CHAPTER 09
EYES ON THE PRIZE
So far we’ve done some basic preparation. We’ve surveyed the land, turned over the soil, survived a cold spell and learned new techniques. Now it is time to plant and grow.
Goal setting is like seeding the furrows of a field. The desired result is a field full of grain by harvest season. The seeds take root and are nurtured and nourished with regular care. Same with goals.
The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to know how to live on purpose. — Michel de Montaigne
By first figuring out what you’d like to get done in your life, you can then allocate your efforts and avoid the pitfalls and sideshows.
The great thing about goals is the way you feel when you achieve them. You get to add a notch in the win column. It spurs you on to want more and build a winning mentality.
It’s like creating a game where you consistently come out on top. Forward progress suddenly emerges from your previously pointless grind.
Setting Your Goals.
First, you should know there isn’t just one goal. They are built over time, with short-term goals feeding success and leading you toward longer-term goals.
We start on a grand scale. If your life is a novel, what happens in the end? Can you name what you would ultimately like to achieve? That is your Lifetime Goal. See that in your mind and nourish its existence. Now back up a little. Where would you have to be ten years from now to make sure you were on track for your grand achievement? This is your Radiance Goal. It may seem unrealistic now, but that is fine. Never shoot too low. This goal will represent your new beliefs, feelings of abundance and promise of a life worth living.
In a year from now, what milestones would you have to hit to make your ten year plan a real possibility? This is a much smaller target but still a challenge that takes you out of your comfort zone. This is your Resonance Goal. Keep breaking down the steps into smaller and smaller targets.
They all lead up to your Lifetime Goals.
But in just one month from today, there is something achievable and worthwhile that you can accomplish. It will build your confidence and start you on your path toward a goal of a lifetime. This is your Amplitude Goal.
Goal Setting Tips
- Think BIG when setting goals. There’s nothing worse than a wimpy goal. It signals that you are content to settle for less.
- Understand your true drive and motivating factors for achieving a goal. We call that your WHY. It could be a college education for your child, or a goal to retire your husband from a mind-numb- ing job. A compelling WHY will keep you emotionally tied to achieving your goal when sheer willpower starts to fade.
- Always write goals in the present tense as if you have already achieved it. “I am moving into my new three bedroom house in the suburbs.” “I am fluent in Italian.” “I am piloting my first solo airplane flight.”
- Include a completion date. It isn’t a goal if it is not within a specific and measurable time frame. Add times or amounts where applicable so that you know exactly when your goal was achieved.
- Write out your goals and put them where you will see them everyday. Writing them out makes them more real. Seeing goals serves to imprint them into your brain. Allow a few minutes in the morning and again at bedtime to reflect on your goals. Place them in your mind. Make their accomplishment real.
- Don’t attempt to force your goals to become real. Don’t obsess on them. That becomes counter- productive. Just feel their presence and think of them actively in existence.
- Focus on performance, not on outcome, which can be influenced by any number of factors out- side your control. Performance goals allow you to keep control over their achievement.
- Set your Lifetime Goal.
- Set your Radiance Goal.
- Set your Resonance Goal.
- Set your Amplitude Goal.
An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding. —Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Don’t forget to click the mark complete button when you have finished completing your journal.