How
Can I Achieve My Goals?
By
Many successful people often follow a sensible plan to
achieve their goals. Such a plan can be summarized in three steps. Once you
implement and commit to the plan, you are more likely to manifest your desired
goal.
1)
Write It
Any successful plan starts
with goal setting, that once written down and clarified, is more likely to give
you the result you want. Some goals relate to the betterment of a career,
finances, education, and others have to do with family, lifestyle, and changing
habits or attitude. No matter what you are hoping
to achieve, write it down first.
Writing down your goal
increases the accountability and helps you stay committed. Without commitment,
you are less likely to achieve your goal. The act of writing down your goal
makes it real and visible. You can increase your accountability by having your
written goal somewhere where you can see it every day.
Your goal needs to be
written in positive and inspiring language. Expressing your goal in an
affirmative manner can help generate good energy to support its attainment. If
you are working with someone on clarifying your goals, make sure a goal setting
session is done within an uplifting context, and the entire process embraces
confidence and decisiveness.
Your goal needs to be
manageable and specific. Based on my experience helping others with goal
setting, I often find it helpful to prioritize one’s objectives and focus on
one goal at the time. Working on too many goals at the same time can lead to
burn out.
Writing down your goal and
clarifying it can involve using images. Finding images from magazines or other
sources helps you create a vision of how the achievement of your goal can look.
For example, if your goal is going back to school and getting a degree in film
and television studies, find images that speak to your heart and reflect how
the achievement of such a goal looks like to you.
2)
Believe It
Believing in your goal is
another essential step. So many beautiful life visions never manifest because
of the lack of this important step. Do your best to let go of doubt and
negativity around manifestation of your goal. It takes some effort to sustain a
positive belief system during this process.
Believing can be a
challenging step because it can make you feel vulnerable. When you believe in
your goal and the result does not go your way, you can feel disappointed. It is
important to note, believing is different than expectation. Expectation can set
you up for disappointment and feeling of failure. You might find it helpful to
believe in your vision with the attitude of humility that everything unfolds
according to the divine intelligence and for the good of all. At the same time,
balance that humility with confidence in yourself and your ability to co-create
with the universe.
It is easy to get attached
to the result of your goal setting and lose perspective on all the variables
involved in making your vision come true. Some people might feel entitled to
have their vision manifest and contaminate the goal achievement process with
arrogance. Embracing humility helps you to approach the process with trust in the
universal intelligence. Such trust can free you from obsession and attachment
to the result.
It feels wonderful to have
passion and a strong desire for something you would like to happen. Even
greater, if you tap into your confidence and believe in your ability to make it
happen. When you balance all that passion, desire, and confidence with the trust
that the universe has your best interests in mind, you can enjoy the journey. This
is a paradoxical approach to goal achievement.
3)
Do it
Clarifying your goals and
writing them down with the attitude of confidence and a healthy sense of
reality needs the support of the final important step: do it. Doing it is about
the action needed to support your goal achievement and avoid delaying it. The first course of action is identifying
resources to support your outcome. Make a list of anything you can think of
that has the potential to help you. For example, if you are an artist and
looking for paid work in your field, make a list of all the resources that can
help you in this process. After compiling your resource list, make sure to use
it.
Do what it takes to meet
your goal by taking daily actions. Write everyday if your goal is to complete
your film script. Exercise as many days your physician recommends if you plan
to lose weight. Study everyday if your goal is to pass the bar exam. No matter
where you are trying to get, make sure you are taking daily steps toward your
destination. Eventually, all your actions will add up and increase your chance
of success.
It is important to be kind
to yourself during this process. Mistreating yourself by criticism and
reminding yourself, “I am not doing enough,” is only going to make your process
difficult. Also, comparing yourself to others who tend to be a few steps ahead
of you is not going to be helpful either. Just focus on one step at a time needed
to make your vision a reality.
