Achieve Your Biggest Goal

At the start of a new year, many of us make resolutions which we will try to keep throughout the coming year. A commendable effort, but very often one which we fail to maintain once the first few days of the year are past.

Whether or not you are planning to make New Year Resolutions, I urge you to use this opportunity to achieve a goal you may have had in mind for some time but have so far not managed to reach.

What is the goal you most wish to achieve over the coming year? Do you immediately know what it is, or do you have to think about it?

If you know what that goal is, then great! You have already made one of the most important steps towards realising it. Before we can achieve a goal we must have a clear idea about what that goal is.

If not, then don’t worry. Begin by brainstorming. List on a sheet of paper all the goals you really want to achieve. Write them as though you have already achieved them.

These should not be absolutely impossible goals. “I can make myself invisible”, “I am the ruler of the world”, “I have X-Ray vision”, all spring to mind. These are not the kind of goals you should be listing. Nor should you put "I am a millionaire" unless you already have substantial wealth and can believe this would not be completely impossible in twelve months. The latter can be a good goal to have, no matter how little money you have now, but it doesn't belong on this list of short term goals. If you want a money goal, "I have increased my net worth by 10% over the last 12 months" might work here.

Make sure they are personal goals. “I have helped bring about peace” is personal, but “there is world peace” is not (and is also rather impracticable to regard as being possible over the next year!). “There is great love in my household” is not personal, but “I have a deep and loving relationship with my wife” is.

Other than those rules (possible, and personal) do not try to judge or think about a goal before you write it down. And once you have written it down, don’t stop and think about it, not even to consider whether or not it does fit the rules. Move right on to the next one.

Keep going with listing those goals until you have written down at least 10, all phrased as though you have already achieved them. If they are all the same kind of goal, keep going until you have some diversity there. For example, try to include some goals about your relationships, or your career.

Now you can go through and check that all your listed goals fit the two rules. Any that are not personal or that you feel are quite impossible, cross out. In the case of the impossible ones, you should then think whether there is some intermediate goal on the way to this which is not impossible and which you have not already listed. If so, write that down too.

The next step is to choose the one goal on which you most set your heart. Not the one you think is most achievable – that is a cop out! The one you really want to achieve more than any of the others. Which goal would have the biggest impact on your life if you could achieve it right now? Circle this goal. This goal is what we will call your “Biggest Goal”.

Now take another sheet of paper and write the goal at the top of the page. Next to it, write a deadline of one year from today. Now brainstorm again. This time, think of all the things you would need to do to achieve your Biggest Goal. Write as many down as you can as fast as you can. Don’t stop at 10. Not even at 15 or 25. Keep on going until you have written down at least 50 steps you could take. This will probably be hard once you get past the first dozen or so steps, but keep going anyway. Don’t worry about the order; don’t try to think what step comes next. Just write down any steps you can think of that will help get you closer to your goal.

The final stage is this: Look at the list of actions you can take and start doing them. Some may be achievable in one day. Most will not. But that doesn’t matter, just begin working on them any way. Every day, do something, no matter how small, which moves you one step forwards towards your goal.

When you have achieved one completely, tick it off. Not all the actions can be treated this way, as many will probably be ongoing tasks – keep working on them. But the key is you must do something every day, no matter how small it may seem, to bring you closer to your goal.

And you know something? Three hundred small steps, taken together, are one gigantic step. So well before the year is out you will have made major progress towards achieving your goal, and may even have achieved it completely!

If you follow the principles I have outlined here, a year from now you will look back and will be absolutely amazed at the difference it has made in your life! Start now, and make sure you can achieve your Biggest Goal over the next twelve months!

PS Don't throw away the original list! You are going to need it soon, as once you have achieved your Biggest Goal you need to start going for your Next Biggest Goal!