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Achieve Your Goals

© Sheila Cohill

DETERMINE YOUR GOALS

When people set goals, they all too often create a "laundry list" of hopes and wishes they never get around to fulfilling. While their feelings and thoughts might be in the right place when they make their list, they probably haven't thought realistically about how they were going to achieve their goals.

To determine a goal, you need to feel it's right, think it's right, and then do it right!

Feel It

Go ahead and list up to three lofty, idealistic desires. Remember, at this point you're not thinking about how you're going to achieve them; you're just throwing out some ideas that feel right to you. Limit the number to three so that the tendency to create a "laundry list" doesn't interfere. Be general. Choose broad aspirations.

From the three items you feel strongly about, pick the one that has the most immediate value to you.

Think It

Now that you have a desire you feel strongly is right for you, bring it down a notch to a more practical level by thinking about it. Phrasing your desire in words will help to clarify your thoughts about it and narrow it down to a more specific, and therefore more practical, level. Your phrase should have three parts.

The first part should be the words, "I choose to." These words indicate that what you want is something you are deciding you want. It gives you an upper hand because the decision to go after the desire is yours and yours alone.

The second part of your phrase should be a word of action, a verb. Since you can't achieve a goal without taking some action, you need to phrase your goal with an action word.

The third part of the phrase should include words that make your action measurable. Be specific. For example, if you want to lose weight, your phrase might be, "I choose to lose twenty pounds."

Don't worry at this point about how you will do it. Just think about what it is you want to do and in three parts state your goal.

Do It

Once you have stated your goal, you need to do only two things: plan specific steps on how you will go about achieving your goal, and follow that plan.

PLAN THE WORK/WORK THE PLAN

Yes, work is involved! But it's the kind of work that has a good purpose, because you are choosing the goal based on a strong feeling that it's right for you.