The first quarter of the year is now well past us. For people and businesses who set goals, this is typically a milestone for reflection and reassessment. It’s a time to take stock of where you’re at and how you’re doing. How’s your progress so far?

I’ve accomplished two of my 10 goals for the year, struggling with three, and making good strides with the rest. Overall, I’ve  been pleased with the progress I’ve made with my goals so far. That is, until I read something in chapter 9.2 of Joe’ Manby’s book Love Works: 7 Timeless Principles For Effective Leaders.  It made realize my goals have been missing something. As I thought about it more, the missing “something” wasn’t actually missing, I just hadn’t clarified it well.

Like many people, I have plenty of To Do goals. To Do goals, as the name implies, are all about activity and accomplishment. They are the “what” we do and are typically external in nature. The problem with To Do goals is that they don’t define how you get there! And how you get there is just as important that what you get, if not more so. Just ask anyone who’s violated their core values, stepped on  people, and taken a no-holds barred approach in their mad pursuit of the To Do goals they thought defined success. Because how you go about getting what you want eventually determines who you become in the process.

That’s where “To Be” goals come in. In my case, I established my “To Be” goals a long time ago and now review monthly and tweak them annually.  What I hadn’t been doing regularly was assessing my actual progress with them.

To Be goals are the “How” you go about getting your To Do goals done. They are the internal matters of the heart and soul and determine the “what” you eventually become.  While To Be goals transform us internally, they simultaneously direct our external efforts with:

• How we love the people who matter to us most.
• How we lead those who work for and with us.
• How we make our community a better place.
• How we serve God and our fellow man.

They also determine the satisfaction and fulfillment we get at the end of each day, with each To Do goal achieved, each milestone we reach and ultimately with our life.

Unlike To Do goals, To Be goals

• Are typically timeless values that resonate with your unique make-up, strengths, gifts and character.
• Are values you’ve chosen to pursue hard and rarely change over time.
• Something you continually strive for  yet never full achieve.

That sounds a lot like a personal or core values list and it is.

The difference is that a To Be goal frames a value as an action that can be assessed and measured over time. How? Explaining “the how” is  the goal for the next post.

In the meantime, please leave a comment. I’d love to know how your doing (and being) is coming along in 2016.