How to Clarify Your Goals

Phillip Moffitt is a recognized vipassana (insight meditation) teacher and outstanding yogi. This teaching on how to clarify your goals is excellent.

I have especially enjoyed his teachings on ambivalence, ambiguity, and ambition. I attended these talks about a year ago.

He teaches at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA and has his own class in San Rafael, CA on Sunday nights.

Phillip Moffitt

Phillip Moffitt | Photo David Martinez

From my experience of Phillip as a teacher, his teachings in the San Rafael class are directed towards bringing the fruits of insight meditation practices into daily life.

Who would have believed that the CEO and Editor-In-Chief of Esquire Magazine would become such a wonderful yogi?

His story is quite interesting, but we don’t have time to go into it now.

How to Clarify Your Goals

The article we are reviewing originally came to me by email with a link to the full article.

The title is Clarifying Values, Intentions, and Goals.

Many motivational speakers and marketers talk about setting goals.

For example, they may ask you to set a goal on how many people you would contact in the next day, week, month, or year to offer your services.

These “goal-setters” seem to miss out on the importance of intentions and values.

So let’s review values, intentions, and goals as taught by Phillip Moffitt.

Goals are aspirations for the future that you seek to achieve; if they were not in the future, they would be achievements already. You may be accomplishing a certain goal already, e.g. being a good parent, but the effort is not over, so it remains a goal.

This statement is very clear on what it means to achieve a goal. Once you accomplish the goal, it becomes an achievement.

Intentions form the basis for determining how you meet each moment as you move toward your goals. Intentions always relate to the present moment. … your intentions reflect what you believe matters most in life.

Where do your intentions come from?

Mostly, you intend to live your life according to certain principles or views.

Sometimes, you may not be clear on your intentions.

This may be because you are not clear on what your values are.

Values reflect your understanding of what really matters to you. They are shaped by familial and cultural conditioning, personal experience, and the wisdom of your understanding. Values can be situational, temporal, hierarchical, and subjective; thus, many of your values are somewhat fluid in daily life.

Clarifying your values may help you to clarify your intentions.

Clarifying your intentions may help you to clarify your goals.

If you want to learn how to clarify your goals, you may be interested in Phillip Moffitt’s worksheet.

He created a worksheet which he uses in one of his workshops. The link to the worksheet is incorrect in the original article.

I’ll be happy to send you the correct link. All you have to do is ask!

Buy Phillip’s Books!
Emotional Chaos to Clarity: How to Live More Skillfully, Make Better Decisions, and Find Purpose in Life
Old Price: $25.95
Price: $14.29
Dancing With Life: Buddhist insights for finding meaning and joy in the face of suffering
Old Price: $16.99
Price: $9.14

Dancing with Life is a quick read and very worthwhile. I think I read it in two days!

Emotional Chaos to Clarity is his new book and I look forward to reading it.

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