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Personal Journal - Day 12: Goal Setting
10 years ago
Someone once told me that humans are lazy. This was actually the excuse I got for simply not wanting to take action. I have never been able to agree with this assessment. I have always maintained that if someone is able to get motivated enough about something, they will have a drive to make something happen. I will go further today, to say this: People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals, or goals which are not empowering in the least.
Goal Setting: Creating and Obtaining Your Goals
The whole idea behind the little exercise today is to form goals that have some power to them. Goals that will offer that drive to make them happen.
These goals are capable of creating the drive many of us need to “Create” a future. We’re not just writing words on a piece of paper, even though most of these will probably be way out of reach for now. If we get something we really want, and make it strong enough, there will be results.
So; three areas of goal setting:
1: Personal development goals – these are the goals dealing with emotional goals, mental, social, spiritual, physical, etc… Basically who we are committed to becoming. These are major goals that will contribute to ones wellbeing and overall happiness in the long run.
2: Thing goals – We’ll have some fun here…I’m not a very materialistic person in all honesty, but as mentioned earlier, goals should also include material objects.
3: Economic goals – Economics plays a huge role in our states. A lot of people state that money doesn’t really matter, but they stress over their financial situations, far more than even I do (And as far as I am concerned, I’m pretty bad).
I’m going to start with a development goal. In order to do this, we basically have to rewind. Kids have a hell of an imagination. They don’t know boundaries; they don’t know really how to restrain themselves from going for the impossible. Basically, we get to pretend we can do anything, achieve anything, make anything happen.
So this sound stupid, but there’s reasons behind this. If you tell a kid to write a letter to Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas, they have absolutely no problem coming up with a list. NONE! But if you ask an adult “what are your goals?” And they go “Well…I don’t know…I guess I want this…” Kids? Lol, no way. They’ll say something like “I want a swimming pool! In fact, I want two! One for you and one for me!” Meanwhile, the adults in the room are just looking at the kid thinking “are you insane?” The answer is quite simply, no. They’ve got imagination. The point here is simple. Practicality does not necessarily need to be a thing. Just because it’s impractical doesn’t make it impossible. Practicality can come later.
So for personal development…Who would you like to become? What would you like to do? Where would you like to go? What would you like to create? What are some skills or abilities you want to have? Character traits you want to develop?
For at least five minutes, write constantly. Get as many goals down as possible.
Now that we have this list…we need to have a timeline for them. It’s been said that goals are nothing but dreams with a deadline. By assigning a timeframe for each goal, we get an idea of our priorities of importance.
Next, go through the list and select the top THREE one year goals we are absolutely committed to achieving in the next year. For each of these, write out a full PARAGRAPH as to WHY we are absolutely committed to achieving this goal within the year.
Remember Reasons come first, answers com second. Ask: “Are the reasons to achieve these goals really STRONG enough to really get you to follow through?” If they aren’t, either pick another goal or get better reasons. If they ARE then we’ve gotten ourselves a really strong goal we are capable of achieving.
So; onto the next set of goals, our “thing goals.” These are the things we want to have. Many of these may not have AYNTHING to do with personal development. Maybe they’re just for pure pleasure. That’s perfectly fine. Everyone deserves to have that on some level. Again, pretend you’re a little kid with no limits. What are some of the things you want to have, do, or create?
Now, for the next three minutes, we’ll write up a whole list of THING goals.
Again, create a timeline for this list. Once more, it doesn’t matter if the timeline is reasonable. The more committed you are to a goal; the sooner they will be achieved.
Once more, go through the whole list, and write down the TOP THREE things you want in your life and write a paragraph as to why you are absolutely committed to having these things in your life. Again, reasons come before answers. Purpose is stronger than objects. Know WHY we want to have these things or do these things.
As before, review these goals you’ve picked and make sure they are strong enough to get you to follow through. If not, then once more, pick another goal or get better reasons.
Now, let’s move on to “economic goals.” What will be your ultimate financial goals? Money you want to earn a month or maybe annual goals. Business goals, net worth, goals you want for yourself or maybe how much you would like to contribute. What you want to invest or something. What about how much you want to have in savings? Maybe something you want to learn about in terms of finances?
Okay. Now, on a new sheet of paper, describe financial goals for one year, three, five, ten, and twenty year goals.
And now, finally, take your one year goals and write down why we are absolutely committed to meeting these. Make sure these are STRONG enough that we will make them happen!
And now, review…well we now have a whole list of development goals and even more importantly, we have three specific one-year goals that we are completely driven to achieving, AND we know exactly why. Two; we have a whole list of THING goals, kind of like a little shopping list of fun xD And THREE we now have a list of financial goals we know WHY we want to achieve them. So in total, we have NINE goals we are committed to achieving within a year. How would you feel if, within one year, we achieved all nine of our goals? Would be pretty amazing, wouldn’t it? Well, if we’re not absolutely inspired, then our goals aren’t strong enough. We will then need to go back and either get new goals, or rewrite our reasons.
Take these nine goals and keep them with you on a daily basis. Personally, I’ll be placing mine with my work bag…
Two more things left to do. Never leave the site of a goal after setting them, without taking at least one action TOWARDS them. So, on the page you have them written down on, come up with one activity you can take within 24 hours and DO IT!
We have discussed, in the past several days, that pain is another very strong motivator. So, we also need to know what the consequences would be if we DIDN’T achieve these goals. What would the difference be? Here’s an exercise for any decisions you might be making. Imagine yourself at 80 or 90…now look back on the decisions we’ve made. Look back and ask yourself what did not achieving these goals COST me?
So get clear: how do we want our lives to be as we mature, and as we look back on it, how do we want to feel about our lives? Turn this around as well. Pretend we’ve achieved EVERY goal we have listed here…how much more joy is there?
Today can be the beginning of a NEW LIFE if only we choose to take action.
Goal Setting: Creating and Obtaining Your Goals
The whole idea behind the little exercise today is to form goals that have some power to them. Goals that will offer that drive to make them happen.
These goals are capable of creating the drive many of us need to “Create” a future. We’re not just writing words on a piece of paper, even though most of these will probably be way out of reach for now. If we get something we really want, and make it strong enough, there will be results.
So; three areas of goal setting:
1: Personal development goals – these are the goals dealing with emotional goals, mental, social, spiritual, physical, etc… Basically who we are committed to becoming. These are major goals that will contribute to ones wellbeing and overall happiness in the long run.
2: Thing goals – We’ll have some fun here…I’m not a very materialistic person in all honesty, but as mentioned earlier, goals should also include material objects.
3: Economic goals – Economics plays a huge role in our states. A lot of people state that money doesn’t really matter, but they stress over their financial situations, far more than even I do (And as far as I am concerned, I’m pretty bad).
I’m going to start with a development goal. In order to do this, we basically have to rewind. Kids have a hell of an imagination. They don’t know boundaries; they don’t know really how to restrain themselves from going for the impossible. Basically, we get to pretend we can do anything, achieve anything, make anything happen.
So this sound stupid, but there’s reasons behind this. If you tell a kid to write a letter to Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas, they have absolutely no problem coming up with a list. NONE! But if you ask an adult “what are your goals?” And they go “Well…I don’t know…I guess I want this…” Kids? Lol, no way. They’ll say something like “I want a swimming pool! In fact, I want two! One for you and one for me!” Meanwhile, the adults in the room are just looking at the kid thinking “are you insane?” The answer is quite simply, no. They’ve got imagination. The point here is simple. Practicality does not necessarily need to be a thing. Just because it’s impractical doesn’t make it impossible. Practicality can come later.
So for personal development…Who would you like to become? What would you like to do? Where would you like to go? What would you like to create? What are some skills or abilities you want to have? Character traits you want to develop?
For at least five minutes, write constantly. Get as many goals down as possible.
Now that we have this list…we need to have a timeline for them. It’s been said that goals are nothing but dreams with a deadline. By assigning a timeframe for each goal, we get an idea of our priorities of importance.
Next, go through the list and select the top THREE one year goals we are absolutely committed to achieving in the next year. For each of these, write out a full PARAGRAPH as to WHY we are absolutely committed to achieving this goal within the year.
Remember Reasons come first, answers com second. Ask: “Are the reasons to achieve these goals really STRONG enough to really get you to follow through?” If they aren’t, either pick another goal or get better reasons. If they ARE then we’ve gotten ourselves a really strong goal we are capable of achieving.
So; onto the next set of goals, our “thing goals.” These are the things we want to have. Many of these may not have AYNTHING to do with personal development. Maybe they’re just for pure pleasure. That’s perfectly fine. Everyone deserves to have that on some level. Again, pretend you’re a little kid with no limits. What are some of the things you want to have, do, or create?
Now, for the next three minutes, we’ll write up a whole list of THING goals.
Again, create a timeline for this list. Once more, it doesn’t matter if the timeline is reasonable. The more committed you are to a goal; the sooner they will be achieved.
Once more, go through the whole list, and write down the TOP THREE things you want in your life and write a paragraph as to why you are absolutely committed to having these things in your life. Again, reasons come before answers. Purpose is stronger than objects. Know WHY we want to have these things or do these things.
As before, review these goals you’ve picked and make sure they are strong enough to get you to follow through. If not, then once more, pick another goal or get better reasons.
Now, let’s move on to “economic goals.” What will be your ultimate financial goals? Money you want to earn a month or maybe annual goals. Business goals, net worth, goals you want for yourself or maybe how much you would like to contribute. What you want to invest or something. What about how much you want to have in savings? Maybe something you want to learn about in terms of finances?
Okay. Now, on a new sheet of paper, describe financial goals for one year, three, five, ten, and twenty year goals.
And now, finally, take your one year goals and write down why we are absolutely committed to meeting these. Make sure these are STRONG enough that we will make them happen!
And now, review…well we now have a whole list of development goals and even more importantly, we have three specific one-year goals that we are completely driven to achieving, AND we know exactly why. Two; we have a whole list of THING goals, kind of like a little shopping list of fun xD And THREE we now have a list of financial goals we know WHY we want to achieve them. So in total, we have NINE goals we are committed to achieving within a year. How would you feel if, within one year, we achieved all nine of our goals? Would be pretty amazing, wouldn’t it? Well, if we’re not absolutely inspired, then our goals aren’t strong enough. We will then need to go back and either get new goals, or rewrite our reasons.
Take these nine goals and keep them with you on a daily basis. Personally, I’ll be placing mine with my work bag…
Two more things left to do. Never leave the site of a goal after setting them, without taking at least one action TOWARDS them. So, on the page you have them written down on, come up with one activity you can take within 24 hours and DO IT!
We have discussed, in the past several days, that pain is another very strong motivator. So, we also need to know what the consequences would be if we DIDN’T achieve these goals. What would the difference be? Here’s an exercise for any decisions you might be making. Imagine yourself at 80 or 90…now look back on the decisions we’ve made. Look back and ask yourself what did not achieving these goals COST me?
So get clear: how do we want our lives to be as we mature, and as we look back on it, how do we want to feel about our lives? Turn this around as well. Pretend we’ve achieved EVERY goal we have listed here…how much more joy is there?
Today can be the beginning of a NEW LIFE if only we choose to take action.
