Self Awareness and Goal Setting

Lesson One: Self Awareness and Goal Setting

SELF AWARENESS

Before you set your goals for your direction, you must be aware of who you are right now. Learning to to be self aware helps you to gain clarity on who you are, what you want to be and why. This helps to direct your thoughts, actions, and behaviours to develop into the best version of yourself. This is an ongoing process as you grow and change throughout life. If you have a deeper understanding of the values and traits that you have you are much more likely to create a life in which you feel happy.

VALUES

A great first step to self-awareness is to understand your values. A Value is something you hold dear and subconsciously deem important. Your values will determine whether behaviours stick or not and what you prioritise on a daily basis. Every time you unconsciously stick to your task or if you self-sabotage, it will be sparked by your values. A useful tool to begin understanding your values is a LIFE WHEEL.

LIFE WHEEL

A Life Wheel is a tool that is useful to gain some clarity on your life before goal setting. The tool is simple, it is a circular diagram with segments that contain certain areas of life. The spokes have numbers 1-10 ascending that you can rate each of these areas. The way I use the Life Wheel is as a simple tool for what are my priority values and where each area of my life is currently at.

For this exercise, go around the Life Wheel and firstly rate each area on its IMPORTANCE to you, and how highly you value it. (This doesn’t matter if you think you SHOULD value it, just rate it on how you currently view it). Mark a line on a level out of 10.

Then go through and rate where you currently feeling you are showing up in this area of your life. If there is a difference between the lines this could be an indication of a discord you may be feeling with what you value in your life and what is actually happening. What you should see at the end is which areas of your life are MOST important to you. (All the areas contribute to your growth and development, but what we want to know is what you value most so that you can relate your goals of the Program to this). There is a life wheel in the Worksheet at the bottom of the article

In the worksheet. Complete the Life Wheel Exercise and list the areas you value MOST at this point in time. This is going to be very useful for when we goal set, as relating your Powherful Goals to you values is what will make your habits and actions remain consistent.

GOAL SETTING QUESTIONS

Now that you have an understanding of yourself more, you can set some visions and goals that are aligned with you.

Step One: Set The Destination

Pick a goal that you want to achieve with your health, and align it to your values. E.g “I want to lose weight so I can have the best experiences with my family” or “I want to feel strong so I can be confident and powerful in my career”

Step Two: Rephrase as a Question

Make it something you can answer. E.g “How can I lose weight?”

Step Three: Make it Measurable, Think Big and Specific

Make it quantifiable and time based. E.g “How can I lose 20kg in 6 months”

Step Four: Find a World Class Answer

Find an answer and recognise whether it is:

Doable: Within your current skill set which means you already know the steps to put in place

Stretch: The answer lies at the end of your reach which means you will need hel

Possibility: To find the answer you must scout and research which means you will need to learn more and get help from a coach or guide.

Step Five: Make it Actionable

Put in place the action steps to achieve your goal. Put them in your WEEKLY PLANNER and HABIT TRACKER organisational tools in your Journal with reminders and check boxes.

GOAL SETTING FEEDBACK LOOP

Now that you have started the process of Goal Setting, I would like to introduce you to my Goal Setting Feedback Loop. This system is the way I visualise the journey towards my goals, and make sure I am not missing anything that could sabotage my progress towards a goal. It has been a very good tool for clarity on my goals, and keeps me on track.

I will explain in more detail the steps of the Goal Setting Feedback Loop and what you should be doing for each step. Today’s Self Awareness and Goal Setting Lesson explains Aspire, Advice and Aim. Next week we will be discussing Action and Accountability.

ASPIRE: To set off on a goal journey there must be a deeper reason why in order for you to commit yourself to the following steps which will achieve the goal.

You will need to know your VALUES, your WHY and the SPARK that initiated the goal.
Ask yourself: What do I want to achieve and WHY is it important to me to achieve this goal?

ADVICE: Accurate knowledge and education helps you to be prepared and well informed to make the best decisions towards your goals. This is crucial to avoid taking inefficient actions that won't help you attain your goal.
Ask Yourself: What do I need to learn or who do I need advice from to equip me?

AIM: You must have an action plan in place so that you can take the correct steps. It's a good idea to reverse engineer your plan from the goal achievement all the way to what step you can do right now towards the goal. Then have a system to track the progress of the goal.
Ask Yourself: What steps and in which order do I need to take in order to achieve this goal?

ACTION: To avoid paralysis by analysis, it’s important to take action. Goals are achieved by doing not over thinking. Do the work, follow your plan and check off when you have done it.
Ask Yourself: What actions will I take today?

ACCOUNTABILITY (AND ANALYSE): To stay on track, tracking, logging, staying accountable to another is crucial to success. Check in regularly to look back on your progress. If you have not reached Achieve yet look back At the end of a time period/program and analyse your results. If you have achieved or are tracking correctly this will be on the path to attainment, if results have stalled its time to acknowledge to go back to the drawing board.
Ask Yourself: In order to achieve this goal do I need: more information, a better plan or do I need to continue putting in the work

ACHIEVE: If a goal has been achieved, fantastic, celebrate!
Ask Yourself: Have I achieved this goal

APPRECIATE: Reflect on the success, appreciate and be grateful for your achievements then it's time to spiral up and repeat the cycle with the next goal.
Ask Yourself: What am I grateful for achieving this goal?