Two Questions to Ask Yourself When Creating Goals
Dreams are good, but they cannot materialize into reality if they remain as dreams. Dreams define how you would prefer your ideal destination to be, but they do not tell you 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 materialize 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 decide on all this information, the universe cannot understand what you want.
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, 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’
The goal should tell you ‘how much’ you will achieve and ‘by when’ you will achieve it.
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, free of cost, before 6pm on the 31st of December 2017’ is a goal. (By the way, if you are interested in checking out this free ebook, log in to www.ReadWriteInspire.com)
➢ ‘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.
If you are interested in knowing how I tweaked my resolutions in 2017 to make them easier to accomplish, download the free ebook and workbook, ‘Achieve Your Resolutions This 2018’ by visiting www.ReadWriteInspire.com and signing up for the Newsletter that is jampacked with resources for writers and avid readers. This eBook is my New Year gift to you.
