Goal setting & goal achieving part 1

Hey it's the end of one year and the beginning of a new one. Time to set some goals!

This article is in two parts. The first is about setting the goal the second is about achievement of the goals.

Goal setting and goal achieving are two completely different activities. Most people misunderstand this completely. Just knowing that they are two completely different activities raises your ability to achieve your goals. But if you really want to reach the stratosphere of achievement pay attention to how you set them.

It's just like a quarterback who sets the football for the kicker; the setting of the ball makes or breaks the kick. You can learn how to set your goals and be assured of a solid foundation in achieving them.


Lets take apart goal setting and goal achieving and see the differences between the two.

Goal setting is an intellectual exercise, goal achieving is a spiritual exercise. I will get into goal achieving in the second part of this series. But for now lets just look at goal setting.

Goal setting is a time when you look intellectually at what you have and what you lack, and begin to put a goal to achieve what you currently do not have and add it to the column to what you do have.

This might seem obvious, but it is very important. If you can see this you will be able to set your goals with more freedom and effectiveness.

Notice that the idea is to put what you do not have into the column you have.
The game of a goal is to change the columns. It's to add to the have column and diminish the have not column.
The game in it's essence is to have more in the 'have' column and less in 'have not' column.

Here is where we get lost in setting goals we begin with what I will call the negative mind set. We set goals with negative emotions attached to them. And that, right there, is in essence why most goals get lost somewhere in February, never to be seen again. We have negative emotions in what we see we want compared to what we do not have and that puts a downward spiral to our goals.

Ever wonder if that might dimmish your goal achieving capability?

It does! Big time.

So to be effective in setting goals I suggest you take some time and set goals from a new emotional place, one called: you can see yourself already having accomplished your goal. You can see it, feel it and emotional are involved that you have it already.

Why? Because your subconscious mind does not know the difference between what is real and what it imagines. Don't believe me? Okay look up on Wikipedia about visualization for athletics, or the astronauts, or read about Russian studies in training their Olympic contenders in the 1950-60's. They trained their people to see the goal as already won.

So take time to visualize what you see and your goals for 2010. then write them down in the most positive and present tense language you can such as; 'I have the job of my dreams', 'my office is beautiful', 'I have clients that love to work with me', or 'I am paid exceptionally well'. The best stand by if you can't think of any other way to say your goals say this: “I am so happy and grateful now that I have..........”

So take some time, at least the same amount of time you spend planning your vacations in setting a few goals for 2010.

Here are some categories that you can look at in setting your goals:

Health
-physical
-mental
-spiritual
-emotional

Wealth
-net worth
-investments
-savings
-income

Career
-awards
-advancements
-recognition

Relationships
-family
-friends
-coworkers
-clients

Contribution
-giving time
-giving donations
-volunteer on Board of Directors for Non-profit

Okay, see you in part two: Goal Achieving!

You get what you expect

I keep reading and hearing that our world is a feeling based universe. Makes sense, as before language, we were just communicating feelings, much like animals.

And I've read, ask for what you want with the feeling of already having received it. So you thank for what you want as if you have it in your hands.

I can see my flawed thinking. I've lived as if what I want is out of reach, the feelings I have on a regular basis are; not yet, or it won't really happen, or oh well, I'd better take what I can get, cause the 'real' thing ain't coming.

Now I can see my 'job' is to catch myself inside of those feelings and chang them to one of prosperity, or 'I have it already and I am grateful".

It's a harder job than I ever thought to catch myself thinking inside scarcity, lack, doubt and worry. That is so common, that's the normal way of thinking. I risk looking foolish, and like a kind of dunderhead with my mind in the clouds. I didn't realize I was so influenced by what others thought of me. Must be something I learned as I've aged, cause I certainly never cared before. Like a gentle snowfall, my worry of what others think of me has crept silently into my thoughts, indistinguishable.

So the phrase "You don't get what you want, you get what you expect" now makes more sense than ever.

Vision and Focus

I had a Great Aunt that was a concert pianist, she 'practiced' her scales on the piano everyday for at least an hour. Then she would begin to really work. She would practice the pieces she was preparing to perform, or challenge herself in playing old pieces. But she was focused on her craft.
I was wondering if we have that kind of focus these days? And can we produce the same results if we don't?
Needless to say my Great Aunt grew up in a time of no TV, or computer or Internet games, so her experience of time was different. But she also grew up in a time of having to work very hard, manual labor was how most people earned their living, and she was an expense for the family being a musician.
So how did she keep focused, and play each day when all around her the pressure to bring in money for the family, and to get married, settle down, stop all this dreaming of being a piano player must have felt insurmountable?
That really is the question each of us must ask each day of ourselves.
Oprah Winfrey has said she asks each night : "Please allow me to provide what you want from me God"
Not just one night a week, every night.
That is a million dollar prayer. A clear focus to provide what is wanted and needed, and you are the vessel through which your vision becomes a reality.
A million dollar prayer will result in a million dollar answer. But like my Aunt it takes practice, persistence, dedication.
I think dedication is something many of us fear. To really dedicate oneself to something, for no apparent reason, or if you will make money at it, just because it fulfills you.
that is true dedication.