5 Simple Steps To Define Your Future And Set Goals In The Next 5 Minutes

Where are you now?

Where do you dream of being in a year from now?

Most people dream of achieving fame, fortune and success. However, defining your future and setting goals is not as easy as just dreaming about it.

There is work to be done!

This article will present to you 5 steps to help you define your future and set goals so that you can get on the right path to achieve what you dream of accomplishing in life.

If this sounds good, let's begin.

Step 1: Define your dream

It's common sense and the first thing is to identify where you are now (i.e. Point A) and where you want to be (i.e. Point B).

It's like the Google Map App on your smartphone.

Suppose you want to travel to Los Angeles, California. Do you think the Google Map will show you the path? Not until you know where you are right now, correct?

Back to your dream...

A dream is an aspiration or ambition. It's everything that you've always wanted to do, and it's the dream that keeps you going.

You may be saying to you right now that it's not possible to reach your dream at this moment. It can be anything from being a world-renowned dancer to owning a business empire.

No matter what, write down your dream. Picture it vividly. Create a dream statement and feel the emotion attached to your dream. Are you excited? Are you curious? Are you motivated? Acknowledge such feeling because emotion gives you the energy to move forward, true?

Step 2: Understand your Dream

If Step 1 is about the "WHAT", Step 2 is the "WHY".

Understand what your dream statement is. In other words, what does this dream mean to you? Why do you want this badly? What's been stopping you from realizing this dream.

Now, if you have studied the work by Simon Sinek, in particular, his famous Golden Circle in "Start with Why", you may suspect what I said is in disagreement with Simon.

Let me be clear. Simon's "Start with Why" has a contextual meaning. He is talking about the fact that most companies start with WHAT because it's easy to identify and communicate while it's hard to start with WHY because it involves a lot of introspection, vision, and clarity.

If you have been following my work, from a personal development perspective, I believe everything starts with an intention, which is the "WHAT" first.

"Intention is Everything and Everything is Intention."

Once the intention is set, you can proceed to step 2, i.e. the PURPOSE ("WHY"). The ascertainment of your dream via asking WHY is a validation of what your dream is rational, valid, and reasonable. It answers the question of whether what you dream is aligned with what exactly you want. In other words, the intention is what your mind thinks and purpose is what your heart feels.

You want a total alignment between your mind thinking and your heart feeling.

Are you tracking with me? Good!

Step 3: Set Goals

Step 3 is setting the goals, which is the "HOW". Goals are the steps to help you get from Point A to Point B.

Does this mean that when you set goals you will always achieve these goals?

I hope the answer is "Yes" always.

Unfortunately, in reality, this does not happen.

Do you have goals you set in the past but did not achieve?

Just like using the Google Map, the App will identify the path of the shortest distance between Point A and Point B at a particular point in time.

But what if when you are on the way, suddenly you are caught in heavy traffic.

You have to de-tour, correct? We will talk about this in the next step.

Meanwhile, once again, it's important to be concise with what you want.

Many people I work with told me that they want to be millionaires.

It does not tell me anything.

How does it make them feel when they become millionaires?

What exactly will happen when they are millionaires?

I can go on and on about this deep dive process but let's move on to the next step now.

Step 4: Manage Your Goals

Step 4 is about managing the goals. In other words, you have to have some discipline to hold yourself accountable to moving forward to achieving these goals.

You have to identify whether you still have the best chances of turning these goals into reality based on the circumstances at a particular point in time. Further, you have to be honest to yourself about how long it will take and what obstacles are presenting to you that may delay your progress.

The fourth step of defining your dream and setting goals is managing them so they have the best chances of becoming a reality. You want to be realistic about how long it takes and the obstacles that may

I know it sounds easy to say the above.

The truth is that in reality, except for one of my best friends in Singapore who can really hold himself accountable - he's become a self-made millionaire in Singapore when he was 26, the majority of the people (including me) require someone else to hold us accountable.

That's why I highly recommend that you consider hiring a coach to help you stay on track with achieving your goals, and work with you to overcome the obstacles and challenges if happened.

In this case, your coach is not your friend. He/she is not interested in listening to your reasons, excuses, or justification. All he/she does is hold you accountable so that you get the results that you say you truly deserve.

Step 5: Be Laser Focus and Manage Your Energy

Do you have uptime and downtime every week, every month, and even every year?

What if you are having some downtime (i.e. unproductive time)?

At this stage, I want you to borrow the energy from other successful people in your niche or influential leaders in your industry because their success stories are inspirations to you so that you can bring up your energy to keep going.

And what if you have made good progress each day or week, I teach my students to come up with a reward system. It could mean physical reward (e.g. go for a favorite drink, or go for a nice massage). It could also mean a mental reward (e.g. share your win by writing it down in your diary). Find whatever works for you.

You may even post your win on your social media platforms and share it with other people. Don't get me wrong. You are not bragging. All you do is share your win so that you can inspire other people to stay positive and take massive action. The best part of this is when you do it frequently, I truly believe that the Universe will recognize your positive intention and will make your journey easier.

Is that good or good?

If you hire a coach, share how you feel with your coach on your regular session. Be authentic when sharing your feeling and your coach may be able to help you to realign your emotional imbalance too.

Conclusion

I trust that these 5 steps will be useful.

Remember, you don't need to work on your goals totally by yourself. Business is a team sport. Leverage people around you to help you realize your dream.

There is a saying, "wolves work in packs and that's why it's called the WOLFPACK!"

Comment below if you have any questions regarding this article. Of course, if you have an AHA moment after consuming the content of this article, comment below and share it with others. Cool?

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Jack HM Wong

Entrepreneur | Workshop Facilitator | Business Advisor

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