I’ve spent many years sharing my thinking on goal setting with my clients and my students. For many of these people, they have seen amazing results once they set down their goals to paper. My friend and early mentor Brian Tracy says, “Success is goals and all else is commentary. “
With this being said I refer you to his web site to get his free report on goal setting. However, I think there are several elements I want to highlight for you that you should consider as you begin working on your goals. I have every book or CD set Brian has ever made on setting goals. He has a great goal setting process. I thought it might helpful to share several things my clients have had trouble with when setting goals.
The first thing about goals is that you must define what is important in your life. For most of older clients, they struggle defining what areas are important in life at the start of our discussions. Actually, I would say too many things in their lives are tied to their work, and not their personal life. Brian suggests the following categories to start you thinking about your goals. They include income, family, health, and net worth. For many of my clients who are serving leaders, I also include the number of people they serve, how they impact their community, and their relationship with God. These are not always easy to quantify, but they are important just the same. When I worked in hospice, goals become much shorter in duration but grew in impact. Many times the act of discussing them alone would change the person’s outlook on the result. As it has been said before, few people think about their goals on their death bed. I think that’s not always accurate. People with goals frequently accomplish more in the time they are given.
The second thing about goals is that they become more powerful when they are written down. Most people think it’s because it commits the idea to paper. I believe it’s because we clarify what we want in a way that we can measure the progress and importance of the goal. When I was very young, I remember writing out a goal of getting a signed baseball by one of my heroes. My cousin had one and I just had to have one. It’s funny, but that goal took over ten years to achieve. When I accomplished it, I have a hard time remembering where the ball came from, but I have that baseball. On the other hand, when I chose to set a huge goal of 100 speeches in a year, I not only achieved that goal, but the doors it opened for me left a lasting impression on my life. So choose what you pursue with energy not because of what the goals is but because of what you will become in pursuit of the goal. By the way, when you write your goal, assume you already have received it. Your subconscious mind has an incredible power to bring the right people into your life to make it happen.
The third thing about goals, determine who and what you need to do to achieve your goals. Be creative and consider who might be able to help you reach your goals. For many of us, we are only one person away from connecting to anyone we want on the planet. We just have to figure out who that person is and then add value to the other person’s life. My life is a living testament to the power of knowing what you need and then sharing it with others so they can help you achieve your dreams. The more vivid the goal, the faster the right people will come into your life to make it happen. There is a caveat to this aspect of goal setting; you must be open to having the world provide you with a unique connection by being that unique connection for others. You must be willing to be the gateway for others to achieve their goals. I have been blessed to have many great mentors come into my life. As I began expanding my view of myself, the more people came into to my life to make it a reality. You cannot imagine the people I’ve been able to connect with because of a single goal I’ve set and achieved. Set big goals and dream even bigger.
Next week, I’ll share a man’s life that changed the world because of his ability to set big goals and inspire our nation to do great things. See you then.