What’s Your Goal? Peace on Earth or a Juicy Hamburger?

This is the classic beauty contestant question. As she’s standing on stage being asked what she wants, the obvious answer is Peace on Earth. But what she’s really going to rush to get as soon as she’s off stage is a big, fat, juicy hamburger. We’re all beauty contestants in the stage of life. As we think about goal setting for the coming year what is it we really want?We want a 20% growth rate for our business, we want to lose 20 lbs, we want the corner office, we want work life balance, we want Peace on Earth.

All these wants are really good. We revel in the thoughts of getting there. Most of us even create a plan to get there. We create targets and measures. We create specific milestones. All still good. Then something happens: a crisis, an opportunity, another want, an obstacle, a failure. And we abandon our want. It’s what happens to a lot of goals. The weight loss industry thrives on it.

The better question to ask ourselves as we set goals for 2011 for our business or personal lives is “What are we really willing to commit to?”. A commitment is different from a want. A want is something that feels good.  A commitment is something we are willing to make sacrifices for NOW.  As I work with executives on their wants for their business and career, we differentiate what they are really committed to.  I ask a series of questions about what energizes them toward this want. And then I ask them about what they think they will need to give up. What changes need to be made now? What investments need to be made now? What leadership behavior change needs to become a habit now? Change is hard. There are very few wants that people are willing to give something up for. That’s when you know what they are committed to.

It’s a helpful exercise. Try it. It saves time, effort and activity when we get really clear about what we are willing to commit to.  Trust me, you don’t want to expend energy, time and money on a goal you are not committed to.

And contact me if you have big, important goals that you really want to commit to for the coming year.

This article was written by Henna Inam, C-level executive coach, global speaker, and author of the book Wired for Disruption. She helps leaders grow their agility to be a force for good and thrive in times of change. They create organizations that drive breakthroughs in innovation, growth, and engagement. In roles including Head E-Innovation and Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer, Henna drove transformation throughout her 20-year corporate career as an executive with Fortune 500 companies. Join the thousands who follow her blog here. Connect on Linkedin.