The creation and exploration of Priorities and Goals are
the blueprints and keys for clients to achieve their life dreams.
Blueprints are necessary to efficiently and successfully build a
home and keys are needed to open the door. One also needs
blueprints and keys to create the life that they desire.
Priority is defined as “the state of having most importance
or urgency… something that is highly ranked in terms of
importance or urgency.” Two synonyms are main concern and
precedence. Precedence is defined as “relative importance in
rank and status that determines something…the right or need to
be dealt with before…something else or to be treated as more
important than … something else.”
Goal is defined as “something that somebody wants to
achieve.” Synonyms for goal are objective, aim, ambition, target,
aspiration and purpose. The definition of purpose is “ the reason
for which something exists…the goal or intended outcome of
something…the desire or the resolve necessary to accomplish a
goal.” (Encarta Dictionary*1)
In the article, “Priorities vs. Goals-What’s the Difference?”,
(*2 Rosen), they are differentiated in the following way:
“Priorities: What is most important and meaningful in
your life today (activities, values, beliefs, lifestyle, principles,
standards, hobbies, integrity, etc.) that you are not willing to
compromise or sacrifice in pursuit of something else (a goal).
Goals: A future based anticipated expectation, possibility,
end result or experience you are working towards creating,
achieving or bringing to fruition that has not yet been realized
in the present. He then compares Priorities and goals as:
Present Focused vs. Future Focused
What Is Happening vs. What Will/ May Be
In The Present vs. In The Future
He then states that “If you are encountering resistance
while attempting to reach certain goals or performing certain
tasks, chances are it’s either something you really don’t want to
be doing, an old goal that may not serve you anymore (a should)
or you are operating from someone else’s agenda (also a
should)! The bottom line is, these goals don’t support your
priorities and you’ll continue to feel “off” throughout your
pursuit of these misaligned goals.”
At the end of the day, your goals need to be aligned with
your priorities. Honor the priorities in your life by making them
non-negotiable. When your goals are aligned and balanced with
your integrity, feel calmer and will experience greater peace of
mind and fulfillment while traveling on your path to achieving
bigger goals and meaningful, long lasting results.
Once you can orient your life around your priorities, you’ll
have fewer goals that you’ll feel compelled to attain or be driven
(consumed) by. If you design your life and career around what
is most important to you on a daily basis, you’ll avoid becoming
hooked or attached to creating something ‘better’ at a future
point in time, which can rob you of the quality of your life
today.”
The article, “Top Tips for Setting Goals and Priorities,”
(*3 Collingwood) gives 5 suggestions for setting goals, the
relationship of priorities and goals and planning for the future.
“1. Choose the right goals. Try to find the middle ground
between aiming too high and not high enough. Aiming high
is a good motivator, but if you don’t feel the goal is
attainable, you’ll soon be put off even trying…overall, a
good goal is one that is worthy of your time and effort, and
that is your personal decision.
2. Make it formal. Writing down the goal will make it official
and will add to your sense of commitment.
3. Devise a plan. Without a plan, your goal has little chance
of success. Write an overall summary of the goal, including
details such as timing, cost and location to make it
authentic. Decide where to begin, and then make a detailed
step-by-step plan of the major tasks needed to achieve the
goal. If in doubt, work backward in stages from the final
result. Make deadlines if you like, but keep them realistic
to avoid disappointment.
4. Stick to it, but stay flexible. Finding a good time to start
often holds the process back. There will never be a perfect
time; goals just have to fit into your lifestyle. Unexpected
events can distract you and lead to procrastination… If
possible, report back to others on your progress. The plan
also needs to be flexible so you can adjust it as you go
along.
5. Regularly reassess. Frequently re-examine the goal to
ensure it’s still what you really want. Recognize and
celebrate each small success along the way. Adapt it if
necessary, but keep to your main objective. Work hard and
stay focused on the result.
Setting Priorities
If you are good at setting priorities, you will be better
prepared to decide on goals, and in so doing, manage your stress
levels more effectively. Think about your personal values.
What’s your dream? What’s your mission statement? What’s
realistic? This will help you spend more time focused on the
things, which will make a real difference.
On a daily level, organize your schedule according to the
importance of each activity… allow some margin for
unpredictable interruptions and delays…maximize your sense
of accomplishment while creating space for relaxation too. And
congratulate yourself for what you have achieved every day!”
There are those who are written goal naysayers. They
question whether written goals were a necessary component for
the scientific, political, military successes attained by historical
figures. They point to the possibility that correspondences or
written journals and even today question the validity of writing
your goals other than communicating your goals is possibly
helpful but not needed.
I strongly question that assessment. In my research, I
found many websites as varied as Colleges, School Districts,
Insurance Companies, County Health Districts and major
Community Service Organizations that utilized formal written
priorities and goals to set the tone for their successful agendas.
I have highlighted three and noted the other five.
1) Butler University, a comparatively small university,
finished second in The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for
the second year in a row. Not surprisingly on their website, their
written strategic plan for 2009-2014 is called “Dare to Make a
Difference.” It sets goals of increasing the University’s public
profile and revenue sources, expanding academic offerings and
sustaining high rates of student retention and graduation.
The plan includes 38 goals organized under nine priorities. (*4)
2) On the Verona, Wisconsin school district’s website,
there is a written “Strategic Priorities and Goals”, that
presents 3 priorities and 3 goals for each site council to create.
They are:
1. Priority: Ensure all students acquire skills and
knowledge to be successful in a diverse society.
Goal: Each site council will develop SMART goals
that ensure each student will show growth in acquiring skills
and knowledge to be successful in a diverse society.
2. Priority: Dedicate resources in flexible and creative
ways to meet individual student needs.
Goal: Each site council will develop SMART goals
that ensure resources are dedicated in flexible and creative
ways to meet individual student needs that will result in growth
in student learning and success.
3. Priority: Integrate technology into all curriculum to
improve problem-solving abilities.
Goal: Each site council will develop SMART goals
that integrate technology into all curriculum to improve
problem solving abilities. (*5)
I have chosen Elgin Community College because their
priorities and goals are more specific and measurable.
1. General Scholarship Fund Goal: award at least 15 new
scholarships each year.
2. Annual Fund Goal: increase contributions to the foundation’s
annual fund by at least 10 percent each year.
3. Endowment Goal: grow the foundation’s endowment by at
least 5 percent each year.
4. Planned Giving Goal: in 2010-2011, to identify 10
individuals who have included the foundation in their estate
planning; to significantly increase planned giving participation
by at least 10 percent in years to come. (*6)
The other websites are noted below:
Plus North East Ohio (*7), Blue Cross/Blue Shield
Minnesota Prevention (*8), East Central University,
Ada, Oklahoma website Priorities and Goals (*9) Rotary
International website Priorities and Goals (*10), and
Washoe County, Mission, Nevada-Priorities and Goals (*11).
Most human beings are searching for their purpose in life.
When young, seeking satisfaction in the physical or material
world usually dominates one’s energy. Educating oneself,
finding relationships that may or may not lead to marriage,
earning an income, working in a career that you love,
purchasing creature comforts such as cars and houses or
having a family are generally the priorities in life. As one gets
older, there is more of a tendency to explore the spiritual
aspects of our purpose, the why of why we are here.
Many live in the space of both worlds. Balance between
seeking the physical comforts and exploring the spiritual is
necessary for one to be happy. As a Life Coach, the objective is
to provide the client with the tools to more clearly navigate
between those two worlds.
First, the client fills out the detailed questionnaires that
help determine the client’s priorities and the goals that they
want to accomplish over the year to five years. Using the
answers that are given, a “blueprint is created. Because words
and what we say are so powerful energetically, a great deal of
time is deliberately and painstakingly taken to wordsmith 3-5
priorities in order of their importance, and then determine 5-
year goals and the 1-year goals that are in alignment with each
priority. Using the priority as the centerpiece, the question,
“What would you like your life to be in 5 years?” is asked. Then
the question, “in order to have that goal in 5 years what would
you have to do this year in order to be on the path to achieving
that 5-year goal?”
The following is an example of some Priorities and Goals
that may be created for a client:
Priority #1
Being in excellent physical and emotional health.
Priority #2
Being in a committed, intimate, loving relationship that is
perfect for me.
Priority # 3
Being financially secure and able to provide comfortably for
my children and myself.
Priority #1
5-Year Goals
1. I am at my natural weight.
2. I am playing tennis and golf, cross-country skiing and
bicycling.
1-Year Goals
1. I exercise/walk daily.
2. I eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full most of the time.
Priority #2
5-year goals
1. I am in a committed relationship that looks like this:
We are friends, we laugh and have fun together, we have respect
for each other, he takes pride in his surroundings, we take care
of each other; it is passionate and romantic; we are independent;
we enjoy doing things together but we don’t have to share
everything or do everything together.
1-year goals
1. I have explored other venues for meeting single men.
2. I do things that feel like fun for me.
Priority # 3:
5-year goals
1. I have paid for my daughter’s college without loans.
2. I have money set aside for my son’s education without need
for loans.
3. I have significantly reduced my debt.
1-Year Goals
1. I speak to my accountant about finances: house in Florida,
refinancing and moving/selling house in co-housing.
2. I make a list of where money is leaking.
The Priorities and Goals are finalized. At the beginning of
each session the client is asked what they what to talk about.
The homework detailing what they accomplished since the last
session to be on the path of achieving their 1-year goals is
discussed. The Priorities and Goals are tweaked. At the end of
the session, the client is given homework or action steps to
move them forward in a particular goal or often several goals.
To support them, the client is asked to read what they
have written at least once a day and keep them in a place that
they can be looked at periodically throughout the week. This is a
powerful way of reinforcing their pursuit of goals to attain their
priorities.
Using the written priorities and goals as a blueprint can
make decisions easier. For example, if the #1 priority is being
with family and the client is offered a job that requires a lot of
travel, then being on the road away from family does not
coincide with his/her #1 priority, the client can act accordingly
by not taking the job. This process is a continuous loop
to support the client to attain the goals that reflect their life
priorities.
References
1. Encarta World Dictionary
2. ”Priorities vs. Goals-What’s the Difference”,
Keith Rosen from Profit Builders, LLC, online version of the
Resource Nation.
(http://www.resourcenation.com/article/priorities-vs-goals-whats-difference-0)
3. ”Top Tips for Setting Goals and Priorities”, online website,
Psych Central, Jane Collingwood
(http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/top-tips-for-setting-goals-and-priorities/)
4. Butler University Website
(http://www.butler.edu/strategic-plan/priorities-and-goals/)
5. Verona, Wisconsin school district’s website-“Strategic
Priorities and Goals”
—
(http://www.verona.k12.wi.us/page.cfm?p=3117
International Coach Academy, PCCP Research Report Page 15
By Dr. Dennis W. Bressack Student No. 264801 4/25/11
6. Elgin Community College in Elgin, Illinois website-
Foundation Priorities & Goals
(http://www.elgin.edu/community.aspx?id=1156)
7. The Plus Northeast Ohio Website-Agenda Description
(http://www.theplus.us/en/Advance/Strategic-Priorities-and-Goals.aspx)
8. Blue Cross/Blue Shield Minnesota Prevention website
(http://www.preventionminnesota.com/objects/Resources_for_Employers/HLTHYWKPLC/culture13_goals.pdf)
9. East Central University, Ada, Oklahoma website-Priorities
and Goals
(http://www.ecok.edu/student_development/priorities
_goals.htm)
10. Rotary International website Priorities and Goals
(http://www.rotary.org/en/aboutus/rotaryinternational/str
ategicplanning/pages/strategic_priorities.aspx)
11. Washoe County, Nevada-Mission, Vision, Priorities and
Goals (http://www.co.washoe.nv.us/health/dbh/mission.html)
International Coach Academy, PCCP Research Report Page 16
By Dr. Dennis W. Bressack Student No. 264801 4/25/11
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