How Setting Goals Can Change Your Life
By Joy Bing Fleming, MBA
The 1st step is to learn how to set goals. Be specific. Your goals should be measurable, and they should have a time limit. The wrong way to set a goal would be to say – I will lose 10 pounds. Instead, if you want to lose weight, write down – I will weigh 140 pounds by Feb. 1st, 2013. If you want to sell a book, write down – I will sell 1000 copies of my book by March 1st, 2013.
Writing down your goals is essential to success. Create a goals list. Include personal and professional goals. Successful people are absolutely clear about their goals/objectives, and they don’t deviate from them. They organize their life around their goals.
You also need to get out of your comfort zone and create high goals. Dream Big. You want to set goals that will stretch you, cause you to grow. Your actions up to this point have gotten you to where you are today. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Many people are afraid to dream big because they feel their goal is unattainable, or they feel that they are unworthy.
For example, if you currently make $30,000 per year, making $1 million dollars a year may feel unattainable to you. One solution is to break your goals down into smaller ones. If it’s challenging for you to imagine making $1 million dollars a year, first focus on making $100,000. With $100,000, think about how you would act, speak, think, treat others, spend, save, invest money, dress, eat, vacation, etc. Once you make a plan, take action. As you act as if you’ve already achieved your goal, you will begin to attract people, places, and events that will support you. Even if you do not start perfectly, start and make adjustments as you go. Start saving for the down payment on your dream home. Take that class. Join the gym. Nothing happens until you start. Once you reach that goal of $100,000, then focus on $250,000, and so on until you reach $1 million.
Write down step by step what needs to be done to accomplish your big goal. Focus on completing the first step, then the second, and so on. Before you know it, you will have achieved your big dream.
Believe in yourself and go for it. Reaching your goals is possible. Tim Ferriss, best selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek said “Most people fail not because they lack the skills or aptitude to reach their goal but because they simply don’t believe they can reach it.” Your perception will be your reality. When you believe something can happen, you will achieve it. Start today by replacing any negative thoughts with positive ones.
There will be people who try to discourage you. When you set a high goal, they may laugh at you and tell you that you can’t do it. These people are what we call – dream stealers. Just ignore them. However, make sure to share your dreams with people whom you can trust to be positive, helpful, and supportive. The more you share your dreams with supportive people, the clearer your dreams become to you. This strengthens your belief in yourself that you can achieve your goals.
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