Fiery Balls of Goalness

I remember for a long time having trouble setting time aside to set goals.  I still, from time to time, forget about the incredible difference it makes to your outlook on life.  I put goal setting to the back of my mind, tell myself I’ll ‘do it later’ before a distinct lack of direction and focus prompts me into rectifying the situation.

When I speak to people on courses one of the things I find is people don’t set goals because they’ve never been shown how to.  It’s easy to get demoralized when you set goals and they don’t happen or because you set goals that you don’t really care about.

So thinking about that, and since 2009 is really only warming it’s tyres at the moment, here’s a few things you can do to make sure this year is the year you get closer to your dreams.

1. Know what you want - Be clear on what you want.  Do you want more money or do you want a new job?  Do you want a better relationship or do you want to be loved?  Do you want to join a gym or do you want to be healthier?   Although each of these sounds the same they are all subtly different and it’s those subtle differences that make the difference between goals you get and goals you don’t.

Be absolutely clear on what you want before you start.  Dedicate some time, usually 5 minutes will be more than enough, to make sure you know what it is your aiming for.

2. Do something about it - The secret to getting every goal you set is taking immediate and dedicated action to move you towards it.  A goal cannot achieve itself, yet many people still set goals and sit back and wait for the universe to deliver it to them.  “If it’s meant to be it will happen”, how many times have you heard that?

Here’s a new way of thinking about it, if you want it to happen then go do something about it…NOW!  Ask yourself this question “What is the one action that, when I take it now, will move me closer to achieving my outcome than any other action I can take?”.

Now…go do it!  (And just notice how amazing you feel when you do)

3.  You cannot fail - We live in a world with an expectation of instant perfection.  We get fooled into believing that overnight success is the norm rather than the exception.

Success comes from making good decisions, good decisions come from experience and experience comes from making bad decisions. One of the defining characteristics of successful people is the ability to learn from their mistakes.

“What we call failure is not falling down but staying down” _{Mary Pickford}

Thomas Edison had many attempts at inventing the lightbulb before he found the successful formula.  Imagine how would the world be different now if he’d chucked it when his first attempt went ‘POP’?

What about a small child learning to walk?  How far would any child get if he or she just gave up on the whole walking business the first time they fell flat on their face?

If failure isn’t an option, what will you do first?

4.  Be ready to change - The world is not a complicated place yet sometimes the world likes to test you to see how committed you are to getting what you want.  Getting your goals depends on your ability to adapt to the ever changing landscape that we live in.

Our landscape at the moment is dominated by financial upheaval on a global scale and once the crisis is over the media will turn their attention to the next crisis to befall us, won’t they!

So do you stop?  Do you wait for it to pass before going for your goals?  Do you hell!

If you can adapt your behavior to the landscape you live in you will get success.  Stop waiting for the landscape to be perfect because the perfect landscape is already here.

5.  Be Excellent - The final part of getting your goals is to always strive to be the best you can be.  Excellence is not

Jake finally secured C3-PO's autograph

about being beyond reproach and it is not about perfection.  Excellence is about being aware of what you are doing and changing it if it is not working.

Imagine the world’s best athletes.  To be a true champion an athlete must work hard every day to increase and build their fitness.  To be world class an athlete must study their craft and maintain a dogged focus on their goal.  To get the result an athlete must stay 100% committed to being the best they can be and doing everything in their power to maximize that potential.  To be a winner an athlete doesn’t stop until the race is over.

When you are going for any goal, whether it be big, small or somewhere in between, always BE world class, always BE a champion, always BE a winner and enjoy the results.

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Goal Setting is not an exact science.  The best we can do is to make it more probable that we will get the goals we set by behaving in ways that attract success.

The question…now you know what to do are you ready to make your dreams happen?