Most professionals see goal setting as dull and analytical rather than inspiring and motivating. In reality, many goal setting models are designed to create the movement required by a position, department, or company. It is more about meeting specific KPIs and metrics than having a true passion for the outcome.
Passion goals should be a part of professional goal setting. Combining your passion with your professional goals provides personal motivation, inspiration, and a desire to succeed. The opposite of this would be to have a lot of passion to do a specific thing but to have no plan to achieve the desired results. Integrating passion into your goals at some level is the most effective way to feel successful, fulfilled, and satisfied in what you are doing personally and professionally.
What Motivates You?
Passion goals should be centered around ideas, topics, or areas of your personal and professional life that give you energy and create motivation. For some people, this may also be their sense of purpose.
Start by determining what makes you feel motivated, energized, or passionate about learning more. Make a list of these passions and look for areas where they overlap or intertwine with your professional responsibilities and roles.
Create a Vision
Allow yourself to dream big and create a vision of how you want to experience life in the future. What do you want to do, accomplish, provide, achieve, or support? This vision can be as detailed as you want, but it should be clear and positive, allowing you to use your passion to achieve success on your own terms.
This vision is your big passion goal. It may change over time, but it is critical to have an initial goal to be able to set up milestones and mini-goals to track progress.
Develop a Plan
Creating a path to success with your passion goal means setting milestones along the way. This is where SMART goals or other goal setting tools can help you to have a way to measure progress. Over time, you may choose to modify your plan or your goal, but you will find you are motivated, energized, and passionate about working on the goal.
In most cases, the benefits of pursuing a passion goal will also positively impact other personal and professional achievements. People doing what brings them joy are more likely to succeed in all areas of life, creating an upward spiral of accomplishment in both their work and personal experience.