Success in any endeavor begins by setting achievable goals. The clearer you are about what do you want to accomplish, what for, and what you are willing to commit yourself wholeheartedly to achieving, the easier will it be to achieve those goals.
Here are few guidelines to help you to formulate achieavable goals:
- What do you want?
Many times when you ask people what do they want, they say what they don't want, but they are not clear on what would they want to experience instead. Your subconscious mind keeps on creating and re-creating in your life that which you keep on contemplating on regular basis, so take few moments to consider - What specifically would you like to experience? What would you like to have, do or be?
- What for?
What is your purpose and motivation behind accomplishing this specific goal? What will it give you and how meaningful is it for you? Accomplishment of any goal requires commitment and investment of energy. Many times along the way to achieving big goals, you get "tested". You get "challenged". The challenge may be in the form of you needing to learn something new, of you needing to do something you've never done before, of other people trying to talk you out of it, or you wondering whether the goal is worth pursuing particularly when the new challenge feels a little bit uncomfortable.
These "tests" and "challenges" help you to look into your heart and determine whether the goal is truly meaningful for you, whether it is worthwhile investing your energy.
If you consider the purpose and meaning of your goals before you embark upon them, you will not have to waste time on pursuing meaningless goals and you will have more energy to wholeheartedly commit to the goals which are truly meaningful for you. If you have a strong reason "why" you have to do something, you'll find the "how" to reach your destination successfully, regardless of any temporary obstacles on your path. As a matter of fact, with each challenge you meet, your determination to reach your goal will get even stronger.
How will you know when you have it? How will you know when you have achieved your goal? How will you recognize it? What will you see, hear, feel, experience when you have achieved your goal?
Sometimes people get what they asked for, but are unable to recognize it. A person who asked for "more money" and found two cents on the street, got more money, but that may not be exactly what he had in mind. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize this as an answer to the "prayer", express gratitude and then re-formulate the goal. Many goals are accomplished in steps where along the way you are presented with different opportunities. It is important to recognize the sign posts on your journey toward your goal and to take an appropriate action.
A person desiring certain sum of money may be presented with job opportunities that will enable him to manifest that sum of money. A person desiring to grow spiritually and experience more love may be presented with people who are acting in un-loving ways, so that she can practice being aware of that which is eternal, spiritual, and lovable in everyone and discover how her own awareness of love and extension of that love to others helps her to experience more love in her own life.
- Where, when, with whom, to what extent ... do you want it?
Is this goal all-inclusive or are there specific times and places when you'd like to have it, and some times when you wouldn't? If there are other people involved, do you want it with everyone or just with some people who have particular attributes?
Spiritual goals tend to be all inclusive, as in if you want to truly embrace perceiving the world from the spiritual perspective, then you practice being aware of that which is spiritual, loving, eternal in everyone and everything.
Goals related to material existence may be exclusive - you may want to engage in some activity or spend time with specific people some time, but not all the time. Do you believe it is possible for you to achieve this goal?
People have different worldviews, different talents, abilities and experiences. Does this goal that you desire to accomplish fit within your worldview - it is possible and achievable according to your worldview? If you perceive it as impossible, based on the information you have, either forget about it for now and invest your energy in working on goals you do consider possible or seek out information and understanding that will help you to adopt the worldview in which an accomplishment of such goal is possible.
If it is possible to accomplish it in your worldview, do you believe it is possible for you to accomplish it, based on the information that you have about yourself, based on your past experiences and abilities that you have developed? And if it is possible to accomplish it, but it requires the development of specific abilities, are you willing to do whatever it takes to develop such abilities?
- Is the accomplishment of the goal within your sphere of influence?
Properly formulated goals are self-initiated and self-maintained i.e. you yourself can start working on them and keep working on them, regardless of any conditions outside of you and what anyone else may or may not do. Goals within your sphere of influence are those which are under your control because you can take full responsibility for them and you have the required resources necessary to initiate and to maintain them. You can take full responsibility for what you think, say and do. Properly formulated goals are those which are based on what you can do, not on what someone else may or may do.
If your goal is of a spiritual nature, sure, you have all the resources you need within you. If you are genuinely motivated, you can commit yourself to practice being aware of that which is spiritual, formless, timeless, eternal, loving within you and all around you, in everything and everyone - you can practice looking at the world through the eyes of the spirit, instead of looking just with your physical eyes, which can see only that which is perishable.
If your goal is of material nature and you desire to experience greater financial abundance, you can decide to create money, save money, invest it, until it grows to the point that you can live from passive income. It is totally within your control to learn all you can about money, and to commit yourself to manage it properly. It is totally within your control to develop skills and abilities and to create more money. It is totally within your control to discipline yourself and to save and invest money.
On the other hand, planning you financial future with the money you don't have or buying a property or a vehicle which requires additional expenses to maintain and which you cannot realistically afford is not a well-formulated goal. Winning the lottery or winning money through playing games of chance is a fun side-line project, but it is not a sound primary strategy for creating financial abundance.
- Is the goal ecological?
If you imagine yourself having this goal achieved now and experiencing all the changes that it created in your life and in other people's lives, would you still want it?
As we accomplish particular goals, many elements in our lives may change also - people, things, circumstances may all change. Those which are no longer appropriate may leave and be replaced with those which are more suited to the new situation. Are you willing to wholeheartedly accept all the changes that the achievement of this goal will bring into your life?
Good Luck!
EdySantoso (trainer&motivator )
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