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Part II:
What Goal-Setting Will Do For You
The Best-Kept
Secret
Most people tend to think of goal-setting as the
practice of building a kind of structured, glorified
do-list of actions you take to make things happen in the
world. Isn’t that the way it looks to you? You decide
where you want to be, compare that with where you are,
and lay out a plan to bridge the gap.
That’s the strategy all right. But it isn’t the truth
about goal-setting. The truth is you don’t work on
making things happen in the world; you work on making
things happen inside you. If you were already the kind
of person who generates an income twice the size of the
one you currently have, you would already have double
the income. If you were already the person who could be
in the top ten in a marathon, you’d be there when you
entered it.
In essence, goals are rewards you receive for becoming
the person who is qualified to have them. They’re
outward symbols of the inner changes you chose to make
in order to achieve your dreams.
Let me tell you as story.
A friend of mine had a revelation the other day. As a
treat for his wife, he bought a bag of their favorite
chocolates, and added a couple pieces for himself as
well. On the way home in his car, he was tempted to eat
some of the chocolates. But he remembered that he was
keeping his eye on the goal of physical fitness, and
decided to save his treat for an after-dinner dessert.
“As soon as I made that decision,” he said, “it dawned
on me! The long-range vision sets your direction. But
it’s the moment-to-moment choices you make that actually
get you there!”
Exactly!
When you set a goal, you are making a choice to let your
moment-to-moment decisions be guided by the target your
goal defines. It’s the power to make conscious choices
in harmony with your goals that the practice of
goal-setting gives you.
The
Power to Choose
Of all the gifts we, as human beings, are given, none
surpasses the ability to make conscious choices. It’s
through making choices that we determine our destinies.
And it’s through making choices that we exercise our
inalienable right to be free.
Goal-setting provides a means for you to claim the
destiny you choose. It teaches you to be self-led, to
follow the path that springs from your unique set of
personal talents, strengths and desires.
Instead of sitting passively on life’s sidelines,
goal-setting leads you to participate in life’s
adventure. Instead of accepting the pictures of success
foisted on you by an endless stream of advertising,
goal-setting prompts you to choose what success truly
means for you.
It allows you to define for yourself who you are, how
you want to live, where you will seek meaning, what
talents and abilities you will express, and what kinds
of companions you will have on your journey.
The
True Rewards
“It’s not being a millionaire that’s so great,” a
top-achiever once commented, “It’s what I became on the
way to becoming one.” The outer rewards you attain along
the way as you follow the goals you set for yourself
truly are only symbols of the genuine rewards you gain
along the way.
Goal-setting stretches
you. It coaxes you to step beyond the limiting barriers
of the familiar and to test your daring, courage and
ingenuity in ever-expanding regions of experience. It
lures you into discovering new depths of yourself, of
your fields of interest, and of your relationships with
others. It lifts you above common perspectives of life
and enriches you with awesome new insights into
reality’s workings.
A Simple
Start
It may sound pretty lofty,
but it all begins with deciding what you want and then
letting you desires guide your choices.
Some Actions You Can
Take Now:
1. Start filling in
your picture of the dream life you want to create.
Click here for a simple diagram to get you started.
2. Think about the
areas of your life that are causing you the most misery
or that are boring. Come up with some ideas about
what you want instead.
3. Pick some fairly
simple task that would move you nearer to you ideal life
but that you have been putting off. Make it a
goal to get it done within the next week. Write it down,
think about how and when you'll tackle it, and do it!
Let yourself relish the feeling of accomplishment when
you succeed.
4. Read
"Goal-Setting: The
Hidden Rewards", a short article describing 10 gifts
that goal-setting will bring to you.
Part 3:
How to Know What Goals to Set First
Part 1: What
a Goal Is
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