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"What you get by achieving your goals is not important as what you become by achieving your goals"
*Zig Ziglar
Author, salesman, and motivational speaker
Why is setting and achieving goals important in your life? First, goals give your life direction and substance. Each day you wake up in the morning is a chance to work towards something that will make your life better. Without direction, you tend to do more things that play no significance in your growth as a person. And why would you want to grow as a person? Growth is important in developing yourself to reach your fullest potential. You were not created to crawl but to fly and setting goals is like the head start you need to spread your wings and reach for the sky. When you reach your full potential, you are open to new experiences and ideas that not only help you but also help others. You were created with purpose and living in purpose gives your life substance. When you live in purpose, you raise the consciousness of the world. Seems pretty amazing right? So setting goals not only give your life direction but keep in mind, the person you become while completing your goals is more important than the goals itself.
It’s easy to talk about what you want to do in life, (something I was so accustomed to doing) but setting concrete goals brings on an accountability that puts you in a position to show action. There are different ways or approaches in setting goals. Choose the approach that works for you. One approach you can take is setting long range goals and short range goals as John Rohn, an entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker explains. Long range goals are your dreams. What you want to be in life, the things you dream about that may take 5 or more years to achieve, things that inspire your soul. These goals will definitely bring about growth in your life and you will have to change who you are in order to reach them. Short range goals are goals you can achieve tomorrow, next week or a year from now. They can be considered as “confidence boosters”. You should definitely set short range goals, achieve them and set some more. The more short range goals you achieve the more confident you become to go after your dreams; your long range goals.
There are three categories Mr. Rohn says long and short range goals should go into. First is financial goals. These goals consist of your income, profits, or business plans. These goals should be meticulously planned. For example, if you want to retire as a millionaire, have a diverse stock portfolio or if you want to take a business to newer heights these goals and steps will fit in this category. The second category is your material goals. These consist of homes, cars, boats jets, jewelry, a nice wardrobe, all things you want to have in regards to tangible materials. You deserve nice things and to live in the lap of luxury so setting these goals will also be confident boosters because as you check off each one, you can celebrate your hard work in obtaining them. Lastly, If you would like to learn a language, become a leader, become stronger, decisive or a great and effective speaker, these goals will go under your personal development goals. These goals allow you to learn different skills that will make you an effective person that will be a great asset to your society. You can set long and short range goals in each of these three categories.
Lisa Nichols, who is a celebrated motivational speaker who has inspired millions, gives us a few ways to set goals as well. She says you should have a step by step action plan with small benchmarks along the way when setting goals. She feels your goals should stretch you not stress you. “If your goals don’t frighten you or bring about this fear, then you need to set bigger goals” she explains. I also believe you should set challenging goals in a reasonable and realistic time frame. If you feel you can achieve a goal in 30 days, set the ‘by to date’ at 60 days because you never want to set yourself up for failure. Achieving a goal in 30 days may require focusing each hour of your day on it. But this is impossible if you have children, or other commitments in life; so setting a goal in 60 days that may require 30 days will give you enough cushion and time to achieve that goal. Because what happens when you set a goal and don’t achieve it? You start to lose faith in yourself, which causes you to stop saying your goals out loud. Once you stop saying your goals out loud, you start to whisper them and keep them to yourself which eventually gets you to a place where you no longer whisper but only think about them. After awhile this will cause you to abandon your goals altogether. Set yourself up to win love. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals. Your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and within a certain Time frame.
You also want to share your dreams and goals with people who are going to help build you up, inspire you, encourage you and hold you accountable to your goals. There are folks who don’t want to see you achieve, don’t believe in you or don’t think you are cut out for it because maybe they didn’t; so they don’t expect you to do it either and they may discourage you from doing it consciously and sometimes unconsciously. There will also be times you may need to move in silence and let your actions speak for you. You don’t have to broadcast your goals and dreams to the world; Only to those who may be of benefit and a support system for you. Remember God gave you the vision so there may be times when you feel others don’t support you or understand your goals or visions and that’s okay love because God didn’t give them the vision anyway. So parts of your journey, you may have to walk it alone. But don’t become discouraged because once you set concrete goals with crystal clear devised plans, miraculously ‘earth angels’ will start showing up to help you bring your vision to fruition. They will help take your vision to the next level. Sometimes these ‘earth angels’ from God will not be people you know or are related to. You’ll be surprised how energy can attract the right people, circumstances and opportunities to you when you know exactly what you want.
Another way to set goals is to visualize them by making a vision board. Visualization is the formation of a mental image of something. Visualization can program us to reach that which we desire. If you can conceive it …you can achieve it. This is one of my favorites because, it gives a voice and actual image to your imagination. When you make a vision board, place it somewhere you can see it everyday. This will seep into your subconscious which will bring about opportunities and learning experiences to help you fulfill that vision. You can use old magazines, print out images from your computer or simply use words to visualize that in which you desire. The point is to get your mind use to having it. Imagine what your life would be like once you receive these things. Who will be there? How would you feel? Role play and live as if you already have those things. I must say this is a powerful way to attract positive things in your life. It has helped me tremendously.
Start today with one of the approaches mentioned above or jump right into all of them. Make sure you revisit your goals each morning. This will set the tone for your day. I also write my goals down each day. By rewriting your goals you not only reaffirm what your goals are, but you may also find new insights that bring more clarity and focus to your goal and life. With each goal, make sure you have an action plan, that way, you are not overwhelmed by the goal itself. Setting benchmarks can also make your goals seem more attainable and keep you motivated to keep going on the right track. Set goals, no matter how big or how small. You were made for this and you deserve everything you desire, but you have to stay focused and set intentions to ensure you reach those desires. You were created for great things and you are the co-creator of your life. Give your life direction and go create your story love!
Leftovers: For each category start writing down goals, just free form and use your imagination. Give yourself 3-5 minutes to simply write whatever comes to mind for financial, material and personal development goals separately. Then out of all the goals you wrote down, choose the top three you can achieve within one year. Out of those nine goals, write down an action plan to achieving each one and give yourself a by to date. Also create a vision board and use images of all the goals you set. Put this vision board somewhere you will see each day. If you like, comment a goal you have set for yourself below.
Food For Thought: (Great Books to Read)
Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey,
I Know How to Set Goals, So Why Don’t I Achieve Them? By Nick Hall
The Wake Up Call: Financial Inspiration Learned from 4:44 + A Step by Step Guide on How to Implement Each Financial Principle By: Ash Cash,
It’s Time to Align: The Most Powerful Self-Help Book Ever Written By: Allen Lottinger
7 Letters to a Young Brother: Manifest Your Destiny By Harper Hill
Before You Do by T.D. Jakes