Identifying and Achieving Your Goals

[Guest guest]

I thought this would be of interest to MANY folks here .. some of the

information is obvious, but can be good to hear again ... Whether you're

writing a business plan or a personal life plan, putting your scattered

thoughts onto paper is a wise thing to do .. and many of you who say " I

don't need to do that " are just fooling yourselves - cause I bet

anything you too could be achieving higher goals while working smarter

and not harder doing it! ;-p

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

Artisan Natural Goodies

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

 

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Goal Setting

Powerful Written Goals In 7 Easy Steps!

by Gene Donohue

 

 

 

The car is packed and you're ready to go, your first ever

cross-country trip. From the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the

rolling hills of San Francisco, you're going to see it all.

 

You put the car in gear and off you go. First stop, the Baseball

Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

 

A little while into the trip you need to check the map because

you've reached an intersection you're not familiar with. You panic for a

moment because you realize you've forgotten your map.

 

But you say the heck with it because you know where you're going.

You take a right, change the radio station and keep on going.

Unfortunately, you never reach your destination.

 

Too many of us treat goal setting the same way. We dream about where

we want to go, but we don't have a map to get there.

 

What is a map? In essence, the written word.

 

What is the difference between a dream and a goal? Once again, the

written word.

 

Goal setting however is more than simply scribbling down some ideas

on a piece of paper. Our goals need to be complete and focused, much

like a road map, and that is the purpose behind the rest of this

article.

 

If you follow the 7 goal setting steps I've outlined in this article

you will be well on your way to becoming an expert in building the road

maps to your goals.

 

1. Make sure the goal you are working for is something you really

want, not just something that sounds good.

 

I remember when I started taking baseball umpiring more seriously. I

began to set my sites on the NCAA Division 1 level. Why? I knew there

was no way I could get onto the road to the major leagues, so the next

best thing was the highest college level. Pretty cool, right. Wrong.

 

Sure, when I was talking to people about my umpiring goals it

sounded pretty good, and many people were quite impressed. Fortunately I

began to see through my own charade.

 

I have been involved in youth sports for a long time. I've coached,

I've been the President of leagues, I've been a treasurer and I'm

currently an Assistant State Commissioner for Cal Ripken Baseball. Youth

sports is where I belong, it is where my heart belongs, not on some

college diamond where the only thing at stake is a high draft spot.

 

When setting goals it is very important to remember that your goals

must be consistent with your values.

 

2. A goal can not contradict any of your other goals.

 

For example, you can't buy a $750,000 house if your income goal is

only $50,000 per year. This is called non-integrated thinking and will

sabotage all of the hard work you put into your goals. Non-integrated

thinking can also hamper your everyday thoughts as well. We should

continually strive to eliminate contradictory ideas from our thinking.

 

 

 

3. Develop goals in the 6 areas of life:

 

Family and Home Financial and

Career

Spiritual and Ethical Physical and

Health

Social and Cultural Mental and

Educational

 

Setting goals in each area of life will ensure a more

balanced life as you begin to examine and change the fundamentals of

everyday living. Setting goals in each area of life also helps in

eliminating the non-integrated thinking we talked about in the 2nd step.

 

4. Write your goal in the positive instead of the

negative.

 

Work for what you want, not for what you want to leave

behind. Part of the reason why we write down and examine our goals is to

create a set of instructions for our subconscious mind to carry out.

Your subconscious mind is a very efficient tool, it can not determine

right from wrong and it does not judge. It's only function is to carry

out its instructions. The more positive instructions you give it, the

more positive results you will get.

 

Thinking positively in everyday life will also help in

your growth as a human being. Don't limit it to goal setting.

 

5. Write your goal out in complete detail.

 

Instead of writing " A new home, " write " A 4,000 square

foot contemporary with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and a view of the mountain

on 20 acres of land.

 

Once again we are giving the subconscious mind a

detailed set of instructions to work on. The more information you give

it, the more clear the final outcome becomes. The more precise the

outcome, the more efficient the subconscious mind can become.

 

Can you close your eyes and visualize the home I

described above? Walk around the house. Stand on the porch off the

master bedroom and see the fog lifting off the mountain. Look down at

the garden full of tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers. And off to the

right is the other garden full of a mums, carnations and roses. Can you

see it? So can your subconscious mind.

 

6. By all means, make sure your goal is high enough.

 

Shoot for the moon, if you miss you'll still be in the

stars. Earlier I talked about my umpiring goals and how making it to the

top level of college umpiring did not mix with my values. Some of you

might be saying that I'm not setting my goals high enough. Not so. I

still have very high goals for my umpiring career at the youth level. My

ultimate goal is to be chosen to umpire a Babe Ruth World Series and to

do so as a crew chief. If I never make it, everything I do to reach that

goal will make me a better umpire and a better person. If I make it, but

don't go as a crew chief, then I am still among the top youth umpires in

the nation. Shoot for the moon!

 

7. This is the most important, write down your goals.

 

Writing down your goals creates the roadmap to your

success. Although just the act of writing them down can set the process

in motion, it is also extremely important to review your goals

frequently. Remember, the more focused you are on your goals the more

likely you are to accomplish them.

 

Sometimes we realize we have to revise a goal as

circumstances and other goals change, much like I did with my umpiring.

If you need to change a goal do not consider it a failure, consider it a

victory as you had the insight to realize something was different.

 

 

So your goals are written down.

 

Now what?

 

First of all, unless someone is critical to helping you

achieve your goal(s), do not freely share your goals with others. The

negative attitude from friends, family and neighbors can drag you down

quickly. It's very important that your self-talk (the thoughts in your

head) are positive.

 

Reviewing your goals daily is a crucial part of your

success and must become part of your routine. Each morning when you wake

up read your list of goals that are written in the positive. Visualize

the completed goal, see the new home, smell the leather seats in your

new car, feel the cold hard cash in your hands. Then each night, right

before you go to bed, repeat the process. This process will start both

your subconscious and conscious mind on working towards the goal. This

will also begin to replace any of the negative self-talk you may have

and replace it with positive self-talk.

 

Every time you make a decision during the day, ask

yourself this question, " Does it take me closer to, or further from my

goal. " If the answer is " closer to, " then you've made the right

decision. If the answer is " further from, " well, you know what to do.

 

If you follow this process everyday you will be on your

way to achieving unlimited success in every aspect of your life.

 

 

The difference between a goal

and a dream is the written word.

-Gene Donohue