Gravity Goals

Have you heard of Gravity Goals? They’re goals that are as possible to achieve as gravity is possible to stop.

Gravity Goals are goals that cannot be achieved.

But people come to me with Gravity Goals a whole lot. I even see people who have started to question their own capacity and who are starting to lose confidence in themselves due to their inability to achieve a Gravity Goal.

Let me give you a real life example that I heard this week:

A new client came to me and said: I’ve just been promoted to a leadership role in my team but I am also still doing my old role, which management have not yet filled. They say that the funds aren’t available. I am stretched beyond my capacity and I need to delegate but no-one apart from me has the expertise to do this particular piece of work. I think I am failing as a manager.

This person’s goal is to delegate. She wants to delegate, she is willing to delegate, and she is thinking she is failing as a leader because she is not delegating. But there is no-one to delegate to.  She has asked for help and her own management has denied the request. She continues to pursue the goal, to her own detriment, despite its futility.

When you’re setting a goal, it is really worthwhile to ask yourself a quick question: is this goal achievable?

If it is, great! You can go ahead and start checking whether it’s values-aligned and determining some action steps to make it happen. If it’s not, you can tweak the goal. Or choose another goal altogether.

Tags: career-coaching, life-coaching, Melbourne