My Essay Blog

This is the time of year when many goal setting gurus being to talk about reflecting on your goals for the past year and looking ahead to the new goals you will create for the coming year. I recognize the huge importance of having goals but I also think it is useless to talk about goal setting without an even stronger focus on goal attainment.

Anyone whose ever celebrate the New Year has set a goal but what takes goal setting to the next level? I’d like to share with you my seven-step system for actually reaching and attaining your goals. Are you ready?

Step 1: Begin at the End:

Many experts in goal setting will tell you that you must begin at the end. Imagine yourself and all you want to accomplish in the future. That way you can develop the roadmap of just how to get there.

After all, you wouldn’t get on a plane without knowing its destination, would you? Then why would you live your life that way? Decide right now, to the best of your ability where you want to end up when it’s all over.

Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People says his second habit is: “Begin with the End in Mind.” He suggests that you imagine your own funeral and just what you want family, friends and community members to say about you, your character and your accomplishments. That way you will be able to plan step-by-step what exactly you will need to do to get there.

What is your purpose? What are your unique skills, talents and abilities that help you to contribute to humankind? If you aren’t sure, take some time to daydream about it. Keep trying new things until you find something you love and at which you excel.

Step 2: Balance is the Key:

Many times when you think of setting goals, you focus on the area of professional objectives. While this is a very important part of your goal setting strategy, it shouldn’t be your only center of attention. You are so much more than what you do at work, aren’t you?

Think about it. At the end of your life, do you think you will be looking back regretting that you didn’t work harder? Probably not. So, when you have a goal setting strategy session, you must look at all the important areas of your life. When I do my goal sessions, I look at work, love, play and spirituality.

There are many systems out there that divide our lives into different focal areas. I don’t favor one over any others. My advice is that you find one that works for you and set goals in each of those areas.

Step 3: Take Stock: Where are you now? What are your strengths?

What would you have to give up?

As important as knowing where you are going is knowing where you are right now. It’s impossible to get good directions anywhere unless the person giving directions knows where you are starting from.

Take the time to scrutinize the reality of your life. Where do you stand in each of the areas you identified in Step 2? This is not a time to be overly critical or overly optimistic. Just take an honest look at your current situation.

Then make an assessment of your strengths. Enumerating your strengths can be very helpful in setting future goals. Sometimes it’s your strengths that will make goal attainment possible.

Finally, I ask you to answer the question, “What would you have to give up to be successful with this particular goal?” When you have your answer, you must then assess if it will be worth it. Many times we don’t move forward toward our goals because of fears that remain just out of our conscious awareness. We must bring them to the forefront where they can be confronted and managed.

Step 4&ndashWork Backwards/Time Management:

Once you know what you are striving for and where you are, then you plot out the course to get you there. You can have 10-year, 5-year, 3-year, 1-year, 3-month, 1-month, 1-week and daily goals. I generally review my big picture goals quarterly and set my shorter goals according.

While doing some positive goal setting, it is important to attend to time management issues. These things will not happen unless you prioritize and protect your time to do the things that you have identified as important.

Step 5: Affirmations/Visualizations/Meditations:

This is not just some new age hog wash. There has been extensive brain research that backs up the use of affirmations, visualizations and meditation.

If you are serious about accomplishing your goals you must write them down. Back in 1953, a Harvard University study showed that 3% of the students graduating that year actually wrote down their specific career goals. Twenty years later, a team of researchers interviewed the class of 1953, and found that the 3% who had written down their goals were worth more financially than the other 97% combined. (Make no mistake, writing down goals pays off, big time!)

An affirmation is simply writing your goal as if it were already true in the present moment. You then say these affirmations daily, at least once but more if possible. Be very clear about what you are trying to accomplish.

A visualization is just like a mental rehearsal. In your mind’s eye, you imagine what life would be like if you had the goal accomplished. The more vivid and sensory-based you can make your visualization, the more effective it will be.

Meditation is a quiet time you take to get in touch with your inner self or your higher power. It is a time of deep reflection where you may ask questions and seek answers from a place or entity that has the answers.

Step 6: Positive Attitude:

There is a Universal Law of Attraction that says we attract into our lives that which we focus on. If we are focused on what we don’t have, then we will bring more lack into our lives. If we are constantly complaining about our bad luck, then that is what we can expect.

When working in harmony with our true selves, it is important to maintain an attitude of gratitude. Even when things don’t go as you planned, you can always be grateful for the lessons learned along the way.

Step 7: Continuous Improvement/Staying Motivated:

This may be the difference between goal setting and goal attainment. The first part is never being satisfied that you have arrived. There is always something more that you can do, another improvement that you can make. Life is a continuous journey.

Staying motivated is a challenge. Sometimes meeting our goals will motivate us; sometimes it has the opposite effect. I find having an accountability partner, a coach or a mastermind group to whom I am accountable makes all the difference. I can promise myself I’m going to do something all day long. If I don’t, who will be the wiser? However, when I say out loud to someone else what my intentions are, then my integrity won’t let me fail.

Stop goal setting and start goal attaining. 2007 can be your year!

When most of us set goals, we hold an expectation that everything will work out as planned. We have this picture in our minds of a smooth process from start to finish, easily achieving our goals without a hitch. This is especially true when it comes to the timing of our desired results!

Let’s face it; we wouldn’t be setting goals in the first place if we didn’t believe they were possible to achieve. Even if we expect a fair amount of difficulty in reaching our goals, we usually don’t expect to encounter major delays and setbacks.

Early in the game an optimistic mind-set can be a strong benefit because it gives us high confidence and strength to push through any preliminary obstacles that appear before us.

However, as more and more time passes and our desired results aren’t showing up - or worse, we continue to experience problem after problem, our determination begins to wane. We wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into. We wonder if we were crazy to think we could accomplish something so difficult!

Most importantly, we forget that there is one little aspect to any goal that is often beyond our control: timing.

As much as we might like our results to show up quickly and easily, that is not always how it happens. When we find ourselves stuck, we have three choices: We can strengthen our focus and put forth a stronger quality of energy toward our desired outcome; we can build up our resolve to work through obstacles more persistently, or we can wait patiently for the timing to be exactly right.

That last one is the stickler! We don’t like to feel out of control, especially where our own lives are concerned. We don’t like feeling that there is some mysterious “force out there” controlling what happens to us.

There is no easy answer for why results don’t appear when we expect them to. Each situation is different, as is each goal and the person setting it.

When this happens to you, the important question to ask is not WHY it happens but what you will do when it does.

Will you shove through obstacles with vicious determination? Will you find an easier path to your goal? Or will you wait patiently for obstacles to dissolve in their own time?

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions; only what you choose for yourself.

Like most people, you may find that certain outcomes cannot be rushed. No matter how hard you push, you will not be able to move forward until the timing is right.

In situations like these, hindsight usually reveals clear reasons why you could not move ahead until the timing was exactly right.

Perhaps you needed to wait for the assistance of someone who could provide the right opportunity to move ahead. Maybe you weren’t emotionally ready to handle the responsibilities of your desired outcome and once you did some more work on your personal development, all obstacles simply melted away.

There are endless possibilities for why the timing may not be right, but what can you do when you find yourself stuck?

Two of the most beneficial steps have proven to be:

1) Do what you can. Remain open to the possibilities, re-evaluate your plans and see if you can make improvements or adjustments.

2) At the same time, be willing to detach from the exact timing of the outcome. This is not easy, but it can open up many doors for you!

When you let go of trying to force something into being, you automatically decrease the pressure that deadlines place upon you. Because you feel more relaxed, you are better able to focus and awaken your creative thinking process. Through this creative insight, you may accidentally discover the perfect solution to your problem, or at least have more fun exploring possible workarounds.

In the end, the length of time needed to achieve your goals is not nearly as important as the delicious satisfaction you get from seeing them through to the end.

And when that day arrives, you’ll believe only one thing: it was well worth the wait.

Yola Eve

Business Trainer

VIP Quality Software

Time Management is getting more and more popular day by day. People want to be more successful, proactive and wealthy. It is not new to everyone that there are common time wasters in our lives. Watching TV all evening long, spending too much time on the Internet, having a very long conversation over the phone, and, my favorite one, doing trifles instead of going bed and loosing your precious sleep – these are common time wasters that you already know of. If you eliminate all these things, you will start to practice Time Management. But for me, it is rather

Here’s A Fast-Acting Visualization Exercise For Attracting Abundance

Set quality time when you can be uninterrupted for at least an hour, to concentrate your attention on defining your dreams. Sit down with your Dream List in a comfortable, quiet place to start visualizing your dream. What is your dream? Begin to picture some ideas about it. Allow vivid images to flow into your imagination. Create your ideal scene, writing anything that comes to mind, no matter how crazy or unrealistic it might seem. You can sort out and evaluate your ideas later. For now, just let them flow freely. Write in as much detail as you can. Describe your ideas in sparkling sensory images, being sure to include the feelings and sensations they incite.

Assume now, for the first time in your life, you have been given the opportunity to start anew, knowing everything in your life from now on will support you in “Living Your Dream.” See yourself walking down a narrow path lined on both sides by flowers and hanging vines. You are enchanted by the beauty all around you. Floral fragrances fill the air and brilliant-colored birds swoop and sing. Breathe in deeply and soak up the warm, soothing rays of the bright sun.

Proceed merrily along the path until you come upon a scene that you recognize as your ideal place to be in all of nature. Here you are free of all distractions and responsibilities. Take a good look around you. Do you see blue skies and grassy fields? Do you see mountains? Are there trees, water, flowers, the ocean, birds, sunshine, rain? Note the colors and details of the landscape, as an artiste would.

Look around; what do you see? What is it you love about the particular place you find yourself in? How does it feel to be there? What is the one quality of the scene you would want to take with you wherever you go? Relax, and soak up enough of this feeling to last for all eternity.

Once ready to proceed, gently open your eyes without leaving your scene. Draw or paint it in your Dream List, and write all about it before going on. Then close your eyes again. Now, you feel eager to know what lies just ahead. Gather yourself up, and turn your eyes toward a sparkling light not far away. With a springing step, start out across the short stretch to find out what could be reflecting the sunbeams so brightly.

And just drink it all in! There it is - your dream house, perfect in every way. It is in the exact location you would choose, if you could choose any place you wanted. Walk slowly up to it, noticing every exterior detail. What kind of house is it? Describe what you see from the outside.

Pause a while to picture and write what you see. What is important to you in your home? Where do you spend most of your time? What kinds of experiences will you choose to have there? How do your surroundings accommodate these purposes? What does the dreamer in you say you aspire to? Dream … and write. Imagine you can dream and write into your life any possessions you like. What are some of the things you desire? What objects energize the dreamer in you?

Lovingly explore each detail of your ideal home to your complete satisfaction. Now once again look beyond, to see more of what is in store for you, to fulfill and complete your life. Begin to consider the central purpose for your life.