Have you ever read the autobiography of a great financier or businessman of the past? How about the biography of a successful inventor or scientist? Most of the great achievers in life were natural born goal setters. They started at an early age to challenge themselves to reach the next objective. The rest of us need to develop the skill in order to make our dreams into reality. Goal setting forms a road map to the destination of fulfilled dreams. You know you want to achieve the goal. The question is how to get there.

Goals are best organized by area of life and then by the “due date.” For instance, if you want to really achieve the life you dream of, it is a good idea to set goals in areas like social/community life, spiritual growth, and health/fitness as well as job, career, or finances. Focusing only on your career, while it is a central issue, can make you into a lopsided work-a-holic who is really not enjoying life in spite of achieving your goals.

Once you have a general idea of the direction you want to go in the different areas of life, think about where you would need to be in three months from now if you were to reach your ten year goal. This takes some consideration, and it is not essential that you get it perfect. In fact, perfectionism will actually keep you from reaching your goals.

Perfectionism, by the way, tends to exacerbate procrastination, which is a major killer of goals and dreams. Often the reason we procrastinate is because we have trouble making up our minds. The reason we have trouble making decisions is that we are afraid we won’t make the perfect decision. In fact, you may be putting off making goals right this minute! Don’t let fear of a less than perfect job of goal setting keep you from taking the first step in setting them.

Think also about where you need to be in six months, or a year, or three years, in order to eventually achieve that dream life. Would you like to be a successful speaker, writer, athlete, or performing artist? Then goal setting will help you get your educational requirements and practice schedule nailed down. These dream professions are never attained without hard work and many hours of disciplined practice.

Here is one word of caution, though, as you dream big, and write down your goals. Make sure you are being realistic about the outcome of these goals. Do they conflict with your basic feelings about ethics or morality? Or are you thinking that reaching a certain goal will fulfill your every emotional need? We are complex, holistic beings who have a range of needs. No one goal, dream, or even person will ever fill that bill. Some find a great deal of peace through their religious faith, but there will still be challenges that test even this rock of stability. Keep this in mind as you set those goals and dream those dreams.

In 1953, a study on the effectiveness of goals was done with students at Yale University in Connecticut. Only 3% of the graduating class reported that they had specific written goals.

When these same class members were surveyed twenty years later, it was discovered that the 3% group with written goals had financial income exceeding the total of the remaining 97%.

A goal is a dream with a deadline. If it is not written down, it is just a wish. We need to have desire and vision. We need to follow our spirit to where we want to be, and know what we want to achieve.We need to know where we want to go.

There is a saying that,”If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” If our goals are just indefinite dreams, then we have no clear expectations for them to become reality.

When our goals are defined, our thoughts, energies, and creative talents focus on their achievement. Whatever we are fascinated by, whatever we define as an objective and focus our attention on,we tend to bring into our lives.

Work on your inner qualities first, and be committed to personal growth. The things that help us to grow are:

Personal growth takes effort and commitment. Growth and change only happen when we venture out of our comfort zones. The answers to your life are within you. Are you growing and learning? Meditate, and dwell on your questions, and the answers will come to you.

Goals are many and varied, but they must be real. Goals can be short-term, medium-term, and long-term. They can be internal and external.

To formulate and define your goals, start brainstorming without qualification, and write each one down.

Next, divide your list into categories such as: spiritual, social, health, material, career, recreational, financial, and relationship, identifying what value each one fulfills.

Next, look at your listing within categories to see if you have balance in your life. Do the majority fall into one, or into a few categories? What is the motivation behind each goal? What are you trying to accomplish?

In order to be effective in leading us toward a sense of lasting fulfillment, our goals and visions must be:

Finally, goals focus our activities so we can achieve objectives. But remember, your life focus should also be enjoyable. Goals are there to give direction. Use them as a guide, without allowing them to be so set that you become a slave to them. Slavery in any form is a curse, and counterproductive to the pursuit of happiness and health.

Planning

Making a plan is a process of taking a goal we want to achieve and breaking it down into its simplest action steps. A good method of planning is to start with the end result or goal we want to achieve and then work backwards to where we are now.

Having identified the path backwards, we can then map out step by step, with time objectives for each step, the plan that we think will best lead to the achievement we want.

Good planning takes into consideration the priority of activities in terms of our values and needs. This is an important identification process to go through so that we are making an efficient and profitable use of our time. In other words, it is good time management.

The saying “more haste, less speed” is often true. If we just bolt ahead without much thought to get the job done, we often either complete the task or project at a poorer standard than we are capable of,or we subsequently have to redo parts of it.

Similarly, if we have several tasks to complete,and we just start working on them more or less at random,we are probably not making the best use of our time.

When we are able to sort our activities into priorities, we can reduce our stress level, increase efficiency and the quality of our output, as well as accomplish more of what is really important in our lives.

Moving Toward Your Purpose

Once you have a clear vision of your purpose, have defined your values, priorities, and goals, and have formulated a step-by-step plan, you can begin to put the plan into action.

Having a clear outline in our conscious minds and going over it periodically prepares our subconscious to begin creating the future we envision.

Our lives can move forward. We have motivation to improve. We are in a better position to make the attitude changes that are needed, which will assist us in achieving our goals.

We can adopt attitudes that will help us, such as being relaxed, assertive, patient, confident, determined, calm, and caring.

You must be able to focus your attention to create and achieve your purpose. Focus on, and stay committed to a particular project, career, or relationship. It is a universal law that we attract to ourselves what we focus on. Focus on progress, achievement, abundance, and success.

Spending time judging, resisting, complaining, criticizing, fearing, or worrying is counterproductive and does not contribute to achieving a positive purpose, nor to a healthy physical body.

A statement by Vladimir Kuskoff summarizes this truth: “Where the majority of your thoughts lie, there lies your destiny.”

A new and improved life – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – is there for your making. Start with a vision that gives you a picture of what you want.

Create a plan of how you will move toward it. Work each step of your plan with determination and commitment. Enjoy the challenges, successes, and progress along the way.

As you do these things for yourself, you are consciously making a new reality, creating your own enthusiasm for life.

“My dream is to be independently wealthy.”

“I’m going to find the man of my dreams.”

“My dream car is a Lexus ES-300.”

“I visited Newport Beach and saw my dream house!”

How many times have you heard similar statements from friends?  And maybe you’ve even voiced a few wonderful ‘dreams’ yourself.  (I know I have!)  It’s great to have dreams!

According to millionaire author, Michael Masterson, any dream can become a goal if it meets the following criteria:

It must be Specific: Being independently wealthy is a dream. Developing a $3 million net worth in 5 years is a goal.

It must be Actionable: Winning the lottery is a dream. Building a successful business is a goal.

It must be Time-Oriented: “I’m going to be rich someday” is a dream.  “I’m going to develop a $3 million net worth in five years is a goal.

It must be Realistic: Developing a $3 million net worth in five years is reasonable (with a great action plan).  Developing a $3 million net worth in 3 months is not.  Although winning the lottery is possible, it is not at all realistic.  (Statistically, your odds of being struck by lightening are greater than your chance of winning the lottery.)

Dreaming feels good – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with dreaming.  But if you’d like to ‘live your dream’ it MUST be turned into a goal.  Without goals, dreams seldom become reality.

A Harvard Business School study followed the financial status of a group of students 10 years after their graduation and found that:

- As many as 27 percent needed financial assistance.

- 60 percent were living paycheck to paycheck.

- Only 10 percent were living comfortably.

- A mere 3 percent of them were financially independent.

The study also found these interesting goal setting correlations:

- The 27 percent that needed financial assistance never set goals for themselves.

- The 10 percent that were living comfortably only had general goals.  

- The 3 percent that were financially independent had not only written out their goals – they also outlined and followed the steps required to reach those goals.

Even with a Harvard Business School degree, 97% were not wealthy.  The critical difference was goal setting.  To learn more about this click here http://www.abundance-of-wealth.cup-of-life.com/Wealth-Creation.html .

So hold on to your dreams!  Dreams are a wonderful thing.  But if you’d like to turn any of those dreams into reality, you must first turn the dream into a goal.