Without goals, what are you aiming for?

I mean really, without goals, how do you know if you are achieving success? Or accomplishing what you want to accomplish in life? Or, at least, moving in the right direction?

We come up with goals all the time in our professional lives.

Budget goals. Financial goals. Professional development goals. Team culture goals. Customer satisfaction goals. Acquisition goals. Sales goals. Retention goals.

Sometimes we might even have goals for our goals!! (guilty…)

I think everyone would agree, at least with lip service (but hopefully for real), that parenthood is the most important “job” we have. So if you spend time developing goals to help you improve at your day job, wouldn’t it make sense to develop goals for your life job?

If you want your family life to improve and your relationship with your spouse and your kids to get better, but you don’t have goals in those areas, then, I would propose that you don’t REALLY CARE about those areas.

Harsh, I know. But you wouldn’t go to your boss when you’re setting goals and forecasts for the year and say, “Ya know, I’m not setting any goals this year, I’m just going to be better!!”

Your boss would say, “Yeah…no. Give me some goals, Sport.” (I hope your boss doesn’t call you sport…)

So why do we do that at home? It’s crazy!

Sometimes coming up with goals might be overwhelming for you, but it doesn’t have to be! Start with something super simple. My friend and mentor, Dan Shaffer, provides some excellent tips on how to get started with goals.

For my family, I have goals for the number of one on one dates I will have with each of my kids and how many kid-free date nights I will have with my wife. Admittedly, we are in a crazy busy season of life so my goal numbers are not that high, but the point is that I have them.

These are four of the most important relationships that I have in my life, and spending one on one time is one of the best ways I can intentionally invest in each of them.

If you have customers, you have goals for how many contacts or touchpoints you want to make throughout the year, right?

Aren’t your family members so much more important than customers??

As a dude, let me call out the other dudes for a minute. Guys, take the lead here. It doesn’t matter whether you work or stay at home, whether you or your wife makes more money, or whatever other excuse you might come up with. Sit down and set some goals for your family. Talk to your wife, and if your kids are old enough, talk to them too. Come up with some goals together. They will feel valued and important just to know you are making them a priority by setting goals for your relationship. Even if you don’t hit your goals, this intentional effort will go a long way in making your family relationships better, which in turn, will improve other parts of your life.

So, as we launch into 2019, let’s make our families a priority. Set some goals and get serious about making an improvement…starting at home first.

#daddylessons