If you are not setting and writing your goals than you don't have any. If you wanted a small business loan, you'd have to present a business plan.
No one would consider lending a business money that did not have a written business plan. Consider your written goals as your life's business plan.
You're presenting your plan to the Universal power. You're asking the universe to give you certain things. You give your goals credence by putting them in writing.
Remember any goal that isn't written; is simply a desire or a wish.
Your present position in life is a direct result of your present thinking.
The first step in creating your desired future begins with designing your life by clearly defined written goals.
Who says you need written goals?
Ask any successful person if they have written goals and you'll get a resounding, "Yes."
Ask any success guru what's the first step to success and they will tell you it is a setting and writing goals.
There is great power generated when you commit your goals to paper. You send into the Universe a thought so powerful it must manifest it your life. Once a goal is committed to paper it is no longer a vapor, it has become real.
Trust those who've succeeded. They all set and wrote goals first.
Goals must be W A M W R
Your goals must be:
W written - write a definite goal.
A attainable - do you believe you can attain it?
M measurable - is it measurable in dollars, weight, time?
W workable - do you have the skills to do it?
R rewardable - what will you give yourself when you reach the goal?
Life's eight essential goal areas
In order to reach your goals you must live in balance. You must learn to balance your career with personal, family and recreational goals.
Your life can be broken down to eight major areas. You'll need to set and write goals for each of life's areas.
The eight areas are:
1. Health and fitness
2. Recreation
3. Family
4. Spiritual
5. Educational
6. Social
7. Investment
8. Financial
Notice we placed financial last. Experts agree that if your life is out of balance, if you are obsessed with making money, then you cannot live a well-balanced life.
Evaluation and revision are not dirty words
Goals must constantly be reevaluated. At the end of each day look at what you accomplished and make a plan for tomorrow.
Remember that evaluation and revision are not dirty words. You need to constantly look at your goals and revise and rewrite them. They should never become stagnated things. Keep them alive, vital and working by constant examination and revision.
Rewards are what it's all about
Whenever you reach a goal, there must be a tangible reward. Every written goal must have a reward. Losing ten pounds might call for a fudge sundae. I'm kidding.
Rewards are a vital part of the goal setting process; however, they are often overlooked.
Include a reward for every goal you set and faithfully reward yourself when you reach a goal. Otherwise, where's the joy?
Summary
To summarize, let's think of our goals as our life business plan, a blue print for living.
Write goals that are about what you want in your life. Never write goals to please someone else.
Write goals that your mind knows you can achieve.If you reach beyond your belief, you're doomed to failure.
Write goals for each of the eight life areas.
Constantly monitor and revise your goals.
Always reward yourself when you have reached a goal.
Copyright (c) 2009 Wee Dilts
Finding motivation to achieve your goals could be the bridge that link towards its realization. Most of us have goals that we aspire to reach. It enables you to strive harder and do better in what you are currently doing, whether at home, school, or work. And when faced with obstacles, some people readily admit defeat and give up on their goals. Motivation is what keeps you from quitting and overcoming hurdles to keep your eye on the goal.
What is Motivation?
Goals are as diverse as people's personalities are. Goals can either be simple or complex such as a job promotion, vacation to a foreign country, buying a new car, or acquiring a scholarship. The same also goes with people's motivational needs. Hence, aiming towards your goals is no good without enough motivation that serves as your driving force to realizing them.
Despite constant planning and efforts to moving forward in your goal, failures or unexpected results could happen. Without enough motivation, you could easily give up. Therefore, motivation plays a crucial role in the process. Aside from focusing on the goal itself, think about what there is to you once you have achieved the goal. Is it personal achievement or rewards that you aim to reach? Then, you can devise ways to address your motivational needs.
How to Stay Motivated?
Here are ways to motivate yourself towards achieving your goals:
1.Think of the past and future. This might seem confusing to others but you need to balance between your past achievements and what you intend to achieve in the future. Reminding yourself of previous accomplishments will give you the boost you need to double your efforts. After all, you have done it before and there is no way you cannot accomplish it this time.
2.Break it down to smaller goals. When you have one major goal, better break them down into smaller and more accessible goals. Then, these smaller goals will serve as steps you take until you reach that major goal.
3.Change perspectives. Whatever successes or failures you've encountered in the past, take lessons from out of it and motivate yourself to do better each time. Then, you would be able to focus on whatever it takes to get to your desired goal. If you find something isn't working in your efforts toward the goal, evaluate and change them if necessary.
4.Share your goals to others. Letting others know about your goal works two-ways: it gives you that extra push to work on your goal and you can be assured that there are people that are willing to remind you in case you lose track of your goals.
Increasing Motivation
The best way to start with increasing your motivation is making a personal change. You will be amazed at how much power your mind holds over what you can do. To start that change, ask yourself a series of questions:
-What is my goal? -What do I need to achieve it? -What am I looking to achieve by realizing this goal?
These are just basic questions and you can add up the list if you want. The way you speak or act, and your priorities reflect your belief system. Hence, by reprogramming your belief system in such a way that it will facilitate towards working on your goal will make you more effective and motivated.
Finding the right motivation to achieve your goals might be that one thing that stands between its realization.
Both Wee Dilts & Larry Rivera are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Wee Dilts has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, self improvement and motivation and Marketing. Wee Dilts is a teacher, counselor, psychologist and trainer of meta physical and life training programs. Get your Free Self Improvement tips at