Ready to Review Reality?

So you get to the stage where you know what you want and you have set yourself a Goal, (If you haven't done that, read previous post). What to do next??.....Well imagine this scenario. You have decide that you want to go on a trip, you have established your destination and you now need to find out how to get there. You go on google map and in order to get directions you are asked to enter two key pieces of information 1) your DESTINATION and 2) your CURRENT LOCATION.

The exact same information is required when trying to reach your goal. You need to know where you are going and you need to know what your starting point is. If either of these two factors are missing then the task of achieving what you want becomes extremely difficult.

Here are a number of questions which will help you review your reality and therefore identify your starting point...Once again grab pen and paper and write your answers down (please note, this can be done to review your current situation in general or in the specific area of your life in which you have set yourself a goal)

1. What is happening right now that tells you that you are not 100% satisfied?
2. What is missing from your current situation that would make you satisfied?
3. What positive things are happening now that you would like to maintain?

4. What actions have you taken so far to improve the situation?
5. How did taking these actions help you improve the situation?
6. What is stopping you from taking other actions which will help you to further improve the situation?

7. What resources do you already have which will help you achieve your goal?
8. What other resources do you need?
9. Having  answered these questions, is your initial goal still relevant? If not make the changes or adjustments to your goal now.

Now you will have a clear Goal + A clear Starting Point!!!  Take the time to read through your own thoughts and understand what they really mean to you. In the next post we will look at how to take it a step further and explore all your different options and believe me when I say they will be endless!

Back to Basics...........GOALS

We all admire and often envy successful individuals who have achieved what we dream of achieving. Some of us aspire to have more money, others to have the ideal job, others to have a perfect body or great relationships, yet for many people, unfortunately, 'aspirations' will often remain unrealised dreams.

What I have always found fascinating is the fact that most of the time, what we want to do, have or be are all things which have been accomplished by others time and time again. People have gone from poverty to wealth, from being unemployed to running successful businesses, from being overweight to running marathons, so what is it that differentiates Successes from Failures? Achievers from Settlers?

A famous study carried out at Yale University found that in 1953, just 3% of the graduating class had written down a set of goals of their lives. 20 Years later a survey of the same group revealed that the 'goal setting' students were financially worth more than the other 97% put together. This 3% also has better relationships and enjoyed better health. It wasn't the parental wealth, degree subjects taken, career selected, ethnic or gender base or any of the other obvious factors that made the difference. The factor that linked all these students was that they had all set clear goals.

This study clearly shows the power and effects of goal setting, yet most people will spend more time planning their outfit of the day or where to go out at the weekend than planning their lives.

On some level we subconsciously set ourselves goals every single day. For example if you are hungry, you will set yourself the goal to eat food. If you walk over to the fridge and it is empty, you will most likely proceed to raid the cupboards, go out to eat, order a take away etc. but you are unlikely to stop until you have reached your goal, or in this case until you have eaten.

When a goal is set, the brain is so efficient that it will direct its thoughts and strategies towards achieving it. However with no goals the brain has no direction or outcome to work towards, this means that you will live on other people's terms, doing things as a result of other people's decisions rather than your own.

So my question is, if we KNOW that we want more, if we have PROOF that setting goals is a first huge step toward having what we want AND if we know that goal setting is something that we easily do on a daily basis, how stupid is it not to do it for things that really matter to us?

By now I am sure you know where I am going with this.....Be smart and SET.YOURSELF.SOME.GOALS!

Lets start simple, think of an area of your life you would like to improve, then grab pen and paper and answer the following questions (and yes actually write this down, it makes a massive difference and I will explain why in the next post, but for now just trust me)

- What do you want? (Answer this using a statement which is directed towards what you want rather than away from what you don't want i.e. 'I want to have a job' rather than 'I don't want to be unemployed'.)
- How will you know when you have succeeded? (reached your goal)
- Where, when and with who do you want to achieve this goal?
- What resources do you need to help you achieve this goal? (i.e. skills, qualifications, contacts, objects, money..)
- What will happen if you don't achieve this goal?
- What will happen if you do achieve this goal?

Muhammad Ali once said 'what keeps me going is goals', he went on to become the first boxer to win lineal heavyweight championships three times and is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight championship boxer of all time. Is it a coincidence that a goal setter = a success? I will let you decide.