3 Guidelines for Determining and Setting Goals

There is a depressing number of people who have become so caught up in the mundane trivialities of day-to-day existence, that they’ve completely lost sight of the idea of goal setting (or perhaps they never saw it to begin with.) It’s a startling idea to me that some people live their lives without thought for improving, with an aversion to change, and an absolute absorption with “the way things are.” I’ve changed so much in the last three years I almost consider myself a whole new person, and I can’t imagine a life without dreams and aspirations and the constant thrill of pursuing and obtaining them. Goal setting is a powerful step you can take to transform the quality of your life and renew your motivation and enthusiasm for living. It’s very simple to do, but there are a few quick guidelines that are important to help you get the most benefit from your actions. Identify What you Want Any goal that anyone, anywhere, has, ever had or ever will have was determined by a want. Some of these are simple and are done daily: if you’re hungry, for example, then your goal is to find food, and if you live in most modern countries then this is easy to do. If you don’t like where you’re living and want to move, then your goal becomes finding a new home and achieving whatever is involved to make it a reality. Anything that you want can be done, so don’t just write something off as undoable. Similarly, don’t just assume that you’re “unambitious” and don’t really want anything. If that’s the case, then it’s time to learn more about your world. Surf around the internet for interesting things, read a book, walk around your city. The world is full of interesting things and you definitely haven’t done them all. Everybody has passions, sometimes it’s just a matter of finding yours. Make Your Goals Real to You Everything starts as an idea, whether it’s the home you’re living in, the clothes you’re wearing or the food you’re eating. You had to think about it first (ie I’m hungry), and form an intention (I’ll go buy food), then act upon that intention (actually buying the food) before that object became a reality. If you just daydream about “what-ifs” and “someday-I’lls” than your goals are almost certainly doomed to failure. There is a point where every idea you have transitions from a simple possibility into a likelihood: you begin to form a mental picture about how something can happen, and you start to get excited about it. This is the most important thing to shoot for with your goals. Tips for Writing Your Goals Writing your goals down is an important step towards achieving them, because it’s a way of moving them from the world of the mental into the world of the physical. It’s physically written down, therefore it is a tangible thing and is a bigger motivator. When writing your goals, always make them definitive and in the present tense. (ie “I climb Mount Everest” as opposed to “I am going to climb Mount Everest.”) This has to do with the “someday-I’ll” mentality, and constantly placing a goal’s achievement in some far off undefined point in the future. It’s also helpful to establish a deadline (ie “I climb Mount Everest within three years.”) to get the ball rolling and ensure you don’t feel like you can put a goal off indefinitely. Of course simply identifying a goal and writing a goal down won’t make it a reality; for that there is a whole other realm of action and excitement and the process leading up to a goal’s realization. These are just a couple of suggestions to get you in the right frame of mind to consider what you want and get started on the path towards achieving that goal.