A Blueprint for Achieving Goals
Goal setting works, but it must be approached thoughtfully.
Question: Have you personally experienced substantial growth and improvement over the past year? Do you feel significantly happier and more successful?
Do you feel like you’ve been KICKING BUTT, or do you feel like you’ve been putting in too much time on the couch watching TV?
Wherever you are, if you’re ready to take things up a notch, we’re about to unravel the secrets of successful goal setting.
Success Happens BY DESIGN
No one has ever “accidentally…”
- Acquired a college degree,
- Completed a marathon,
- Written a book, or
- Learned how to play the piano.
When it comes to achieving things worth doing, there are no accidents!
Chances are, you’ve got something that you’ve been wanting to do, and you’ve been putting it off. Something big. Something interesting. Something that gets you excited just thinking about it.
Maybe it’s something so big or so unusual that it seems impossible. You’ve been putting it off indefinitely.
Nothing is impossible. If there’s at least ONE other person in the world that’s accomplished what you’d like to do, then that tells you that it IS possible. It CAN be done.
If you REALLY want something, you’ve got to PLAN for it. Having a plan gives you a road map that guides your daily DECISIONS.
Decisions guide your daily ACTIONS.
If you continue to take ACTIONS that move you toward your target, then it’s only a matter of TIME before you reach your goal, isn’t that right?
Whether it’s one month, six months, one year, or five years. You’ll get there. You just have to get started and keep taking steps that move you forward.
The good news is, you can probably find a role model to follow. Someone that has already done what you’d like to do. You can research them to learn from their strategies and their mistakes.
The bottom line is if you follow the right success principles and choose good role models, you can achieve anything you like IF you’re willing to put in the work.
3 Reasons Why People FAIL at Goal Setting
- They don’t really know what they want, SPECIFICALLY.
- They don’t put their goals IN WRITING.
- They don’t have a strategy for REVIEWING their goals.
GOAL SETTING STEPS
STEP 1- Know What You Want
Sadly, most people have no idea what they REALLY want.
Success begins with your ability to imagine what you would like to CREATE with this wonderful life that you’ve been given.
While everyone has scattered dreams, wishes, and desires, SUCCESS ORIENTED people have a sense of PURPOSE.
Your desires must be specific and definite in order for you to ACT on them.
SUCCESS requires planning. Poverty and despair requires no planning whatsoever.
If somebody asked you today, “What is your primary objective in life right now? What is your definite chief aim?” Could you clearly answer that question in one sentence?
If you could pick ONE really big goal and eliminate all the rest, what would it be?
What would be the game changing goal that makes all the others seem irrelevant?
Big Enough to Be Scary
Really good goals are BIG enough to be scary and intimidating.
People stop themselves from thinking big, because at the core of EVERY person is a nagging feeling that, “I’m just not good enough to pull this off.”
EVERYONE deals with that feeling. It’s a part of the human experience. You’re not alone! It’s a learning process to transcend self self doubt and give yourself permission to succeed.
After you become a millionaire, you can give all of your money away because what’s important is not the million dollars; what’s important is the person you have become in the process of becoming a millionaire.
Jim Rohn
While it’s not necessary to become a celebrity, a millionaire, or a best selling author to be successful, you do need to think BIGGER.
You want to stretch yourself here. Your goal should be exciting and big enough that it gives you a tingling feeling of anticipation when you imagine it’s achievement.
What if you received news that you’d just won the lottery and had complete freedom to pursue anything you wanted. That would be exciting, right? What would that feel like?
My suggestion is that you find and pursue a goal that gives you that “lottery” type of feeling when you visualize or imagine it’s achievement.
What would be a game changer in terms of your business, investments, relationships, health, and spiritual pursuits?
If the goals you pick are right for you, it gets you excited with DESIRE just thinking about them.
Small Goals Don’t Motivate People
Don’t fall into the trap of just setting small goals that are easily achieved. That’s comfortable, but not effective.
Goal setting studies have shown that specific and AMBITIOUS goals generate more results than easy or general goals.
Think big to win big. If you only ask for a little, that’s probably all you’ll get. The universe has unlimited abundance, so plan your LIFE GOALS accordingly.
STEP 2 – Put Your Goals in Writing
Writing your goals down using an actual pen and paper is the first step of transmuting your desires from the “thought field” of your imagination into the physical plane of existence.
Knowing what you really want means that your goals are very SPECIFIC. Goals that are specific are MEASURABLE.
A goal must be measurable in such a way that you’ll know with certainty the exact moment that the goal has been achieved.
How will you KNOW that you’ve achieved the goal? What will be your evidence?
- What will be happening?
- What will you see, hear and feel?
- Where will you be?
- Who will be there with you?
A poorly conceived goal is vague and unmeasurable. A well conceived goal has a measurable outcome and a deadline.
- Poorly Written Goal: “I would like to be not fat.” (What does that mean, exactly?)
- Well Written Goal: “I choose to change and transform my body into a slim, attractive, healthy 165 pounds with a 32 inch waist. This will be achieved on or before June 15 of this year.”
Measurable Goals Have DEADLINES
I know that deadlines are scary, but you’ve got to have a deadline or else you may just put your dreams on hold forever.
Life gets busy, and you’ll end up deferring your dream for a later time. You’ll get caught in the trap of doing what’s urgent, but not necessarily IMPORTANT.
Deadlines solve that problem. Deadlines keep you focused on what’s important.
People are highly motivated by deadlines! It’s human nature. The busiest day of the year at the post office is April 15 when tax returns are due. It’s all because of the DEADLINE.
When it comes to setting goals, make the deadline your friend, not your enemy. It’s a tool to keep you motivated and on track.
STEP 3 – Review and Visualization
Once you’ve clarified your goals and written them down, don’t just shove them into a drawer and forget about them. That’s what most people do.
The next step is to engage your creative imagination into the process of achieving the goal. You do this by visualizing or imagining your goal “as if” it were already true. It’s like creating a movie in your imagination of the successful achievement of your goal.
This is a highly effective method of subconscious programming. It’s a form of self hypnosis, but you could also call this mental conditioning or creative visualization.
All gold medal Olympic athletes do this. They’ve rehearsed the experience of WINNING thousands of times within their own imagination. This conditions the subconscious mind with a mental expectation for SUCCESS.
The subconscious mind is your faithful servant. Daily visualization trains the subconscious mind to constantly look for ways to make the imagined become reality. What you hold in mind tends to manifest.
Daily Creative Visualization Practice
Dedicate at least 5 minutes of each day to visualizing or imagining your primary goal as if it were already true.
Play it out in your mind using all of your senses as if it were truly happening. See what you’ll see. Hear what you’ll hear. Feel how it feels to have this lifestyle, or this mastery of a skill, or an incredibly successful business.
This is a simple exercise, and it will change your life.
Before you form an opinion, try this out for 30 days. Just five minutes or more each day is all it takes. Synchronicities and coincidences will begin to occur that help propel you towards the completion of your goal. It’s fascinating how this works.
The universe seems to open up and provide the means of achievement to the person who has a definite purpose. The power of your own thoughts will attract the ideas, resources, and relationships necessary to complete your vision.
I know from personal experience that this works. Try it for yourself, and let me know what YOU experience.
Goal Setting Success Summary
- KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. Think big. Be specific. Have a definite purpose that excites you.
- WRITE IT DOWN. Make it measurable. Give it a deadline.
- DAILY REVIEW and SUBCONSCIOUS CONDITIONING. Spend at least 5 minutes each day focusing your creative imagination on the attainment of your definite chief aim.
If you’ve got questions about goal setting, post them in the comments section below. Let’s get this discussion started!
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Thank you. I found this at just the right time in my life.
I’m reading Unapologetically Ambitious. In the first few pages I realized I don’t have an actual plan or goal. Its all general. So in googling how to set goals I found this video. So helpful.
Thank you.
Awesome! Thanks for checking out the video, Nichelle. 😀
I am a funny woman and I wrote a children’s book many years ago. I sent it off to publishers and got ten rejections. I still have the draft, but, I am afraid to give it another go. Reasons, it costs a lot to send it off, and the rejections do hurt.
I also am a kinda artist, and my ” ex” bought me some art supplies and an easel a few weeks ago. I want to paint, but, don’t feel the motivation to do it. I also noted that when I paint/draw all my anxiety goes away for that time that I do it. Definitely, a plus. So I thought here I sit alone with my computer and tv ( “my buddies”) in my safe haven, but, boy am I ever bored and lonely. Is this my purpose?
2 Points to Ponder Taken from Tony Robbins:
1) In order to grow, we must do things that are uncomfortable.
We MUST grow in order to be fulfilled. Playing it “safe” does not lead to fulfillment or happiness.
2) You must contribute beyond yourself.
How do you serve others with your chosen purpose?
High Anxiety = Focus on Self.
High Fulfillment = Focus on Service and Giving.