By Karen Thompson, People Achieve Consultancy

Cast your mind back to 1996 when the first Spice Girls single, Wannabe, was released. The memorable lyrics include the lines: “I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want”. So, what has that got to do with you and goal setting? I’ll tell you.

First, a bit about me

I’m Karen Thompson, a client of Wealth Matters. I’m a qualified business coach and I run a consultancy practice called People Achieve, through which I have had the pleasure of working with the Wealth Matters team for several years.

In my line of work, I live and breathe the mantra “if you get the people right first, everything else follows”. With this in mind, I’ve been supporting the Wealth Matters team to identify what it is that they really want to achieve and how that contributes to their success. In these sessions, the individual responds to a blend of observation, questioning, listening, gentle challenge and feedback, to create a conversation rich in insight and learning.

The response from the WM team has been that they experienced and enjoyed a dedicated focus on their goals, which enabled them to develop a greater awareness and appreciation of their own circumstances, and what they “really, really wanted”.

From this different perspective, they were able to create new and innovative ways to resolve issues, produce better results and achieve their goals in a structured way, thus contributing more effectively to the team and having a positive impact on Wealth Matters as a whole.

So what do you really want?

For me, it doesn’t matter what stage of life you are in. There’s a message here that comes from those seemingly banal lyrics. Challenging yourself to explore exactly what it is that you want, and then considering how you can achieve it.

As starting point, you could ask yourself:

  • Am I just drifting through life?
  • Are other people passing me by, either literally or figuratively?
  • Are other people’s achievements or philanthropy making a difference to society?
  • What about my career achievements?

As clients of Wealth Matters, we are all familiar with setting financial goals and creating plans to help us to achieve those goals, supported by the skills, expertise and experience of the Wealth Matters team.
But have you ever put the same thought and subsequent action plan into setting and achieving your own personal life goals, to help you to succeed or achieve more?

Get specific

Ask yourself, ‘What is it that I want, what I really, really want?’

Don’t settle for anything less and be specific!

Instead of ‘I want to get fit’, try ‘I want to keep up with my grandchild when out for long country walks by 31st January’. Maybe ‘I want to travel’ might become ‘I want to visit and experience the culture of Australia by the end of 2024’.

Rather than ‘I want to do something in my retirement’, you might say ‘I want to progress my hobby in gardening to contribute to community gardening schemes’ or ‘I want to use my business acumen to help my favourite charity’.

It’s important to pinpoint what the goal means for you. Whatever goals you set; you may like to ask yourself:

  • Why is it important right now? How motivated are you to achieve that goal? Where are you now in terms of achieving that goal?
  • What is the best outcome you could achieve and could there be any downsides? If so, how will you overcome them? If you experience fears or assumptions, ask yourself what evidence you have to support those thoughts.
  • What options are available to you right now? Who could help you or what resources do you need? What else can you explore? Think outside the box and get creative.
  • What is the first step that you could take right now? What could be stopping you? Do you need to break the goal down into smaller parts?
  • How will you know when you have achieved the goal? What measures are you putting in place? What are your timescales? Are they realistic at the current time? If not, why not? What can you do differently?

Finally, remember to celebrate each of your successes as you progress.

In the wise words of Pele, “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do”.