The Power of Goal-Setting

The Problem

Our childhood is the most beautiful part of our lives. We do not care about our limitations, we do not care about the money and we do not care about the resources. We have full belief in our parents that they will provide to us whatever we desire. But in case they are not able to provide us what we want, we simply move on to the next thing with the same intensity. We do not let it affect our minds. It’s all a fantasy world for us.

But then ‘life’ happens to us. We are told by our families, friends, relatives, neighbors, teachers, colleagues, news channels, magazines etc. this world is not a fantasy land. Its real life. We need to get ‘realistic’. We need to consider our family background, our education and degrees, our work experience, our current bank balance and our current skill sets before we desire anything big.

We can call it ‘the chicken and egg’ situation. Why? Because if we concentrate on our limitations, we will not be able to make big goals and if we do not make big goals, then we will not be able to come out of our current limitations. This is the main reason why we let our dreams and desire die.

So what is the solution out of this problem?

The Solution

We need to become a kid and start dreaming again. And when we are dreaming, we should always dream big because the efforts required in ‘dreaming small’ and ‘dreaming big’ is the same, but the approaches and the rewards for each category of dreaming is very different. We should dream as if we already have the money, talent, skill, time, health and other resources required to fulfill our dreams.

This activity of documenting our dreams and desire is called Goal-Setting.

Approach for Setting Goals

Following steps can be followed for setting your goals:

1.       Make a list of all the things that you desire in your life. This list should contain at least 40 line items.

2.      Categorize each goal into the following categories:

a.      Money/ Wealth

b.      Career/ Business

c.      Family and Relationships

d.      Personal Development

e.      Hobbies and Passion

3.      Put an approximate achievement time frame against each line item. You can use the following list of values:

a.      1 year (for 1 year or less)

b.      3 years

c.      5 years

d.      10 years (10 years or more)

4.      Filter out top 5 goals under each category which are the most important to you

5.      Against each goal in Step 4 above, write down the reason as to why this goal is so important for you – We never fulfil our goals because we never map it with a compelling reason to make it happen. For example: What if someone puts a gun to your head and asks you to sing in front of a thousand people? Would you still be scared of singing a song in front of people?

6.      Take appropriate action against each of your 1 year goals right now. Do not wait for the ‘right time’ because the ‘right time’ never comes.

Conclusion

We spend 8-10 hours every day at our work. We can spend this time doing things which will make us successful or which will keep us mediocre. It’s up to us. If you want to spend your time being successful, the first step is: Goal Setting.