© 2002 Carol Halsey

I read an article recently about why it is important to align goals with our values. It seems this salesman set his goals for the coming year. He had a target for volume of sales and acquired new business. He then planned his work schedule to accomplish these goals. It would involve a great deal of traveling, with frequent weekends away from home.

Although he was successfully implementing his plan and having positive results towards meeting his goals, he was not overjoyed. Why? It had nothing to do with his job, but had all to do with his family life. You see, he put great value on being with his family. He missed time spent with his wife and sharing memorable experiences with his two sons. He was away from home too much.

When he realized this, he changed is traveling schedule so that he could be with his family every weekend, on holidays and occasionally during the week. It meant working longer hours when traveling, but to him that was okay. His adjustment put his goals in line with his values, and both his business and his family life flourished.

Are your goals in line with your values? It is necessary first to identify what your values are, both personally and professionally. How important is your family and other relationships, your health, your integrity and honesty, respect for others, meaningful career. These are only a few values to consider. Denis Waitly put it nicely, "Happiness, wealth and success are by-products of goal setting, they cannot be the goal themselves."

If you do not have written goals for your career and your life, it is time to start. Review each goal with respect to your values. If they don't line up, make some adjustments. Next it is important to plan your time to meet your goals. This is a topic for another time.

"What you do every day should contribute to giving your life meaning. If it doesn't, why are you doing it?" - Don Hutcheson

Credit:
Carol Halsey is Founder of Business Organizing Solutions. She is a professional organizer, consultant, speaker, and author. You can get articles, and ideas to help you get 14 hours work out of an 8 hour day, simply by visiting her web site: http://www.PilesToFiles.com. Sign up for her free organizing newsletter, "Organizing Ideas," sent twice a month.

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