Strategic Goal Setting for Personal and Professional Success

People often feel overwhelmed by life because their lives are a mess and they don't know where to begin in setting goals. In this video Kain explains how we can each achieve a greater sense of satisfaction in life when we learn how to channel our focus and energy onto 'pinning down' the different areas of our lives that we deem to be of greatest importance and priority.

'A visionless person will perish' is an old saying which suggests that without a vision for the future, a person will go round and round in circles for anything up to a lifetime. In short, your personal vision is what you want to be, do, feel, think, own, associate with, and impact by some date in the future. He explains six simple steps for identifying your life purpose, a concept originally defined by Victor Frankl.

As we dedicate ourselves to a cause greater than ourselves, we transcend. To transcend is to achieve superiority above something. 'Transcendence' is derived from the Latin prefix trans (meaning 'beyond') and scandare (meaning 'to climb'). Transcendence requires breaking through limitations. Throughout this video, Kain explores how we can all pioneer meaningful social change in our lives.

A social institution is an interrelated system of social roles and social norms, organized around the satisfaction of an important social need or social function. Most people would like to see ‘change’ happen in the world, but don’t always set goals that would enable this to happen. Kain discusses what it means to contemplate a profound vision for our lives and what it means to live empirically minded.

There’s no shortage of people out there who want to convince you that you have one life purpose and one life purpose only. This can be incredibly overwhelming for people as they try to find their one and only purpose. As a basis for goal setting, Kain discusses the term “Ikigai” in this teaching, which is the process of cultivating one’s inner potential or that which makes one’s life significant.

Vision is seeing the bigger picture. A life's vision helps you define your intended character traits and character attributes, as well as the experiences and accomplishments you want to achieve. Your vision gives you a framework to evaluate the goals you set. Your vision becomes your reason for being. The video addresses the question 'how do we prioritise our goals in a way that's right for us?''

Generally speaking, values refer to those factors that motivate individuals to make the decisions they do, and to act or behave in the manner they do. For this reason, it is crucial to understand human values in order to better understand other people. Kain illustrates the interconnected nature of human values during this teaching, and illustrates how these values motivate all human behavior and activity. This video is part 1 of 2.

Generally speaking, values refer to those factors that motivate individuals to make the decisions they do, and to act or behave in the manner they do. For this reason, it is crucial to understand human values in order to better understand other people. Kain illustrates the interconnected nature of human values during this teaching, and illustrates how these values motivate all human behavior and activity. This video is part 2 of 2.

In this video, Kain outlines a series of self-reflection questions that you can ask yourself to think about the main ideas and lessons you have learned throughout this section of the training course.

Philosophically, ideas are abstract concepts. Ideas are the foundation of all goals. In order to understand the different types of ideas that we can have, it is necessary to recognize that there are always a number of options that we “could” choose from, but normally there are only one or two that we “should” choose from. In this video, Kain discusses the four different categories of ideas.

A positively framed outcome is a goal one wishes to achieve, which is designed to avoid unintended costs. People often set negative outcomes and goals that do not inspire them. We need to frame our goals in a positive way if we're going to be motivated to work towards them. This video discusses how the negative goal setting frame can be reframed to become a more positive and inspiring one.

In order to develop vision, we must first develop ideas. Vision gives us a clear view of the future, while providing a framework for us to focus our attention on the present. Kain discusses the different types of goals throughout the video and emphasises the importance of aligning our goals with our greatest life vision. Next, he offers a few suggestions that could help you to begin your quest to set a goal.

The outcomes we get in life are a result of our decisions, whether we make wise decisions or emotionally-fuelled ones. In order to say 'no' to what we don't want, we must have a clear picture of what we do want. A trade-off arises where having more of one thing results in having less of another. In this discussion, Kain explores the trade-off between choosing ‘good’ things and ‘great’ things.

By dedicating a space to what you wish to accomplish, you can make your goals and ambitions come to life. What we concentrate on expands. Creating a vision board and displaying it in a prominent location allows you to perform short visualisation exercises throughout the day. In this video, Kain discusses the concept of vision boarding, sharing a few examples of how he uses this in his own life.

In the world of planning, a positive outcome refers to a goal that one desires to achieve and which avoids unintended outcomes. An informed and well-defined goal provides the context and meaning behind what we hope to accomplish. In this video, Kain outlines fourteen questions that will help you identify the specifics of the goals and outcomes that you want to achieve.

With this video, Kain offers a framework for well informed and wise decision making - the head, heart, and gut model. You will discover how taking values into account when determining goals enables us to make wise decisions in accordance with what's genuinely important to us.

In spite of setting the most grandiose goals and thoroughly planning our actions, we will inevitably make mistakes that we will be wise to learn from. In this video, Kain outlines 'Gibbs Reflective Model' which offers a basis for reflecting upon some of these mistakes. He then shares one final closing idea to help you consider where you will grow the most on your journey of personal growth.

In this video, Kain outlines a series of self-reflection questions you can use to think about the main ideas you have learned during this section. The course concludes with a few recommended readings.

It's always exciting to complete a course and take the first steps towards mastering new skills. However, learning is an ongoing process, and there is always more knowledge to gain and ways to apply it. Here are some possible next steps you can take after completing this course: