew that was exactly what I was looking for.
I was good at the big ideas, but I’ve always struggled with the details on how to bring those big ideas to fruition. I over commit, and I often underestimate what I’m able to accomplish in a small period of time. I needed help getting to the big ideas with small steps I could better manage.
PowerSheets is a simple methodology of goal setting that helps you make tiny steps of progress that ultimately lead to big changes. Or growth. Or keeping something going. Or whatever it is that you decide matters most to you.
I dove in. I ordered PowerSheets for the coming year. Then I got overwhelmed again. The first month I set goals actually makes me giggle now. I basically wanted to run a marathon, save a million dollars, cure cancer and learn a new language by January 31. (That’s only a slight exaggeration.)
I accomplished none of those things, but did go an entire month without a Diet Coke- which was almost as momentous for me at that time. I read something on the website that reminded me ‘progress not perfection’ was the main emphasis of this system. So I started again in February.
I had to learn how to set goals that made sense for the season I was in. How to break those goals down into daily and weekly checkpoints to help me stay focused on the big picture. I had to learn to forgive myself if something didn’t get accomplished. I had to hold myself accountable to keep picking up the book to write down the next steps. I had to keep trying over and over again until I got it right.
So why is this important? Because I’m excited to order my next set of PowerSheets to help me continue making slow but steady progress on my goals for the year ahead. Can you believe 2020 is less than 90 DAYS away? The team who produces PowerSheets (Cultivate What Matters) is launching a new and improved version for next year. I can’t wait to get my hands on them.
I haven’t arrived at any sort of final destination. If I’m completely honest I’ve probably missed as many of my action steps as I’ve hit, but even those misses have taught me something. In the last few years I’ve taken lots of GIANT leaps of faith and lots of tiny steps all with the ultimate goal of keeping the important stuff at the top of my to-do list.
I’m reminded daily I’ve always had the power to do these things all on my own. But PowerSheets have brought me into a community of people who like me are striving daily to tend to the things they decide are important. We celebrate together and regroup together.
I’m not paid by the Cultivate team to push PowerSheets. If you know me well you’ve already heard me talk plenty about how I think they’ve helped me and why I think EVERYONE should use a system like this for themselves. I just believe in what they help me do.
I want to be clear that I don’t think being in a corporate job is a bad thing. It just wasn’t MY thing anymore. It wasn’t the only thing I identified I needed to change, but it’s the most visible change if you knew me a few years ago before all this has happened. Your goals don’t have to look like mine because what matters most to us doesn’t have to be the exact same thing. Whether you choose to utilize a tool like the PowerSheets or not, I simply challenge you to take a moment and think about what you spend your time engaged in doing, thinking about, talking about, or planning. Does it line up with what you’d tell a stranger is the most important thing to you?
If so, BRAVO dear friend. Send me your secrets! If not, you’ve always had the power, girl. It’s time to ‘Make it happen!’
My 2019 PowerSheets are filled with notes, scribbles, ideas, successes and ‘do-overs.’ This book is never far from me physically or mentally!
