The Goal Setting/Achieving Process

It takes as much energy to set a large goal that will stretch you, as it does to set a very small goal, which does not challenge you at all. When you set worthwhile goals they should feel a little daunting and require a stretch to achieve. An effectively set goal is one that clearly states the goal, why it is important and how you intend to achieve it.

Clearly State Your Goals and vision in Writing
Many people have goals and dreams, but they just seem to spin their wheels, working really hard every day and yet they never seem to achieve any of them. Why do you think that is? I don’t think it is because of a lack of a willingness to work hard. I believe it is simply because they do not have a daily success routine or habit set, which will allow them to routinely take the right actions; they need to take every day to succeed. I want to offer you a simple, yet very systematic approach, which will help you to start creating your new success habit set.

By following and applying, note I said applying these simple principles as described below, you will most certainly begin to see a remarkable improvement in the goal specific outcomes, you will start to enjoy. The first and most obvious thing you need to do, is to create a crystal clear vision in writing, of what your life will look like when you achieve your dreams. Your vision is effectively the tool in your success toolkit, which will give you the direction you need to achieve your goals. It is the picture you have in your mind all day, which will inspire you to take those goal specific actions, even when you are not in the mood or other distractions may want to pull you away from taking these crucial actions. The more clear the vision, the more inspired you will feel as you keep moving inexorably towards achieving your goals and dreams.

Just imagine if you got on board a plane and the Captain’s voice came over the intercom. “Good morning, this is your Captain speaking, welcome aboard flight 231 or is it 321 or maybe 123, I’m not really sure. I have no idea how much fuel we have on board, it doesn’t matter what the weather is like today and I have no idea how long the flight will last, as I have absolutely no idea where we are going”. I don’t know about you, but I am getting off that plane as quickly as possible. I would not risk my safety, by flying with someone, who has no idea where they are going. Someone, who has no vision at all, yet we are willing to go through life, traveling on the most important journey, we will ever undertake. Namely the journey, which will determine, what we will have, do and become, with someone just like that captain at the helm of our lives.

It is now time to stop acting like that really scary pilot and to stop allowing your future success to depend on the whims of the universe. Until you create a crystal clear picture of what you want in your future and then commit this to writing. Your life and future is like a paper cup blowing in the wind, in a car park. The cup just blows from side to side, with no control at all. Is that how you want your life to continue or are you going to finally wrestle back control right now and give yourself the clarity you need to succeed?

Your life purpose is the reason why you want to achieve what you want. That fire in your belly, which drives you to move in the direction of your vision. I am sure you have invested time to discover yours. When you are working according to your life’s purpose and you have a positive motive for action, you will always find the energy to do what is necessary, rather than what is comfortable to achieve your goals. Remember, challenges are inevitable as you travel along the path towards the success you desire. They are often the very catalyst, which will allow you to identify or unlock opportunities, which may have remained hidden, had you not encountered the challenge in the first place.

“You can lose material things, but you can never lose your mastery – what you learn and who you become in the process of achieving your goals, is what the entire goal setting and achieving process is really all about.”

When you create a vivid picture in your mind of exactly what you want to achieve in and with your life, you have something to aim for. The clearer the picture that you create in your mind, the easier the journey will be to get you there. This clarity will help you to remain more determined and single minded and so when you are faced with any of the inevitable challenges or barriers, along the way, you will have the inspiration to overcome them and even have the drive to search for the silver lining hidden within all of them.

To illustrate the value of vision or having the ability to see the end with absolute clarity, please read the story of Florence Chadwick: She was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. She decided next to swim the Catalina Channel, a 21-mile stretch of ocean between Catalina Island and the coast of California. She attempted this swim for the first time on July 4, 1952.

There were millions of people watching her attempt on national TV. Because the fog was so dense and she was unable to see shore, her stamina waned and she asked to be pulled out of the frigid water, in spite of her mother’s and her trainer’s encouragement. On reflection, she discovered that she was less than a mile from the shore when she gave up. She reported later, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it.” She made the swim again two months later, becoming the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel. This story epitomizes the need for vision. Without a crystal clear picture of where you are going, you will not have what it takes to succeed. You too will give up at the first obstacle.

Don’t forget to dream really big

First decide who or what you want to, have, do or be. Then set challenging goals, which will, as you achieve each of them, allow you to move in the direction of your vision. Challenge yourself to move beyond your self-imposed comfort zone, allow yourself to challenge the limits your thinking, and dare to see all the possibilities available to you. You have unlimited potential, believe in yourself and all the wonderful possibilities you can bring into your experience.

As I stated in the beginning of this article, achieving goals, is about replacing your current, dream killing, limiting habits, with a success habit set, which will allow you to take those goal specific actions daily, without much conscious thought at all. To move you in the direction of realizing those compelling, challenging and exciting goals, you need to commit to gradually develop a new success habit set, one which promotes goal specific activity, every day. You also need to eliminate and replace those habits and beliefs, which are bogging you down and holding you from living your bliss.

Action Idea: Explore your goals, break them back into projects or bite size chunks, which you can easily tackle and achieve in a week. Break these projects back even further, into individual action lists. Use these action lists, as your input documents to support your daily goal specific actions. The type of habits you may want to develop over time could be to plan your day the night before, or to plan your week in advance, where you would allocate time every day to carry out your goal specific activities. Explore your goals, projects and action lists and then identify new daily routines, which will support you to take the goal specific actions you need to take, every day. Over time use your willpower to convert these into your new success habit set. You are truly magnificent, stop acting like an absentee landlord and create the success you deserve.

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