The goals I set around it were things like:

Whether it’s sending an email I have doubts about, to taking a job for the wrong reasons, or listening to others instead of myself.įor many years that value was top of my list. It’s important to me precisely because throughout my life, whenever I deviate from what instinct tells me is right, I’ve regretted it. For example, I always have ‘authenticity and integrity’ as one of my core values – doing what I say, and making sure my actions and words match. Something I’ve found fascinating is how values alter in priority. Some thirty five options narrow down to ten, then rearrange themselves to give you a top seven, from which you can then goal set. It does this by a process of numbering so that by the time you narrow down your choices, the values emerge, rather than you having to try to make them up. It works by helping you establish what your core values are, and how they are prioritized at a given time. That means that by the time you get to actually goal setting, you’ve done the hard work, and the goals come easily. What I love about this worksheet is that although it’s a lengthy process, it actually distils your goals down by establishing what is important to you at the time. The best thing about this is that over time, we’ve watched them change, and been able to see our shifting priorities. We go through the sheet off the phone then call in and talk them through. We live on opposite sides of the country, but that hasn’t stopped us. Since then we’ve made a date to make and review our goals together every six months. Ten years ago my bestie and I sat down with a bottle (okay, several bottles) of wine and she introduced me to a goal setting tool she’d been given in a conference.

The Votive Crown by Paula Constant