Mindset and Goal Setting Workshop

What are you going to do after you graduate? It’s a question you’ve been asked a million times by well-meaning family members, friends, and acquaintances. Many consider it a casual conversation starter or a good way to get to know you. Most are truly curious about your plans and might even want to help you along your way. Few mean to cause stress, anxiety or guilt when they make this inquiry, but if you don’t have a ready answer and have been struggling to find one, this question can be absolutely nerve-wracking.

What you want to do with your life is a big decision. It certainly shouldn’t be taken lightly. An insightful and fulfilling answer requires a significant amount of self-awareness and reflection. If you have the answer to this question as a new freshman or even as a rising junior in college, good for you! Most of us spend at least the first decade of our working lives learning the insights we need to find a meaningful path.

If you are struggling with your vision for the future, there are five basic steps you can take to gain clarity and inspiration. Using these steps will help you get to know yourself better and to help you feel more confident in the decisions you are making about your future.

Step 1 – Know your Mindset

Your mindset is the habitual pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving which we each use to approach our lives. Some habitual patterns are more helpful and productive than others are. Do you believe in hard work or in luck? Do you see the glass as half full or half empty? Do you think life is a competition or do you think we all come out stronger in the end if we work together? Do you focus on what is wrong or on how to make it better? Do you have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset?

Your mindset has a significant impact on the decisions you make about your future and the actions you take today to get there. Think about where your habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving are leading you and if that is where you want to go.

Step 2 – Be Aware of your Beliefs

Your interpretation of your past and the rules you have set for yourself based on your past have an outsized impact on your behaviors today and on your ideas about what is possible in the future. Working to become more aware of the beliefs lurking below your conscious thoughts and determine which of those beliefs are serving you can open a whole new set of opportunities for your future.

What rules have you set for yourself? When do you find yourself saying, “I have to….”, or “I can’t… or, “If I don’t….”? Awareness of the limitations you put on yourself subconsciously makes you a stronger person and allows you to reach your full potential.

Step 3 – Develop your Vision

Your vision for the future goes far beyond the job you hope to obtain. What type of person do you want to be? What future do you want for yourself? How do you want people to remember you when you are gone?

Expanding the potential scope of answers to the million dollar “what are you going to do after you graduate” question gives you the flexibility to think about what is meaningful to you and what you find fulfilling. How will you merge what is most important to you, what you are good at, what you love and what you can do for a career into one master vision for your life? Your vision for the future will help you to answer that question clearly for yourself and for your well-meaning aunt at the next family reunion.

Step 4 - Goal setting

Visions don’t become reality without consistent hard work and focus. Goals are the building blocks which you will use to get to your vision. They provide direction and motivation as you make decisions about what you are going to devote your time and energy to every day. Once you know where you are going – what your vision is – start thinking about what the steps along the way will be. What do you need to do to get to that vision? What can you use as mile markers to show progress on your journey?

Step 5 - Action planning

How do you accomplish goals? One step at a time! Sometimes deciding what the first step is and taking that step is pretty intimidating. Learning how to break a goal down into each of the individual steps which need to be taken to accomplish it is the key to unlocking the door to your most successful future. What is the first step you need to take to accomplish your goal? When do you need to have it done? Do you need any help? How will you overcome challenges or learn the new skills you need to master to accomplish your goal? Are you willing to commit to taking the first step? How about the second? Can you do it today?

If this process makes sense to you and you would like to learn more, my new Mindset and Goal Setting Workshop is for you. In the workshop I will guide you through this step-by-step process to help you learn more about your mindset and beliefs, set a compelling vision for your future and plan the steps you need to take to get there.