If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you will fall into someone else’s plan!
Since you made it through medical school and became a physician, it’s clear you are already goal-oriented and achieve most of the goals you set for yourself.
Your current life, including your housing, career, car, bank account, friends and hobbies, all reflect the choices, strategies and successes you have had in recent years. Congratulations on the results that you like!
What about the areas of your life that you don’t love, feel “stuck” in and would never consciously choose? Experience shows that when the goals we choose conflict with our inner values, in the long run, our values will win every time.
When Goals and Values Are Aligned
You can achieve most any goal you truly want when it aligns with your inner values. The key is to find ways for your personal values and conscious brain to work together.
Think back to one example of a goal you easily achieved in your life. Chances are that what you “really, really, really wanted” happened to match the thing you decided to achieve. Perhaps at age 16 you wanted to buy a yellow Volkswagen bug. You had no doubt this would give you the fun and freedom you longed for. You dreamed of yellow VWs, talked about them, shared your ambition with friends. You saved money, worked jobs after school, negotiated with your parents and in time were driving your yellow VW.
When your stated goals coincide with your inner values, your behavior will be focused and powerful.
Know and Honor Your Values
Do you value health or comfort? Is financial independence a priority, or merely a wish? Your values are already there inside of you. You can recognize your values by what feels good, natural, or inspiring.
Here are the essential steps to align your values with your goals:
- First, commit to telling yourself the truth.
Here is how it works: If the truth is you prefer time off or are unwilling to work harder, admit this to yourself. Setting a goal to increase your income is not likely to create positive results when it is not what you really value. However, if you deeply want that result, most likely you can find a way to achieve it. - Next, determine what is really important to you – in addition to your career. Is it health, family, relationships, legacy, some play time?
- Then, look at your life right now and ask “Am I in alignment with what I value? Personally? Professionally?”
Now you have the basis for setting specific goals. Keep what is working and commit to letting go of what isn’t so you have the space to add more of what you truly value.
Your life is yours to create. Decide what is dear to your heart. What do you really, really, really want? What do you dream about? Write it down, talk about it, and go after it. Live a life you love!