Your Life List – Dreams or Goals?
by Lois MelbourneIt’s mid-year. Have you re-evaluated your New Year’s resolutions? Have you looked at your life list of things you want to accomplish?
Have you made progress? Do you need to set some deadlines in the back half of the year? A recent movie, The Bucket List, is about the things two dying men wanted to achieve before they left earth. My Life List is much more about goals and dreams than the last spin through life’s days.
I achieved two Life List items this month. I pet a “big cat,” a cheetah named Hemingway, at a cheetah reserve used for educating farmers on how to protect their livestock without shooting cheetahs. I also went on a safari with my family. These were items on my list of things I always wanted to do. If I had never put those on my Life List I may never have had these heart thumping experiences. I may not have taken the time and money to venture to South Africa for anything but business. But they were on my list, and I so enjoyed these thrills.
Not all Life List items can make your heart race. But, hopefully, a few of yours do. Some of my goals, especially on the 12 month or less list, are very tactical and practical. Some are simply about forming good habits.
I meet with my employees to encourage them to create a Life List. Yes, it’s a nice human resources thing to do but, for me, it’s about personal satisfaction. I haven’t gotten to each employee yet, but I have mentored some through several sessions of these discussions. By the end of the year I will have met with all of them. I share with them a trick I was taught years ago. I rewrite the list every month, and refine and reflect on my choices. This helps me set timeframes for each goal and make sure I’m moving towards goals – or taking goals off the list that are no longer what I want. Sometimes I approach my ritual with budget setting in mind. Sometimes I just re-write them.
I believe in the adage “a goal without a timeframe or plan is only a dream.” A Life List can contain both goals and dreams, but to be successful in achieving them you must take the time and energy to turn one into the other.
For practical advice on a Life List: Making a Life List: How to make a list of life objectives without setting yourself up for disappointment.
http://todayslifelist.blogspot.com/
You will find lots of titles about Life Lists on Amazon.com. There are even some cool books you can use as Life Lists journals to help you get started.
I’d love to hear about something on your Life List you have been able to achieve (or we can swap safari stories).
Cheers,
Lois
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