What are the voices inside of you saying? As you turn the volume up on the voice of your dreamer and down on the voice of your doubter, you can practice discernment allowing for greater clarity. To assist you in hearing these voices, let’s set up a simple scenario. Picture something you want, something that matters to you. Choose a personal or professional dream and consider how these various parts of you might respond.

Dreamer – The dreamer inside says, “What if…” and is open to a creative process without over-analyzing it. This is the part of you that imagines, believes in possibilities, has hope, and seeks kindred spirits. Dreamers talk about their ideas with intention, clarity, and passion. Great dreamers get others excited about their vision. And most importantly, successful dreamers take action to make their dreams a reality.

Doubter – This voice is often heard saying such things as, “I don’t think this is a good idea.” The doubter provides concern touting, “But what if…” and imagines the worst. If you crank the volume up it can even become annihilating with accusations shouting things like, “Are you out of your mind?” William Shakespeare said, “Our doubts are traitors.” Carlos Castaneda said, “In order to experience the magic of life, you must banish the doubt.” My favorite quote on this subject is in The Prophet where Kahlil Gibran wrote, “Doubt is a feeling too lonely to know that Faith is its twin brother.”

Realist – “Be realistic…” Modulate the doubter down a notch or two and it becomes the essential voice of the realist. This part wants to know, “What’s the plan?” including where is the time and money coming from. However, in the early phase of dreaming, you may not know. The challenge is not to allow the realist to immediately turn into a doubter who might judge or obliterate your idea. Honor this voice by (to the best of your ability) giving it the information it needs. If you ignore or reject it, it will cleverly agitate or distract you. Being realistic offers prudence and makes you do your homework but if you are overly realistic or go to strategy too soon, you will most likely compromise the dream and kill your passion.

Visionary – This voice says, “Anything is possible so let’s dream big!” These are the leaders and people we look up to and admire. They have learned the process of realizing their dreams and embody what it means to be a big dreamer. Setbacks or failures do not stop them. Simply put, a visionary has a vision and invites others to join them. They are found in all walks of life and we are often so inspired when they are in the presence of a true visionary that we sign up just to be near them or part of what they’re doing.

A visionary is not defined by the size of the dream since dreams are precious and come in all sizes, shapes and areas of life. If you were living your dream life, how would it be different? What do you see yourself doing? How many lives would you touch? What would you change? Who would you help if you were truly living as a visionary?

Avoid Sabotaging Your Dream

When these different voices merge they can become muddled and result in confusion and poor decisions. For example, you might poison your dream by projecting doubt into it. Then with each step you take toward what you want, you also move toward your doubt. Doubt and fear, which most of us may have at some time or another (especially when embarking on a new or big dream) do not belong in your dream. These feelings are simply part of your reality. This is a subtle and essential point.

Here’s a simple technique for avoiding this sabotaging pattern. On a piece of paper draw a line across the middle. On the top half write out your dream with as much detail as possible. On the bottom write out your reality in relationship to your dream, where you are now. Reality usually includes good news and (so called) bad, as well as any fear or doubt you may have. Just state the facts and your feelings about them.

Now, which one are you more committed to; your dream or your reality? We tend to choose “reality” when we don’t have a clearly defined dream or when we saturate our dream with doubt. If your dream is loaded with your worst imagined nightmares, reality will always seem safer and saner. But doubt placed appropriately as part of your reality, allows two things to happen. First, no longer blown out of proportion, it’s an obstacle that basically requires a strategy to manage it. But more importantly, with doubt where it rightfully belongs, you are free to move forward.

It’s like a play. All the characters have wisdom and insight, but you can’t clearly understand them when they’re speaking at once. Take time to tune in, to listen, and on a regular basis, have the courage to give your dreamer its directorial debut or even the leading role.

Marcia Wieder, America’s Dream Coach, is a best-selling author and speaker known for giving inspiring and moving talks to AT&T, The Gap and American Express. She appeared several times on Oprah and The Today Show. She’s also writes for The San Francisco Chronicle. For more information, to receive a free audio e-book, "Jump Start Your Dream", or to join her community of Dreamers, visit http://www.dreamcoach.com. Come Experience a Powerful Weekend Designed to Help You Exceed Your Expectations & Achieve Your Dreams, visit http://www.dreamcoach.com/dream_weekend.htm to register for the event.

Next comes the planning phase. You wouldn’t just get in your vehicle and drive or hop on a bus or a train or plane and hope for the best. No. You would plan a route. Fundamental to that would be the fact that you need to recognize your starting point. You cannot choose a direction before you know exactly where you are. So, to arrive at a destination point we need to know the point of origin. Only then can we fill in the gaps between.

Say, for instance, that you want to get to town F and you are starting from town A. Your first check point is town B. After that comes towns C, D and E. By monitoring your route along the way you can be assured of reaching your chosen destination.

Sometimes along the journey we take a wrong turn. When this happens we need to check our map. If we don’t, we just keep going in the wrong direction. Naturally this happens most often when we either don’t consult our map often enough or we simply don’t have a map. Checking the map allows us to "get back on track."

It is a fairly well known fact that all airplanes are "off-target" most of the time. However, minor adjustments along the way ensure that the plane travels along the general flight path until it arrives at its location. Failure to make a one or two degree adjustment could cause the plane to be hundreds of miles off course. The same happens with the steering wheel of a car. Failure to make adjustments will see you end up in a ditch on the side of the road.

But what about your life? That is the biggest journey of them all. Why do so many people just blunder their way along without any plan? So many people have no goals, no plan, no checkpoints - nothing. Yet they expect to arrive at some fanciful destination called success.

Write yourself a plan. Mark in the checkpoints - A, B, C, D, E, F and so on. Monitor your progress. Measure it against time. If you do this you will be so far in front of the masses who not only have no idea where they are going but have no idea where they are. Remember, be realistic about your starting point and your destination point. Filling in the checkpoints just becomes a matter of course then.

Take the "Journey of Life" and don’t forget the roadmap. It’s so much easier when you know where you are going.

This article comes with reprint rights providing no changes are made and the resource box below accompanies it.

About the author: Gary Simpson is the author of eight books covering a diverse range of subjects such as self esteem, affirmations, self defense, finance and much more. His articles appear all over the web. Gary’s email address is budo@iinet.net.au. Click here to go to his Motivation & Self Esteem for Success website where you can receive his "Zenspirational Thoughts" plus an immediate FREE copy of his highly acclaimed, life-changing e-book "The Power of Choice."

Milt Campbell was an Olympic athlete. In 1952, in Helsinki, Finland he won a silver medal in the decathlon, a grueling series of events. But a silver medal was still one place short of where Milt wanted to be.

In 1956, Milt Campbell came to Melbourne, Australia. For four long years he was the reigning silver medallist - second best in the world. But he wanted to be the best. History tells that he achieved just that. In Melbourne, Milt won the gold medal. Here is a fantastic revelation that he made:

"Many of the athletes against whom I competed in high school were far superior to me, but they quit."

How powerful is that statement given the knowledge that you now have about this amazing man? What does it tell you?

Others have displayed similar persistence in the pursuit of their dreams. Colonel Harland Sanders was rejected by hundreds of restaurant owners before he came up with the concept of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Thomas Edison said he didn’t fail 10,000 times to produce an electric light globe. He said he had merely found 10,000 ways not to make one.

If you know what you want and that goal is so powerful to you then there is a simple formula for success - don’t quit. Winners never quit and quitters never win. In the words of the immortal Winston Churchill: "Never, never, never, never give up."

Are you prepared never to quit, never to give up and never to surrender in the pursuit of your life goal? Let me tell you - I am not. Allow me a few paragraphs now to tell you a little bit about one of my own experiences.

All my life I have wanted to write. It has been a constant theme right through everything else I have ever done. I am a compulsive writer. I have written so many magazine articles, a dozen books, hundreds of Editorial Letters and countless short stories.

One of my short stories "The Power of Choice" is now in e-book format. This story has been sent from my various websites to thousands of people in dozens and dozens of countries all over the world. It has received remarkable accolades from so many people from as far as the UK to Iceland to Canada to the USA. I have pages and pages of emails from people telling me how the story affected them in such a positive manner.

Many have credited my fifteen-minute story with turning their lives around. When I receive these comments it is very humbling for me to know that something I have penned has so deeply affected the way other people view their lives from that point on.

Why am I telling you this? To pat myself on the back? To "big note" myself? No. None of that. I’m sharing this with you here to let you know that I have intimate personal experience with the subject I am writing about. You see, I could so easily have thrown my story into a drawer for it never to be shared with anyone. But I didn’t. I believed in it. I persisted with it. Boy oh boy, did I persist with it!

Before making Power of Choice available directly from my website I originally wanted it to be published traditionally - paper and ink. So many times I would eagerly await an envelope from a prospective publisher only to be confronted with one rejection slip after another. Heh… I could wallpaper a room with them all.

I could have quit dozens of times over. But I didn’t. Now, instead, I receive weekly emails full of compliments. Do you think that I am still concerned about all those rejection slips? Nah! Now, I wear them like a badge of honor. I have had the last say. I have triumphed.

Now that I have given you several examples, including one of my own, my thoughts turn to you. Your goal must be pursued with relentlessness. Are you willing to keep on failing your way to success? I hope so - because that is what it takes.

What goal is so big and so important in your life that you are prepared to fail over and over again in your pursuit of it? Let me tell you - when you find such a goal nothing will stop you from succeeding. Nothing! You can do it. Milt Campbell did it. Colonel Sanders did it. Thomas Edison did it. Tens of thousands of others have done it. I have done it. And if I can do it then so can you!

This article comes with reprint rights providing no changes are made and the resource box below accompanies it.

About the author: Gary Simpson is the author of eight books covering a diverse range of subjects such as self esteem, affirmations, self defense, finance and much more. His articles appear all over the web. Gary’s email address is budo@iinet.net.au. Click here to go to his Motivation & Self Esteem for Success website where you can receive his "Zenspirational Thoughts" plus an immediate FREE copy of his highly acclaimed, life-changing e-book "The Power of Choice."

Goals are something we put out in front of ourselves to reach one day. But who sets our goals. If someone else had set them for you to reach, should you attain them or another. If they belong to another why should you ever reach those goals, they are not for you. But the more we try the more disheartened we become. In this case our failures are our saviors. They, our failures, are there to prevent us from living an unauthentic life living out some one else’s goals. They are there to keep us from living some one else’s life. So who has set your goals?

Now if we have set our own goals, and we find ourselves not there yet; there is still something for us to learn yet so we may access them. It is like getting a pair of running shoes before you have learned to crawl. Even holding onto those sneakers for the future would be no good. By then your feet would have out grown them. The secret is in the symbol on the shoe. Victory comes from just doing it. As long as you are in the process of your life, all is fine. But if you are putting off what you deserve for another day, it might never come.

One of my Grandfather’s goals was to work hard and retire, so he could enjoy life later. He was one of the first State Troopers in the country back in New Jersey. He Served under General Schwarskophf’s father for many years as the head of traffic safety. Now every day before and after his shift at the barracks he would farm his tree nursery to save that money for the good life when he retired. As he bent over and felt the strain in his back from balling another tree, his thoughts went to the future enjoyment he would receive. As he bent over a second time and felt the strain in his back from balling just another tree, the thoughts of all the time he would have later in life to play golf and travel would sustain him. Well he retired right on schedule and he became ill. I knew him most of my life as the Grandfather who rarely left his bedroom who could not stand loud noise. A man who held a lot of authority in his youth had no voice in his maturity. He had his larynx removed. But besides that I still do not know why he never left his room and his bed? I can not recall any other ailments he had. Only thing I can imagine is that his life had left him before his body did. Too many years of being ignored. Life was always something to behold later and not in the moment.

Another one of his goals was to provide for his family? So he would work long hard hours and be on call at all hours of the night. Then in the morning be out in the field alone until he had to be at the barrack once again. He escorted rich widows from the grocery store and back, paraded and protected presidents such as Wilson and Roosevelt, Solved the Palisades Heights Murder, and was in Society column next to the Dows, the Vanderbuilts, and Rockefellers. He was always away from his family providing for them. Now as my Father looks back on him, he can not remember much about him until he got sick. At that point it was not hard to nail him down for a good game of Gin. But thirty years had slipped by. Yes, my Father’s house was paid for in the first five years thanks to my Grandfather’s savings, but I think my Father would of much preferred much more of his time a bit earlier.

Is it Too late to reassess? No it never is, but it is harder the longer you wait. Because the behaviors over our life time solidify and begin to be set in their own ways. Caught in time the old dog of your inner life can indeed be taught new tricks. One of the most popular afflictions is an incorrect understanding of ones social duty or Dharma. In Norse Mythology Tir, the god of the generals and the symbol of masculinity, is represented by an upright arrow. When this Rune is pulled it is a call for assertive energy to be called into play. It is asking for you to be assertive in a healthy and balanced fashion to strive for the peak of strength and creativity in your life. To charge your batteries to their full capacity. To come full round and gain your happiness in the moment and peak your personal wonder. The crux of the issue is this, once you at the peak of your knowledge, wealth, or happiness; you must perform the return.

"Half way through the journey of our lives, I came to myself in a dark wood and found that I had lost the true way." Dante; Divine Comedia

Now the Return is expressed by Plato returning his character to the cave with the light, Frodo coming back to free the Shire of bandits, and Prometheus returning with his torch. To take everything you have learned, experienced, felt, or gained and give it freely in a wise fashion. It does not mean to empty your bank account and give it to the first homeless man you see, for that might not be what he needs to progress. He might just take all of that money and lose it on the horses. He might of just needed some one to share a bologna sandwich and an ear to listen, simple justification of his existence. Now if you handed him your king’s ransom, you might be sharing the same refrigerator box! So give wisely of yourself, but do give. For Tir calls for you to never expire your future potential strength but to always give your kinetic strength. It is kind of like trying to provide the neighborhood with fresh eggs after you had roasted the hen.

There once was a man who had been a man working for Civil Engineering during the Roosevelt’s public works days, who upon retiring taught at Boston College free of charge to the incurring immigrants in his spare time. One of his students moved to Jersey and was responsible for the creation of what is commonly called a "Jersey Barrier", which as fate would have it kept that professor alive and prevented him from leaping into oncoming traffic in the Sumner Tunnel entering Boston when his tire exploded. Now that is Dharma correctly lived. That is Social Duty played out well.

So as you come home from work at the end of a seventy hour week and Junior wants to play catch and you barely have enough energy to lift your brief case unto the table, what was it that Junior really needed? Was it your wealth, knowledge, concern, time, understanding, compassion, Love, friendship, or laughter? Or D, all of the above. In a well balanced fashion. Some times we are just doing exactly what our parents had done for us without knowing any better. Sure, we say " I’ll never do that to my children!" We all exceed our parents mark. But how far off was theirs in the first place. We need to know this to truly understand where that balance is in life. For we all must be that Professor, friend, or father to all through out our whole life..

When we smile the whole world smiles with us, Yes it is a corny phrase, but it is same as when Christ had said in the Gospel of Thomas "..Lift that stone and there I am." For you and me are the same person and the same essence as that stone. Much like your finger is part of your hand which is in part of yourself. As Christ was the Son of God and at the same time God himself, we shall also be the Alpha and the Omega. But then again your finger is still your finger. Now again, if that finger of yours is cut by a rusty nail and your tetanus shot has expired? Left to its own, can kill the rest of the organism. In Ancient Rome, they let the middle class dissolve into poverty thinking they can retain the wealth in the higher echelons of the few. Now the tax base dwindled down to close to nothing and the infrastructure collapsed. Before they had 6% of millions of citizens, but now was reduced to 6% of the wealthiest thousand. Also when a Plebe in a distant outskirts coughed on a traveling merchant, well when all roads lead to Rome it is not hard to see how the plague reached up into the Senate.

Come read other articles like this one at TheGuide or learn about an old cantankerous old man in the 20’s and the pond he created. Come join the lifestyle @ Docspond

Christopher Jon Luke Dowgin has been a life coach for twenty years counseling people and propietor of his own Artistic company Norgeforge.

The boy needs to work on his spelling too!

Jokes aside, setting goals and writing them down on paper is a good practice. It increases our focus and awareness We’re more likely to accomplish things when we write them down, and refer to our list during the day.

If you’ve ever read “personal achievement” books, you’ve probably encountered some bizarre advice on goal setting.

Stuart Goldsmith, in his book “The Midas Method,” suggests that we begin goal setting by making an invisible letter “g” in the air with our finger. He also suggests that you recite your goals out loud, and end your session by “erasing” the letter “g.” Mr. Goldsmith inisists this technique is a signal to your subconscious that you are doing something important.

Another author, Brian Tracy, wrote a book called “Goals: How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible.” Mr Tracy suggests writing out your goals as if they have already happened. For instance, if you have a bad habit of being late, your goal is “I am on time everywhere I go.” That’s right. Mr Tracy believes the use of present tense will cause you to think and act differently.

Mr. Tracy also suggests that you mentally visualize an empty parking place when you go to Walmart. Mr. Tracy believes that doing this sets in motion “the law of attraction,” and will instantly give you a place to park.

After reading this type of advice, I realized that these issues were merely semantics. My family and I need to set goals. We don’t need to go off the deep end, but we need a practical system for getting things done, and managing our time. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to write things down in a notebook or pad of paper.

At the beginning (or end) of each day, I make a list of all the things that I need to do. Later on, I might add or modify my list, as new things come to mind.

After making my list, I determine the most important thing that I need to do. What do I need to do first? If possible, I number your items in order of importance.

I use this method both for my personal, family, school and work-related agenda. When following this method, in one month I have accomplished as many as 100 items from my lists. This simple practice also helps me keep my wits as a mother, wife and freelance writer.

Nicky VanValkenburgh is a stay-at-home mother with two children. Check out her website at http://www.20minutestolessstress.com/

You gotta have one to get one.

Pretty profound, huh?

That sounds so obvious, but we so easily forget it. We have wishes, desires, or dreams, but then don’t turn them into goals.

And then we wonder why we don’t make progress toward our wishes, desires, and dreams.

It’s a strange sense of entitlement that says I will get it just because I think it.

The old saying is true -

if you do not know where you are going, any road will get you there. This is a fairly certain prescription for getting lost.

Let’s follow that old saying with a newer one -

if you don’t take charge of where your life is going by setting goals, there are plenty of people in the world who will be happy to take charge of your life for their own agenda and do not have your best interest at heart.

So many times we get caught up in goal dreaming that we never do any goal setting. And you have to do goal setting before your can do goal getting.

You have to know where you are going.

Visit SecretsofGreatRelationships.com for tips and tools for creating and growing a great relationship. You can also subscribe to our f*r*e*e 10 day e-program on how to enrich your relationship today, from relationship coach and expert Jeff Herring.

Being centred and self-confident puts you in a state of mind where speaking out your thoughts and looking after your interests are not inhibited by personal feelings such as fear or low-esteem. The impact of your thoughts is greater the more you express yourself in an appropriate manner that touches the heart and mind of the other person. This requires the ability to read what is in someone’s mind. Because communication is a dynamic and interactive process, there are also techniques for organising your thoughts and choosing the right responses. However, the bottom line is that the use of all these techniques would be like ‘nice chatter without meaning’ if you loose sight of the results you want to achieve. Therefore, the ACCs include a class of techniques with high scores on the ‘results’ axis.

Nevertheless, a word of cautious is in order. Most of what we do, in private or professional lives, amount in fact to the implementation of small or larger projects. For example, ordering a bottle of good wine for a nice and cosy meal can be viewed and small project. Of course, we do not necessarily apply the project management methodologies to such small projects. But, the fact of the matter remains that such methodologies do apply even to such small projects. In essence, these methodologies are based on the logical framework where various elements (i.e. objective, results, activities and assumptions) are looked at in a consistent, logical and critical manner. We do undertake certain activities to realise desired results. These are in turn desired for their ability to lead to a given objective. But, the chain of causality between activities, results and objectives is only valid as long as certain assumptions turn out to be true. The point is that our instance on getting desired results should be subjected to a critical analysis and it should be put to the test of questioning on whether one is undertaking the right activities, whether the results themselves are conducive to achieving the set objectives and whether the underlying assumptions are still valid.

This is being said, there are however instances where you may conclude that achieving the desired results is of paramount importance, no matter what. In such cases, the use of techniques from the ‘results’ class is warranted. These techniques include such well known ones such as fogging, broken record, negative assertion and purpose above pleasing. In any case, this class of techniques help in focussing attention on the results. Hence, there is a need from the start for subjecting these results to a critical analysis. During the communication itself, the techniques ensure that you keep focus on the desired results and show you how to make some concessions if required to achieve the results.

For further information, please contact us at:

Cutesolutions
30, rue Josse IMPENS
1030 Brussels - Belgium
Tel +32-2-2155157 Fax +32-2-2156416
ibl.belgium@telenet.be
http://cute4u.net:8082 or http://www.cute4u.net

The problem is that far to often we don’t lay a foundation so that we have in place what it will take to make our idea a reality. First of all, we have to understand that things often don’t just happen. They are the result of following out carefully planned steps and taking daily action until we have reached our intended destination.

Say for example you wanted to take a trip. Most likely you’d chart your course wouldn’t you? You’d at least take the time to know where you were headed and write out the directions.

This is the same idea behind achieving our goals, yet you’d be amazed by how many people choose to go day in and day out without having a basic plan of where they’re headed.

The main thing to keep in mind is that your goals should be committed to paper. This is the same as having a map. Each time you begin to feel as though you’re drifting away from what you want, you can refer back to your written goals. Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? Well that my friend is because it is!

Yet as easy as this is to implement the fact still remains that most people simply lack the determination to make this an ongoing process. I won’t lie to you here it’s going to take an ongoing commitment. It takes the understanding that all things are changing.

Life is about change. The better we become at adapting to life’s changes the better prepared we will be. Amidst all the changes, keeping a written plan will do wonders for keeping you heading in the direction of your dreams.

– Here’s to your success, Josh Hinds

Josh Hinds specializes in helping people set and achieve their goals and live the life of their dreams. For expert advice on goal setting visit http://GoalsSuccess.com now!

I believe your response will be: “You must be kidding. It’ll be a sellout. The store might probably run out of stock, you’ll have to wait in queue for a long time before you can get your order no matter the price.”

Just how important is enthusiasm in goal realization; in one’s life? It is so important that it occupies one of the top slots in the list of elements needed for successful living. It is so important that it is one of the deciding factors to realize one’s goal.

There is no doubt that everyone likes talking to enthusiastic people, unless a person likes to be in a gloomy state, which I doubt that person does. Enthusiastic people keep the conversation alive and upbeat. You feel like you are partying. And when you feel like partying, you’d wish the night will never end.

Enthusiasm brings out the hyper character in us. It is like adding more wood to a bonfire making you feel like you want to roast marshmallows in it. Honestly, as I am writing this, I’m beginning to be more enthusiastic myself.

The point is, enthusiasm is contagious like a disease. This is one contagious disease that has a desirable effect. Matter of fact, enthusiasm is the only disease everybody wants to contract. If there is a category in the Guinness Book of World Records of being the contagious disease most people would like to have with them, it is enthusiasm. Law enforcers would probably ban quarantine of this disease.

Now, just how do you get enthusiastic especially when your surroundings, the weather condition, and the general situation feels down and out?

Here are some helpful tips to develop enthusiasm:

- Adopt the “as if” principle. It is believed that this was first stated by Professor William James, at times known as the father of American Psychological Science. This is an effective time and people tested principle.

I would suggest at this point that you try to apply the “as if” principle with someone near or beside you to confirm its effectiveness. Think creatively.

Another similar principle is the “what if”. If you are in the business of developing products of specialized use, you are most likely exposed to a lot of experimentation. When you come up with an idea on a product you’d like to try even if the idea seems unconventional, would you try it? Would you be saying to yourself: “What if I try to…”

- Adapt enthusiasm into the “practice makes perfect” principle. In other words, be enthusiastic on almost everything you do every day no matter how insignificant they are, no matter how small they are. All those small things when added up become big. This is the “as if” principle in small ways.

- As you wake up each morning, be enthusiastic about the things you are going to do that day. Bring enthusiasm to even the routinely morning chores like taking a shower, getting dressed, eating breakfast, taking the bus or driving your car (even in heavy traffic), in the office up to the time you reach home for dinner till you go to bed, enthusiastically looking forward to tomorrow.

- Remember that each day in your life is God’s gift to you. Show your appreciation to Him for the gift you receive by being nice to other people, helping others and thanking Him through prayers.

Copyright 2005 Arina Nikitina

Arina Nikitina is the owner of http://www.RecipesForYourSuccess.com website where she shares proven tips and techniques on how to lead happy and fulfilling life you deserve. Visit: http://www.recipesforyoursuccess.com

Identifying goals and priorities is vital to a successfully balanced life. A few years ago I was keynoting at a mental health conferences in Washington state. I asked the roomful of professionals to find a pen and a piece of paper and answer the following question within 30 seconds: What are the three driving motivators (priorities) for this season of your life? Amazingly, only five-perfect of the attendees were able to complete the task.

Most people have been asked to do this at some point — either in school or at work or as part of a self-improvement program. Still many people get flustered when the topic of goals comes up. Fear of setting goals too high, fear of commitment, and not knowing what course to chart are just a few reasons people shudder at the concept of goals. Yet goals remain an important part of the value system.

Imagine leaving Los Angeles with the instructions to go to New York. Obviously, it would be easier to accomplish this with a map. Without a map, the trip would be nearly impossible, or require much more time and effort than the simple process of purchasing a map. Goals work the same way. They allow you to identify where you are and the path to get from one point to the other. The most common pitfall of people designing goals is the failure to use their designs as a map.

When goals are recorded and then set aside, this is as useful as putting a map in your glove box, yet expecting to know which road to take. Goals need to be consulted regularly, just like a map, and if you get off course, you need to re-evaluate and make a new plan. To design a goal map, first identify an area of your life where you seek advancement. Use that area to work through the goal process that follows. For this example, I’ll use the goal of starting a part-time business for extra income. Here are the steps needed to make the map.

Identify the exact goal. In one sentence, clarify the goal you are aiming to accomplish as specifically as possible. Example: To open a part-time tax business that brings in $300 a month in extra income (gross).

Identify a completion date. My business will be established in eighteen months.

Identify the evolution of the goal. What major points and steps happen during this time period?

A. The basics of establishing a business, permits, licensing, updating certification, financial.

B. The marketing and announcement of the business.

C. The grand opening of the business. Using this evolution assign each major step a date.

Fill in the blanks. Now take an in-depth look at what is needed to get to point A, from point A to point B, etc. Write these steps down in specific detail and assign each a date.

The basic template construction of your goal is complete. Type this up, print it out, and keep a copy in your planner. Check your progress against this goal regularly. If you get off track, don’t give up, just sit down and retrace your steps, adjusting the plan as necessary.

The Change Your Life Challenge
http://www.changeyourlifechallenge.com
Take control of your home, finances, relationships, clutter, time-managmenet and more with this 70 Day Program. Sign up for the free Challenge Weekly Newsletter and the motivational daily Good Morning.