What exactly is a goal ? A point scored, The object of a person’s ambition, effort or aim, the destination of a journey, or a point marking the end of a race? Yes to all of these, but to you what does a goal mean, and how do you achieve them? That answer is going to be different to each and every one who has ever had a goal. Let’s take goal and really break down to what it really is. All goals start somewhere as a dream, idea, or even a hunch. What takes a goal from a dream is desire, belief and successful implementation. When you decide to set a goal, make sure it’s worth your time, effort, sacrifice and you’re fully willing to make ALL the life style changes required for that goal, or it’s not a goal, it’s a waste of time.
So how does that work, what does it look like, feel like? You have an idea, you start to desire it, want it and if properly fed and nurtured, it becomes a want, then a need. When you start thinking about how that idea, would improve something in your life, or life itself, it becomes a need and starts to take shape. It grows, and as it grows you start to see that just wishing for it isn’t going to make it happen. You realize that you will have to work for it, sacrifice to get it and are willing to make it unpleasant or even painful if need be to obtain it. Congratulations you have given a birth to a goal.
Your goal requires some basic steps, examination, planning, execution and re-evaluation. Yeah? Piece of cake, right ? It’s been my experience with helping others and myself that a majority of goals die, in this phase. When I say examine, what I mean is study, learn, research, and go deep about everything about the goal. If your goal is to become a better student, discover what the most acceptable description of a good student is first. My favorite definition of a student is “ a person who takes an interest in a particular subject.” The best student would want to learn everything about each subject. If you wanted to learn how to be a better student, you examine and determine what that means to you. Does it mean better grades? better test scores? A comprehensive knowledge about the subject with the ability to converse about the subject or subjects at great length and be considered to be knowledgeable by subject matter experts, peers and others with an interest in the subject. I’m normally the latter. I want to know everything I can about it.
Next let’s examine the goal. What does a better student do? How do they do it? What are their successful habits? Where do they find the best resources? Dig into it, deeply. Research great former great students, research and examine them. Even better find a mentor! This means you want to find someone who is great at your goal, ask them for advice, talk to them, write them or call. Ask them questions, start with the ones above and add the what ?, Why ? and How? Develop sub questions until you reach the atom of each. So, let’s take Stan, the person with the straight A’s in all your classes, what does he do? Let’s say we talk to Stan and he says he reads a chapter ahead of when the teachers makes it a requirement, takes very detailed notes on his readings and in each class, then researches his notes to the next step, deeper level, keeps digging and exploring, tracks down a mentor, maybe a teacher or other expert in the field and asks them questions based on his research to make sure he’s is on the right track. This is why Stan can answer the questions all the time. You thought Stan was just born smart? Just plain lucky? Naw. Stan works his tail off to be overly prepared.
The planning stage is where we take out examination data and develop the plan. So again, you need to develop your plan based on what works for you. Determine when the best time for you to research? Do you feel more mentally alert in the morning, or at the end of your day? Do you need silence ? Do you prefer to have study partners ? Where do you like to study, in the library , at home or maybe at school? Do you learn better by taking notes?, reading or a combination of both? When do you like to do your research during or after the reading? Your personal preferences will be how you layout your plans for your goal. It may be a period of trial and error but that’s fine, it’s how you learn.
By far the hardest step of any of the steps to goal setting and achievement is execution. It will test your mettle, your spirit and determination. You will have to sacrifice, put others wants and needs on the back burners, and make the goal a major priority. Ever notice how when a Olympic or professional athlete is asked about his journey, the word sacrifice is one of the most, if not the most mentioned word? You don’t hear about the normal distractions of life, like vacations, partying, dating… it’s because in order to achieve the goal, it has to be a high priority. Let me say it again. When you set a goal, and you want to succeed, it has to be THE priority in your life. Everything else takes a back seat. What that looks like, is you get up before work at O-dark thirty am, get down to the gym, do your planned workout, squeezing every ounce of energy into it. You never miss a day because that’s unacceptable. It means that on some odd chance you miss, you now have a penalty, perhaps no coffee, no snacks, or lunch at work. If you don’t set rules, and have unyielding consequences for those rules you wont follow them. In example there is a no left turn sign in my neighborhood, its there Im sure because during normal traffic hours a left turn could cause an accident a high percentage of time. When I’m leaving to go to the gym at zero dark thirty, and there’s no one else on the road, I KNOW the percentage drops dramatically, the potential consequences are reduced. I also know that at that time of the day, the local law enforcement isn’t going to monitor that area as tightly during high traffic areas. I take the left turn and head to the gym. No consequences makes breaking a rule, or goal that much easier.
You must know your goal, everything about it, you have to live it, feel it, see it. Most important is the belief in the goal!. . Write this down!. What the mind believes the body will achieve. Fact. If you set a goal, believe that you will reach the goal, and KNOW that you will succeed. Your actions re-enforce the belief. your mind will force you to make the changes to reach that goal.
Re-evaluate your goal, constantly. You set a goal of losing ten pounds. It happens now what? Constantly challenge yourself with goals that are somewhat harder than the previous. Goals are lifestyle changes. If they are not, they aren’t a goal, but rather a temporary fix. When I quit smoking, for good the last time, I knew\know that I could never smoke again, or I’d go right back to the bad habit. I had to change how I dealt with stress, what I did when I needed to get away from my desk, when I went out for a beer, everything in my life changed. It no longer existed in my life. I use this every time I set a goal, of any type, size or length of time, or I don’t set it. It’s all or nothing. In the next entry I’m going to dive deeper into the goal setting and development process. You’ll see it becomes a living breathing thing. Read the next Post , A Goal is Born to get more details on the whole process
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