How To Set Goals

If you aren’t setting goals for yourself, I strongly recommend you start doing so. If you are already doing it then that is great. Now it is time to get serious about them. Let’s start with major life goals. You can use these principles and methods to achieve any goal. I am going to share with you the methods I have found to be most effective in setting goals so you actually achieve them.

How to accomplish big life goals

1. Understand exactly what it is that you really want. You must be very clear about this. Spend as much time as is necessary to paint a very clear picture in your mind of exactly what you want the end result to look like. The clearer you can paint that picture, the quicker you will make it a reality. But that isn’t all you must do.
2. Write it down. You have heard it before. You really do need to write it down. The process of writing your goals down will force you to clarify them. That is the greatest benefit. Back when you were a kid in grade school, your teachers taught you how to write an essay. Well, today you are going to actually use that skill to perform one of the most important tasks you can do in life. Once you begin writing, you will see just how much fun this process really is.

Pick one topic to start with. Let’s use your dream home as an example. Take your piece of paper or keyboard and begin describing exactly what your dream home looks like. Picture yourself standing in front of it looking at it. How tall is it? What color is it? What kinds of windows do you see? Now picture yourself walking around the outside of it. Describe every last detail of what you see. What does the backyard look like? Then go inside the home room by room.

Your picture isn’t perfectly clear yet is it? I guess you haven’t given this goal as much thought as you should have. If you had, it would already be perfectly clear. Don’t worry though. You’ve got plenty of time. Keep this file or piece of paper somewhere where you can easily find it. You need to come back to it from time to time to fill in the blanks. Besides, from time to time you will notice that your dream evolves into something completely different. If you are worried about somebody finding what you have written then find a really safe place to store it. It is really important that you perform this process though.

3. Begin asking questions to yourself. How would I go about actually making this dream a reality? If you aren’t getting answers immediately then maybe you need to adjust the questions you are asking. Alter the questions until you start getting answers. You should also try breaking the big picture down into smaller steps. Ask yourself smaller questions that are easier to find answers for. As you begin finding answers to the smaller questions, the answers to the larger ones will start to fall into place.

Let’s use the same example as before. You may ask yourself, “How will I make my dream home a reality?” That is a pretty vague question. You might be better off asking “What are all the possible ways in which I could end up in possession of this home?” Possible answers will start to pop into your head. You could find a home that closely resembles the home of your dreams and buy it. You could buy a plot of land in the ideal location and hire someone to build it for you. Maybe you could just get the land and build it all yourself. Ask yourself better questions and you’ll get better answers.

4. Make a brainstorming flowchart. Grab some paper or a spreadsheet and make columns for each answer to each question. Then for every answer ask a new specific question. Let the columns grow. Very quickly you will begin to see which ideas make the most sense. Kill the bad ones and expand on the good ones.
5. Keep making the questions smaller and more precise. If you keep going, eventually you will reach a point where the answer is something you can act on immediately. Let’s stick with the same example. Suppose that you have already decided that the best way for you to acquire your dream home is going to be to buy one that is close to what you want and then just do a little remodeling to make it perfect. You have already done the research and found out that you will need to make $9,000 per month in order to afford the place.

Question: What ways can I get the $9,000 in recurring monthly income?

	Start a second income from a business that makes $5,000 in passive income			Somehow increase my salary to $9,000
	What businesses could I start to accomplish that?			How could I increase my salary that much?
Internet Affiliate Marketing from home	Buy a Dairy Queen Franchise		Get promoted to middle management	Get a second job	Change careers
What steps would I take to launch a second career as an Internet Marketer?			How would I go about getting that kind of promotion?
Create a website that has useful information that people want to learn about. Then monetize it.			Improve my relationship with the boss.
			How can I improve my relationship with Bob?
		Next time I’m in a meeting with my boss and his boss, I should make sure I make my immediate boss look good in front of the other guy.	Propose the new idea I had for increasing market share.	Start being the first person to arrive at work every day.	Stay a couple minutes later instead of punching out exactly at 5:00 every day. That way I don’t look like someone who can’t stand work.

Obviously, your flowchart would be much larger than this one. I think you get the idea though.

6. Now you need to act immediately in some way shape or form towards performing one or more tasks on the bottom of your chart. You will know when you have gone far enough with the chart. It will become obvious. Also, by this time, you will have a much better handle on what it is you need to do and why you need to do it. This is a very motivating exercise.

   Work your way up the list from bottom to top. As you accomplish each objective, you will gain momentum. This process will give you a feeling of self esteem and personal satisfaction like you have never experienced before. It will add some juice to your life.

   Save all of your work. From time to time you will want to refer back to it. Whenever you revisit it, try to polish it a little more. Our lives change due to unforeseen circumstances. Roll with the changes. Never stop striving toward the ultimate goal. Just adjust every time you stumble or hit a pot hole.

Warning: You Are About To Become Obsessed With Your Goals

You have probably thought about your goals to some extent before. But, I doubt you have ever taken the time to actually plan a roadmap to achieving them. Once you see a clear path towards achieving them, it becomes very hard if not impossible to not begin acting on them. As a matter of fact, you will probably become somewhat obsessed with achieving them.

The feeling you will experience after clarifying your path will add a better sense of purpose to your life. It is very invigorating.

That is the process in a nutshell. As you practice doing this you will get better and better. Use this method to solve any problems along your journey.

Tips for achieving your most important goals:

• Be conscious of the questions you ask yourself. Always strive to ask better questions.
• Find a way to remind yourself about your goals. Keep them in places where you can see them.
• Print out a list of your most important goals and put them above your computer screen.
• Gather a bunch of photos from the internet that exemplify your goals and put them in a slideshow screensaver.
• Create two separate goal oriented worksheets. Make one labeled Goals for 20xx. Make another one called life goals. Their uses should be self explanatory.
• It is impossible to think about your goals too much. The more you think deeply about them, the faster you will come up with the right questions and answers.
• Some of your greatest personal satisfaction in life will come from planning your future well and then making it a reality.
• I have found that the more time I spend thinking about my goals, the more motivated I become in making them a reality. Half the task of accomplishing great things in life is our ability to stay focused on accomplishing them.
• Read more personal development books. Listen to audio books. Study the materials. I will be recommending some great ones. The ideas you will get will help you stay focused. A lot of the material is redundant, but sometimes you need to hear something said a few different ways before it sticks.
• Focus on finding the most effective way for you to stay focused on your goals. If you just read them once and then stash them away, you will probably fall back to your old ways of letting life happen to you instead of making life happen. You must find new ways to constantly remind yourself.