Goal Setting and Ambition

Setting goals and defining your ambition - what a great topic! This can sometimes be a challenge for me, not necessarily when it comes to green meetings, but in my personal life. Can you relate? Let’s take exercise, for example. I schedule my plans to get up early and to work out. That is my goal. When the time comes to get out of bed and put on those workout clothes, do I have the ambition? More often than not, the answer is no. Hopefully, that example resonates with more people than just me!  

Let’s recap our past couple of blogs. First, we talked about our dream. What is your dream, and how do you make that dream happen? After we defined our dreams, we delved into the notion of dreams versus reality. How do we make our dreams come true? Is our dream even possible? 

So, what is our next logical step? We will move forward with setting goals and figuring out how excited we are about that dream. From my experience, no matter the goal, it probably won’t happen if you don’t have the ambition and the passion. It is very similar to the exercise example for me. However, sometimes you’ve just gotta negotiate with yourself and say, “I must suck it up and get through this to make the overall dream happen.”

That can be hard to do, though. It truly does depend on the big picture in the end. If there is just one goal or two you don’t find exciting, you might suck it up and tackle it to get to that big-picture goal.  

Let’s talk about goal setting and how to do it. The definition of goal setting is the process of taking active steps to achieve your desired outcome. That makes sense, right? We will talk about three types of goals: Process, Performance, and Outcome. Process goals are specific actions or “processes” of performing. For me, an example is writing these blogs. Let’s spend an hour a day researching and writing the blog. Other examples you may relate to could include the half hour you spend each day checking emails, writing a to-do list every morning, delegating two weekly tasks, etc. A process goal is 100 percent controllable by the individual. Performance goals are based on personal standards. This goal is probably the goal you might be most familiar with, as it is what most performance reviews at work tend to be linked to. So, that could be achieving a specific target for the total sales revenue generated within a specific period. It could be acquiring a predetermined number of new customers within a given timeframe. Lastly, there is the Outcome goal. These types of goals focus on the end-point, so the big picture. What does your outcome look like?  

Now we know the types of goals, but here are some tips to make your goals strong and attainable.  

• Set both short and long-term goals. Try to set all three types of goals cited earlier. 

• Set SMART goals.  

  • Specific - detailed statement on what you want to accomplish (use who, what, where, why, and how).

  • Measurable - How will you demonstrate and evaluate how your goal has been met?

  • Attainable - Make sure your goals are within your ability to achieve.

  • Relevant - How do your goals align with your dream?

  • Time-based - include deadlines, frequency, or dates.

• Set goals that motivate you. Again, what is your ambition?

• Write your goals down and put them in a place you can see.

  • YES! Put your goals on your vision board and try to visualize them becoming reality.

• Adjust your goals as needed.  

  • These are not written in stone. These goals have to be a living document for you. You may need to chunk them into smaller goals. You may need more time to achieve them. Don’t be afraid to adjust them. These are your goals; keep them fluid and flexible!

• Recognize and reward yourself when you meet a goal.

  • When I exercise, I treat myself to ice cream. Vicious cycle. Ha ha!

Let’s come up with some examples using our ongoing sustainable events scenario. Our outcome goal would be to have a green (sustainable) event by the end of 2024. Our process goal is to include sustainable elements in our planning documents by the end of the 3rd quarter of 2023. Lastly, our performance goal is to eliminate our event carbon footprint by 50 percent by the end of 2024. If starting with green events, we would go even more detailed with the goals. Schedule a call in the 3rd quarter with all our stakeholders to tell them our sustainability goals. Provide wellness breaks throughout the day, including yoga, meditation, and fluffy puppies to pet at our 2024 annual event. Work with the chef to provide 10 percent of our gala dinner from local farms (local to us being less than 100 miles from the venue).  

Does this make sense? This is just a quick overview of how you can turn those big-picture dreams into achievable actions to propel you forward to the dream. We would love to hear your goals. Please send us a message and tell us your ambition!