Lifestyle goals such as exercise and healthy diet have to become habits in order to be effective.  Career change also takes time and planning, and it doesn’t happen overnight.

Your world has shifted.  There’s voice mail, e-mail, pagers, and faxes that have made a “waiting” period unacceptable and almost obsolete.  With information immediately available, we expect relationships and goal achievement to be done the same.  As you read this you know that it is unreasonable to expect that, don’t you?  We’ve been led by advertisers to believe that we deserve immediate gratification, and that it is readily and effortlessly available!

When you want to train a puppy, you know that it’s going to take time and consistent reinforcement.  You’re ready for that, because you want your puppy to behave in an acceptable way.  Why then, are you so patient with the puppy and so hard on yourself?

When you plant seeds in the garden, you tend them, water them, hope for sunlight and nurture them.  Are you nurturing yourself?

The best way to move gently and effectively towards your goals is to take a reasonable approach.  Break your long-term project goal into sub-goals.  Break it into doable, short-term chunks.  Today prepare the soil; tomorrow plant the seeds.

Break Your Big Goal Down Into Managable Small Chunks!

Each action you take and each step is satisfying because you know that it is contributing to the completion of your goal.  You cannot rush Mother Nature with your garden, and the same is true for your goals.

This process is much more than “bloom where you’re planted”, because when you’re the gardener you choose what to plant and how to nurture it.  Do the same for yourself, and grow yourself beautifully.  Your goals will be accomplished in due time, and you won’t end up up-tight and frazzled.

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Setting goals is a very significant part of success and positive accomplishments. It is like scaling a 1000 foot building and marking early on what feet you would like to reach at this specific period.

People who set goals literally create a map of their target achievements in life, marking where they should begin, where to pause, where to delve a bit, and where and when to stop. Once this map is created, it allows the map drawer to check where he is in the scheme of things and whether or not he is making some achievements that will take him closer to his goals.

By setting goals, people will know how they are doing and what they should be doing to achieve their targets or dreams in life. They will know if they can relax or if they have to double their efforts when they are falling short of what is expected of them.

Goal setting means a person is proactive in dealing with challenges that may affect his plans. Being proactive means one is able to outline possible difficulties that may occur as well as the solutions to these difficulties. By doing this, a person is not easily scared or defeated when challenges occur because he has already prepared for them. He knows they can happen and he has prepared a solution or strategy when that time comes.

Setting goals will enable people to track their progress in whatever endeavor they have set out to do. It will help people become more confident in themselves and more motivated to achieve their plans.

However, goal setting is not enough, as this should be accompanied by a positive outlook and self-discipline. A person may have a blueprint of where he wants to go, but if he does not have the necessary discipline to carry out the plan, then nothing will come out of it.

To be successful in goal setting, the goals that one has set for himself should be realistic and based on his capabilities, as well as selected and important external factors. Being too ambitious in setting up goals can make the goals unrealistic and difficult to achieve. However, do not also set goals that are too low because this might discourage one’s vision instead of achieving it.

It is also necessary that the person setting the blueprint for his direction should also include a time frame within which the goal will be achieved. This way, he is able to determine if he has to fast track his strategies or to slow down a bit. Goal setting will also help a person check if he is performing within his plans or if he is doing things towards the achievement of his plans.

Once you have achieved something, even a little of what you hoped to achieve, then you should always give yourself a pat in the back to keep you motivated. But do not be too complacent with any little achievement, as this may cause you to backslide.

Setting goals can be used in any aspect of one’s life – from one’s personal or family life, to his career and finances.  Goal setting can be as simple as setting a target weight when you wish to lose pounds or something big, like earning your first million.

When setting goals, it is always important to set standards that would suit your present situation, your capabilities, and other factors that may influence the achievement of your goal.

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I came across this piece by Jill Koenig of GoalGuru.com

Before any revolution can occur in the outside world, it must first occur inside you. Your No.1 job in visualization is to believe and be ready to receive.

Every physical manifestation begins with a mental creation. Your ability to take your highest goals and continually hold them in your thoughts with passion, excitement and enthusiasm will cause them to become real.

I was looking around for a cartoon on ‘visualizing your goals’. I knew I’d done something some years ago.

This was one of a series I did for my local Business Link magazine years and years ago.

Visualizing won’t work the first time you use it – but if you keep doing it then things start to happen!

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