Before I got serious about succeeding in my business and my life, I didn’t believe in goal setting. Maybe believe isn’t the right word. Quite frankly I didn’t know about setting goals. No one taught me or showed how to set a goal or why setting a goal was important.

Here’s what I remember growing up:
1. I was told where to be and at what time. Example: School bus stop, dinner table, ballet lessons, etc.

2. I was told what needed to be done and by when and it was expected to be done.

3. All during school I was told what I had to do to get a passing grade and it was expected to be completed or I failed.

I wasn’t taught to make goals, I was taught to follow directions. Can you relate?

I’m not blaming parents, teachers or society – it was what was. When I finished college and went on job interviews and the interviewer asked me what my goals were for the next five years, I’m sure I looked like a deer in the headlights. I probably answered something like, “I want to get this job.”

That is the past. Everything changed when I started reading classic books like Think and Grow Rich, The Magic of Thinking Big, The Magic of Believing, etc. I began to understand the power of knowing what I wanted, making time to write it down, seeing it become reality in my mind and then forming a realistic plan of action to achieve it.

This new mindset was a leap of faith for me. A part of me didn’t understand how just writing something down could make achieving it easier? Didn’t it take “hard work” and a lot of luck?

Here’s what I discovered and maybe this will help you understand why I am a BIG believer in setting goals:

1. Making time to write out my goal helped me organize my hopes, dreams and plans for the future. Writing what I wanted down on paper took it from a daydream to a possibility.

2. When I wrote my goal, I started to see it becoming a reality in my mind. I felt hopeful and excited about the future. It gave me a purpose.

3. Knowing what I wanted helped me formulate a plan of action – a step-by-step blueprint for working to make this goal reality.

4. I didn’t always know how I was going to make my goal reality, but I believed without a doubt it would become reality. It was that unwavering belief and commitment to wanting to achieve my goal that kept me going forward even when the going got tough. Yes there were set backs and disappointments, but seeing myself living out my goal kept me going forward.

5. I surrounded myself with motivation. I created Vision Boards, placed motivational sayings around my work area, read inspirational books, affirmed success daily and developed a network of like-minded positive people who were also going for their goals.

6. I learned how to use my time wisely. I focused on those activities that would take me one step closer to my goals. I was focused on success.

7. I asked my friends and family to support me emotionally on my goal journey. I basically said, “If you cannot say anything positive about what I am doing, please don’t say anything at all.”

My mindset and lifestyle didn’t change overnight. It was an ongoing process to reprogram my belief system from being told what to do, to taking responsibility for telling myself what to do.

Honestly, I believe goals aren’t just necessary for success – they are vital for success.
* Goals help us focus on going forward in positive productive ways.
* Goals give us hope for the future.
* Goals give us a path from where we are now to where we want to be in the days, months and years to come.

I believe in goal setting so much I wrote a hands-on how to book/workbook – 21 Days to Living Your Dreams: A step-by-step hands-on approach to achieving your goals and living the life of your dreams. It is available as Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com – here’s a link:

Here’s my challenge for you:
* Make time this week to sit and decide what you’d like to achieve in the next six months.
* Write that goal on paper – in your handwriting.
* Decide how much time you can devote to making this goal reality.
* Write a plan for achieving your goal.
* Write out in detail how achieving this goal will change your life for the positive.

Are you ready to take me up on my challenge?
 
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