WaveRidersCM Goals Framework
The WAVERIDERSCM Life Goals definition framework outlines what is a better framework, specifically designed for personal life goals: The key principle of the framework is that each life goal itself has to be:
1) Wantable – the deepest desires in our heart, 2) Attainable – expressed and achieved through the physical world around us while providing us with an intangible emotional and/or social satisfaction, 3) Value-related – i.e. by achieving the goal we express a value we believe about ourselves, 4) Expressable – clearly defined and outlined, 5) Relevant – to be qualified as a life goal, 6) Improvement-oriented – to help us become better at something which we are not as good, 7) Duration-bound – having a deadline, 8) Energizing – meaning every time we think about it and achieving it gets us energized, 9) Re-workable – meaning it can be adjusted based on new information and learnings and better clarified, 10) Specific – about the exact activities which we must undertake to achieve it, 11) Controllable – referring to the keeping ourselves accountable to following through on the activities related to achieving these goals, and finally 12) Measurable – as in we must be able to measure our progress (or lack of) relative to the goal’s progress by defining key performance measure
The achievement of these life goals is contingent on identifying and defining what those goals would be for a person. Once they are Defined, each of us must create relevant Measures to understand what our current position is versus what we are trying to achieve. Once we have understood this, there is usually many reasons for not having achieved more progress on this life goal, but usually this is related to one key reason that is about 80-90% of the whole reason we are not making progress. Identifying this "root cause" behind our lack of progress on our life goals through Analysis more broadly what the factors that deter us from achieving our goals are can help us identify this root cause. Once, we have figured this out, we should set an Improvement process (i.e. a step or a set of steps that forces us to behave differently) thus addressing and solving the problem of lack of progress brought about by the root cause. Lastly, if the solution works, we should continue to apply it and Control this process until the goal is achieved (or is changed and the process has to change again).
This is known as the DMAIC framework of Lean Six Sigma, and while it was designed to help companies improve processes based on client feedback, it seems perfectly useful as a tool for us to be honest with ourselves (as the main customers of ourselves) regarding what we need to improve for our lives to be better (as a process). I personally find this framework extremely useful on my journey to achieve my personal life goals.
