How Do You Get There?

Posted by Miz Helena

Jul 2

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HOW DO YOU GET THERE?

Getting what you want is not always easy. Oftentimes there is a lot of hard work involved in reaching your goals, but all this dedication and effort really makes it worth it when you realize you have reached your goals. So no, it may not be a simple task to reach your full potential, but nothing worth attaining is ever really easy, is it?

SET REALISTIC GOALS

You can’t reach a goal if you don’t define one. You might have the vague life goal of someday being happy and content, but what are you going to do to reach that goal? What would make you happy and content? You need to define what exactly you are trying to attain, whether it is a certain occupational status or instead an emotional state of being. Start by figuring out what small steps you need to take to get closer to your eventual goal, and then implement the necessary actions to accomplish your small goals. Every small goal completed is one step closer to your larger goal. By setting a series of small goals instead of just looking towards one huge goal, it is easier see the progress you are making. For example, if your eventual goal is to one day own your own home, you should make a series of small goals to lead up to home ownership. You might start with the goal of bringing all your bills current, then move on to getting a nice bit of money in your savings account. After this you can move on to lowering your bills by attacking them each month with a real purpose. You might want to set a goal to read a few books about buying a home or attend some free seminars focused on buying a home. In a broader scope, you may want to look into getting a new job that pays more, or get some sort of assistance with the way you handle money so you will be better prepared in a financial sense to take on the responsibility of owning a home. As you can see, there are plenty of “sub-goals” that revolve around one main goal. If you keep a running tally of all the small goals you have accomplished you will begin to see how you are easing closer and closer to your ultimate goal, and when you do finally accomplish your main goal, you can look back and see how much hard work went into everything. Define your goals so you know exactly what you are working towards and exactly how to get there.

Winning the lottery is not a life goal. When you set a goal for your life it should have some form of realism to it. You can’t base your future on winning some huge contest, you can’t hope that you will be discovered as the next big superstar, and you can’t wander about in hopes that some billionaire will stumble upon you and give you all his or her money out of sheer benevolence. Yes, it is true that people win the lottery and it is true that many movie stars started out humbly and with no connections to Hollywood. These are rarities, however, and you should attempt to ground yourself in reality when setting your goals. This is not to say that you can’t move forward in your quest to be the next big singing star, but you should set small, realistic goals for your mission. For example, you might start by enrolling in singing lessons, singing at “open mic” nights, and getting an agent to represent you. The point is to follow a plan consisting of several shortterm goals in an attempt to reach your ultimate goal. Just be sure that the goal you choose to work towards is one that is not simply left up to luck. You can buy all the lottery tickets you want, but your chances of actually winning are extremely low. You would be better off expending you energy towards a different, more attainable goal.

Keep positive when working towards your goal. You should have some sort of system in place to continually remind yourself of the goals you have set. Some people put up reminders all over their house; other people tell friends and family of their goals in order to be held accountable. Another interesting method is to use positive affirmations in order to stay on track. This can be as easy as creating a saying which you repeat to yourself throughout the day, such as something like “I will be offered the job I interviewed for last week.” There is also a method of positive affirmation that involves writing your goals down on paper repeatedly every day until your goal is met. People who endorse this sort of activity suggest that the person writing the goals down keep the goal specific: “I will be cast in the next play at the community theater,” as opposed to “I want to be an actor.” Some folks find this sort of positive affirmation rather silly, but if you are seriously working towards a goal, it certainly can’t hurt. At the very least it will constantly remind you of what it is you are trying to achieve.

What were your goals when you were younger? As people get older and take on more responsibilities they sometimes allow goals they once set to fall by the wayside. Maybe you once had a goal to travel Europe for a summer, or perhaps you were one day going to write a Great American Novel. Try to recollect the goals and aspirations you once had, and see if they are still the sorts of things that would make you happy in present day. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to accomplish a goal that you had set ten or twenty years ago? Of course, as people’s lives change, so do their goals, and things like dancing on stage with your favorite rock band or getting your nose pierced might be the types of goals that simply are not conducive to your current way of life. Goals you once had that still appeal to you, however, might be just the sorts of things you need in order to get everything back on track.

You change, your goals change. Don’t be so rigid in your goal setting that you refuse to change your goals as you are working towards them. You never know when life might throw you a curveball and you suddenly change course in what you would like to do with your life. Imagine that you have worked and worked towards setting your life up to where you can work as a professional landscaper. Maybe you have always been attracted to the idea of creating gorgeous landscapes while getting to work outdoors. Then you start your business and soon find that this simply isn’t your cup of tea. While you are trying to decide what in the world to do with your life you will probably first and foremost disregard all the goals you had that were solely connected to your landscaping business. You might have had the goal of reading a landscaping book every week in order to keep up with all the current trends, but if now you have decided to instead open a small coffee shop on the corner, these landscaping books will probably not do you much good. Switch your goal to something conducive to your new mission in life, and don’t feel bad about having to switch gears. The only thing constant in life seems to be inconsistency itself. You would do best to try to go with the flow and allow yourself occasional revisions without giving yourself grief over it.