Goal Setting 101
Dreams
Dreams are ethereal beings that float away into oblivion. Most of our new year resolutions fall in this category. We want to:
- Lose weight
- Exercise every day
- Create art
- Write a book
- Meditate
- Spend time with family
- Help the poor, etc.
However, within a month, all these resolutions wither away and nothing remains. This is because these are dreams. Dreams need to have a solid shape for them to materialise.
Exercise 1
Imagine that the year is 2023, i.e. 5 years from now. Make a list of all the things that you have in your life now. By things, I mean not just material things but also relationships, family, friends, children, profession, hobbies, health, body weight, fitness, vacations, work–life balance, bank balance, investments, houses, cars, charities supported, etc. Do not restrain your imagination. Believe in yourself. Believe in abundance and dream away.
WORKBOOK: Do this Exercise in the free workbook available on www.readwriteinspire.com
Goals
Dreams are good, but they cannot materialise if they remain as dreams. These dreams define how you would prefer your ideal destination to be, but they do not tell me what is the destination. It is the goal that defines our dreams and gives it a solid shape.
Let me explain this further. You want to go for a vacation to a beach resort. This is a dream. This cannot materialise until you tell me whether the resort you want to go to is in Goa or in Hawaii. Also, you haven’t told me whether you want to go in May or in December. You also must tell me if you want to go now or ten years from now. Unless you give me all this information, I cannot fulfil your dream.
The same is true with the universe.
Unless you are clear what you want from the universe and by when, the universe cannot give it to you.
‘And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.’
- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
So, now convert your dreams into concrete goals. There are two features that define a goal:
1) The goal should tell you ‘how much’ and
2) The goal should tell you ‘by when’
For example,
- ‘I want to lose weight’ is a dream. ‘I will lose five kilograms by 5pm on the 30th June 2018’ is a goal.
- ‘I want to write a book’ is a dream. ‘I want to write a book about ‘Achieving New Year Resolutions’ and deliver it to everyone interested before 6pm on the 31st of December 2017’ is a goal.
- ‘I will exercise everyday’ is a dream. ‘I will take a gym membership immediately and will go to the gym from 6am to 7am every day’ is a goal.
- ‘I want a big house’ is a dream. ‘I want a 4000 square feet beach-facing bungalow in Mumbai’ is a goal.
Therefore, a goal should be
- Clear,
- Specific,
- Quantifiable, (rupees, kilograms, pages, canvasses, square feet, etc.) and
- Have a deadline
Make sure that your goals are challenging enough to scare and excite you. If you have always been reading 10 books a year, a goal of reading 12 books a year is not challenging. If you decide to read 30 books this year, then that will stretch and test you.
Exercise 2
Read through each of the dreams that you have mentioned in the previous exercise. Based on the vision of the perfect life that you have conjured up for yourself, create a list of goals that you want to achieve. Make sure that they are measurable and that they have deadlines. The sky is the limit. Write down as many goals as you want.
What do I do with the Goals that I have written down?
After you have jotted down the goals, along with how you will measure them and by when you will achieve them, it is important to constantly remind yourself about them. Right now, your goals have emerged from your dreams for the next five years. Every year, or maybe every few months, you may dream bigger and your goal should also evolve to achieve that. So, maintain a ‘Goals Journal’ and write down your goals in that book. Keep adding goals to them. When you accomplish a goal, tick it off in the journal. This gives such an indescribable high that will spur you on to greater heights.
READ YOUR GOALS TWICE A DAY.
If you can read them out aloud, do so. If that makes you uncomfortable, read them softly but visualise your goals as if you have already achieved that goal. For instance, if your goal is to write a book, imagine yourself autographing your book as an excited queue of fans have gathered to meet you. Believe in the power of your dreams and visions.
As your goal journal keeps growing, it might be difficult to read all the goals that you have listed there for the next fifty years of your life. If so, then read the goals that have a deadline within the next five years. Read them twice a day, after you get up in the morning and before you go to bed. At least, once a week, read all the goals that you have jotted in your journal.
Choose your path
A goal is the destination that you want to reach. Now, you must choose the path through which you are going to reach that destination.
So, if you want to be a published author by 6pm on 30th December 2018, then you must work out the steps that will help you achieve that goal.
- Choose the genre and Plan the story — Jan 1st to Jan 15th
- Write the first draft of the book — Jan 15th to Feb 28th
- Rewrite and Edit the book — March 1st to April 15th
- Create a book proposal and send to agents — April 15th to April 30th
- Keep following up — May & June
- With luck and efforts, you have a publishing deal by July or August.
Remember, contacting a publisher is ‘asking’. If he refuses, it only means you haven’t asked the right person. Keep trying!
So, this is how you break down your goal into smaller actionable steps with clear deadlines. Do this for all your goals. Another example: If you plan to spend quality time with your spouse, create a goal that you both will go on twenty dates without friends or children and spend quality time together. Break it down and fix the dates and timing that will work out for both of you.
