1) List your top 7 or so core values. What you stand for; what you stand against. What you consider important. What you would be willing to sacrifice other less important things for.
For example, one of my core values is "Work is Play" and by that I mean "doing what you love without delay... not waiting for retirement or vacation to be creative and have fun." But this is just me. List out what is really important to you. This may not be an easy task. Give yourself some time and work on this in a private place, without any possibility of interruption. Once you have a working list, feel free to dialogue with a friend or loved one - someone who you trust, someone who cares about you and wants to see you succeed.
2) Now, do some more soul-searching and write down your top 100 lifetime goals. This too can be a challenge and will take several hours (at least) of serious thinking. Once your done, go over your list and select your top 5 most important goals. (In order to know what your important goals are, you might refer back to your core values. Alternatively, you may learn your core values by looking closely at the goals and dreams that feel most important to you). If some of your goals are personal, feel free to keep those to yourself and only share your other, more "public" goals.
In addition to listing your top 5 important goals, list the 5 you think might be most challenging, as well as 5 that you think might surprise your friends or loved ones.
For example, one of my top goals are to be in the best shape of my life (able to touch my toes; strong core muscles; under 170 lbs).A couple of goal-setting tips:
a) Try to make your goals specific. They don't need to be totally fleshed out but vivid, specific goals are much more powerful than vague goals.
b) Think positive, not negative. Don't use the word "don't". Don't describe the problem, or how you don't want to be. Describe how you want to be. "Become a millionaire by New Year's 2012" is better than "Don't use credit cards anymore." BTW, a goal of "Getting totally debt-free by 2020" would not be bad. Being "debt-free" is positive, not negative.
c) Attach a time-limit.
Example: "Get organized and eliminate the clutter in my home and office by December" is better than "Stop being disorganized". "Sort and label all my folders by the end of this month" is better than "Learn a musical instrument."
But if you can't get specific at this time, it's okay to jot down a semblance of an idea... something to fine-tune later.
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I am giving you this assignment now so you can complete it over the weekend.
Note: you may have heard a lot about goals and perhaps even about values... but I want to make sure you've applied this knowledge. Put these techniques to use; they work.
Email me at jim at better photo dot com when you're done. Feel free to share with me what you got out of this assignment, and where you are hoping to go in the near future, and what's important to you.
But most of all... Let yourself play, dream, have fun! Be a kid writing his Christmas Wish List... Ask yourself... What would be exciting? What would be fun? Would would I love to be, have, do?
You'll find this process more rewarding than you can imagine.
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