Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
I know, blasphemous, especially in our overachieving world. Let me explain.
For some of us, goal setting is wonderful in theory. “100 clients by the end of the month.” “Certified by the end of the year.” “X amount of contacts on a daily basis.” But then you sit down and parse out what you need to accomplish day by day, week by week, month by month to reach these goals and it leaves some of us feeling like we are put in a box and we can’t wiggle ourselves out of it. Overwhelm sets in. Goal setting is too time and action-oriented for some of us. For those creatives out there, I’ve got a different idea. Homework.
You might think, those days are long gone - good riddance. You may even flashback (for some of us, way back) and recall that last college final. Walking out the door, knowing you are done, free from all of it. Back then, homework was a means to an end. Graduation. Today, homework is a means to personal growth and to reach those goals, even if they aren’t nit-pickingly defined.
As a coach, I prescribe homework to my clients every single week. Yes, for some of you out there, goal setting is a top priority, and checking off those daily to-dos feels like an accomplishment, an achievement, but for the rest of us, the ones who aren’t as concrete, goals feel elusive and constricting. That is where setting up some weekly homework comes into play and here is how.
For example, I want to be a certified Enneagram coach by the end of the year. Sounds like a goal, right? Well, it is, but I don’t want to get there by doing something specific every single day, something prescribed, something SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). I’m not saying I want to do something stupid either. I do want to get there but I want it to be a little loosey-goosey so I set up some weekly homework by putting it in my habit tracker. Since it is a constant reminder to do something I do it and it is forward motion. I can see my forward motion in my progression and my skill set. Plus, I don’t have the added pressure of letting myself down every time I don’t reach one of those prescribed goal-oriented milestones.
For those of you out there who like to set goals and achieve them, I applaud you. I wish a to-do list worked for me. For the rest of us, I encourage you to get yourself back to school and do the homework you need to do, day by day, or week by week in a habit tracker. Soon enough you too will reach those goals, just in your time and in your way without a lot less pressure.