A HUG is a Huge Unbelievable Goal. I am sure you’ve all heard of big hairy audacious goals or B-HAG? These are usually defined as a something a business or organisation might ultimately strive for. Something that’s clear and compelling that the whole team can get behind and work towards. They are designed to change how we do business, achieving the impossible, taking us out of our comfort zone, having a long-term commitment. However, recently I came across something I liked even better! A HUG! A huge unbelievable goal! Doesn’t this sound much better?Isn’t this something we can all relate to?Might this be something we can more easily remember and aspire to? If we wanted to break down what a HUG really is, we would need to do the following: Determine what it is you really want – This can be quite hard for some, and very hard for others.
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We are either a goal-setting person or we aren’t. We might write them down and forget them or not even write them down. We may be in the minority and fastidiously follow our goals and actions to the letter. To give ourselves a better chance of achieving our goals there are things we can do. Before you set goals this year, consider the following: Begin with revising your current goals – Rather than starting afresh, it’s better to keep our previous or current goals to identify why you didn’t achieve, were they clear enough, were they measurable and achievable; revising or refreshing them is often a good place to start. Link your goals to a greater goal or purpose – If we focus on what the big picture is, what our main aim, vision or goal is before writing or revising our goals we can at least picture what it
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I am sure you like me had school report cards that often read: “could do better”? There’s a quote by Maya Angelou that says: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” What I like about this quote against the school report cards is that the first one always feels like we’ve let ourselves down and everyone else, whereas the quote indicates our path in life is growth and we do this in our own time and in our own way.. Compare that quote with this one also from Maya Angelou which reads: “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” For me, this quote says what we did then is ‘good enough’ and now we have a better understanding of ourselves and what we can and need to do we can try
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I heard this saying recently: “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow it only saps today of its joy” This is so true on many levels, isn’t it? We worry about things that may never happen, which can often ruin our day – and yet we can’t turn the ‘worry wart’ off can we? Worry is usually a concern that something bad or untoward is going to happen or may happen which we fret about continually inhibiting us, invading our thoughts, affecting our emotions and often also affect us physically too. Our worries usually stem from a setback or a problem or issue that’s occurred and which wasn’t planned for. It’s said: “The comeback is always stronger than the setback”. Something that’s good to remember and have as a mantra to help us put things into context. Sir Tom Moore said: “Tomorrow will be a good day; remember tomorrow will
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Do you have a dream?Do you know what your dream is?Are you on your way to achieving your dream? Whatever your answer to any of the above questions, we all need a dream, we need something to strive for and work towards.Our dream provides us with a clear vision – consider drawing an image in your mind or develop a vision board so you and others can ‘see’ what it looks like and keep this where you can see it regularly.Any vision requires goals being set that measure our performance and help us achieve our dream. These goals need to be SMART providing tangible milestones and clear steps to ensure you are ‘conducting the orchestra’ and leading your own destiny. The goal is your long term and final objective that harnesses your vision.Goals require actions where we need to determine what we want to achieve and how we are going
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It is said we should never stop learning and that we should ALWAYS learn – no matter what! When we were at school, we perhaps didn’t appreciate how privileged we were back then. Now when we want to learn, it often feels too hard, and we don’t have time. Either way, to learn, we have to have the right attitude to learning. By continually learning we are more than likely to achieve our actions and goals. Why? Because we are always growing. Remember, it’s not always about reaching our destination, but enjoying the journey, enjoying the moment, the process, no matter how hard. Seeing the benefits of this and that it is an opportunity of personal and professional development as well as bettering ourselves in various ways. Not only must we see the value of continuous learning, but we must also have a growth mindset. Every day we must ask
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How often have we said, “I haven’t got time”; “I don’t have enough time”; “I lost time” and many other statements we make when the reality is we all have the same hours in the day, we can’t bank it or save it. We can however waste it by not making the best use of our present time. Time Management IS and should be part of our self-care. We only have one life, time is very precious and a limited resource and one which should be used wisely, making use of the present more than ‘later – later – later’, which often means never doing them. Do you want to reach old-age feeling you’ve lived a life of regrets? When you fear taking yourself out of your comfort zone and moving into new pastures and feel nervous about taking these steps into the unknown. Stop for a moment and consider
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Amelia Earhart was quoted to have said “The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do.” The paper tigers she refers to means “something or someone that claims or appears to be powerful or threatening but is actually ineffectual and unable to withstand challenge.” I often talk about perceived obstacles, barriers or fear with clients, in that they may feel very real but they’re actually not, however, we must try and act on fact and evidence rather than feelings believing them to be reality. When we are working towards our vision or aiming to obtain our goals, setbacks and bumps in the road are inevitable and unavoidable. To enable us to get past these roadblocks we need tenacity, determination and perseverance to see us through. This can be hard when we are
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We know we have attributes and skills, however, sometimes it’s hard to determine what the difference is between them both in terms of what we can learn and what we have inherently within us. An attribute is seen as a quality or characteristic of a person, place or thing and is seen as inherent rather than something that is taught. A skill on the other hand is seen as something that can be learned through training and something we can improve on to better ourselves. If skills are learned and attributes are inherent then which is called upon in the face of adversity? At times of adversity, we need to use our resilience. This is another word which is used a great deal, and none more than the last year or so, but what does it mean and what steps or strategies can we use to help us cope? Here
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Personally: Do you know what your personal values are? Would you be able to reel these off if and when asked? Do you live up to your personal values, or are they something you aspire to? Professionally: Does your business have core values? Does your business uphold your values? Could you define your business core values if you don’t have them? What are our values? Our personal values are our moral compass which help define us and help guide us through life. They may determine our friends, partners, behaviour and even decision-making. Often, we are more aware of the values we hate or can’t stand. Those deal-breakers we absolutely won’t tolerate on any level, and sometimes this is the place to start, what we don’t want in our lives before we can determine what we do want in our lives. When we do take time out to define our values
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