Goal Setting

The challenge flag has been thrown at my feet. I have been challenged to come up with goals for the next 50 years. My age is in the mid-forties, and for the most part I do not believe that goals are necessary for me to have and obtain a full life. But that challenge flag has been thrown and is at my feet. I will not back down from a challenge, especially one that involves me achieveing my hearts desires; which will allow my life to become fuller. 50 years represents a very long timeline for setting goals. Saying to be alive is not going to cut the mustard, and is not specific enough. I must come up with tangible, measureable goals. Sounds like my education classes or a lesson preparation for an instructional day. In 50 years I would be about 95 years old. Would writing those specific attainable goals be all that important to me? Yes, because without the written goals, I might never accomplish anything.

Goals help us to live a purposeful life. One of my early goals in high school was to become a hermit on a mountain or just be a bum. Guess what? That is not the best way to live a full and meaningful life. I might as well be sitting in front of the TV drinking beer, eating chips and watching a sporting event. Goals are plans, and ways we humans can strive for a better life. Sure, there are lots of people who believe the only thing necessary in having a good life is to be open to outcome; to take one day at a time. Life will unfold as it is supposed to automatically each day. I used to believe this, and that is why I never gave much thought about writing down and setting goals for myself. To a certain degree this unfolding of life is true, but we need to have goals to guide our daily lives, and to help us become more productive human beings.

Setting goals is not easily accomplished. The truth of the matter is to set goals we have to know what we truly want from our life we lead. Usually we are really good at what we do not want in life, but seem to lack even the slightest clue as to what we do want. Our desires, wants and needs can only be manifested through goal setting, and goal seeking plans. Goals truly help us to live a rich, meaningful and fun-filled life.

How to set your goals

First decide on your desires, wants and needs. Write down a list of everything you don't want. Then from that list write another list and change the statements to everything you want to accomplish in your lifespan. As an example: I would like to know if my extended family will show up unannounced at Thanksgiving. So what do I want? I want to know before Thanksgiving Day if they want to come to the house or do something else for that day. That is an easy example. All goals can be this easy. Another example could be: I don't like working here at the retail counter in this pet store. What do I want? I want to work at a Veterinarians' office. Once the goal setting has started the process becomes easy. The hard part is in the starting.

The second and third thing to do is start figuring out how you can obtain your desires, needs or wants. When you figure those out then you will need to figure out your purpose behind the goals. What is the reason you want to obtain the desired outcome? This answer becomes the purpose behind your goal. The purpose is very important to understanding the reason for the goal, and to help you achieve the goal.

The fourth step is deciding what obstacles are standing in your way. What would keep you from obtaining your goal, your need or desire? Would it be fear? Would it be lack of money? Remember if you want something you have to learn how to rephrase lack to that of abundance. This will enhance the process and allow you the ability to obtain anything you desire. Lack would then become another separate goal of obtaining abundance. Maybe one of the obstacles is the fact that you have a tendency to procrastinate. Whatever obstacles you find then write them down. Clarity helps manifest the goal.

The final step is to develop strategies to overcome the obstacles. These strategies can then be turned into sub-goals. Once again we will use the earlier examples. One of the strategies for my family on Thanksgiving Day is to call all of my extended family, and inform them of my plans, and then I will find out what their plans are for that day. If I wanted to work in a Veterinarians' office then I need to explore the different areas. Maybe I have decided to become a Veterinarian tech. I will then need to make decisions based on the strategies for making this possible. For instance one of the strategies could be to apply at a Veterinary Medical Center as a routine worker. The strategy could be to go ahead and enroll in Vet Tech School and work part time at the pet store until my schooling is completed. Many strategies are available. Writing these strategies down is very helpful in figuring out the how, the when, and the means to accomplish each goal.

Sub-goals

Once you have written down all of your goals, and followed each of the steps from above then look over the goals carefully. Are there any sub-goals that can be listed to enhance the written goals? Sub-goals are little goals that you can branch off of the first goal to allow the manifestation of the goal to take place. Take the Veterinarian worker as an example. One of the sub-goals could be to look into what schooling is available and visit those schools. Another sub-goal could be to find out more information from a Veterinary Medical Center by volunteering my time. These sub-goals help to accomplish the major goal. In other words you begin to break down the goal in manageable steps.

Just as with Goals; sub-goals will need to be broken down and deciding on the purpose, obstacles and strategies. The important part of any goal is to be able to achieve the goal. Having the knowledge of the pitfalls before undertaking each goal or sub-goal is also vitally important. Thinking through each sub-goal, and going through the steps and list the specific reasons or purpose of the goal. Then when looking at the obstacles begin to write down strategies to allow achievement to take place.

There is one more important aspect about goals that needs to be mentioned. Goals will need to have a date or a deadline attached to them. Without this date procrastination will creep in, and your goals will never become accomplished. As with anything, be aware of the timeline that is set for achieving goals. Goals will need a realistic deadline date. You don't want to overwhelm your own system, and cause more stress. Goals are good, and meeting them should be attainable.

Challenge Flag Thrown

As I work on my 50+ year goals, I want to challenge you to come up with your lifetime of goals. Make the goals specific enough, and worthy of your endeavors. What are the desires of your heart? What do you really want to do? Why do you want to do those specific things? How and when can you complete your goals? Those questions will allow your goals to become a reality in achievement. I am going to finish writing as many goals as I can. How about you? Your life awaits, set the process in motion and take up the challenge to become all that your heart desires. Begin to plan your goals, purpose, obstacles and strategies; a fuller life is ahead of you.