Setting Goals for The New Year = A Never Ending Attraction + A Must Have

Why are goals important and why should you set them for the next year?

Setting goals are like speaking the mind’s language. The mind follows directions. Therefore a clear goal will set up a light at the end of a tunnel. It will become a focal point. Once established, your task becomes to maintain that focus through the end goal and by doing so, you’ll gain insights. Having a goal is not enough.

Without a goal, it’s easy to get sidetracked. It’s like you’re reacting not acting. Reacting takes away the power of control since you’re not before the curve, you’re living each curve as it comes.

Why don’t people reach their goals?

It’s so amazing how hard it is to move people to do something even if they know what they can achieve.

People attend seminars, courses, read many books and watch videos with the most inspiring human beings who achieved what they wanted.

And yet, most decide to procrastinate. Some do the first steps but because the results are not overnight they just stop. The initial motivation which led them do something in the first place vanished.

Motivation won’t be enough, that’s a spark that comes and goes. Discipline and work-ethic will be responsible for a plan that gets the result. The patience to follow the road and stick to the plan sets apart those who see their dreams achieved and those who don’t.

Follow the plan!

Once you decide what you want, create a SMART plan and follow it. No matter what. If the plan is SMART, it should work. Deploy patience as your best friend and continue the road long enough.

How long is long enough? Until you reach your goal.

What’s the problem?

Procrastination.

It’s the obvious answer. But procrastination is a symptom of something.

People don’t know what they want. Sometimes they set unrealistic goals, not thought through. Some other times they set goals that have nothing to do with them. Those goals which sound great, are trendy. “Others want them, I should do the same.” – They think. As a consequence, they figure those are the things they want. A simple deduction inspired by others. Fake dreams.

Genuine Goals Work Differently

Let’s say they figured out what they want. Now comes the next part. Are they specific enough? It’s not enough to want a house, a car, or a business. Your goal should undergo a visualization process where everything becomes vivid. When you close your eyes you can see, hear, feel all those things like already driving that car, or living in that house, or working for your business. You should envision every little detail to gain that clarity about what you want.

Once you experienced in your mind how it is to have that thing you’re ready to set up a plan.

But this is about material things.

How about a “DO” Goal?

Your goal could be related to new skills. In this case, you should envision how your life would be when you already acquired that/those skills. If it’s about public speaking, you can envision an event where you’re speaking with that skill at hand.

Questions to ask

Where are you? With whom? What’s your speech about? How is your delivery? What you’re doing? How are you moving? What’s the tone of your voice? Your body language? How do you feel while speaking? What’s the reaction of your audience? How do you know you did a good job? What’s the final outcome after your speech?

Verify the desired goal. Is this the experience you want for you? If not, design it the way you want it. You’ll know you have it once your inner self makes you feel accomplished, happy, empowered, ecstatic, amazing. That’s the ultimate most reliable barometer of your goal.

Goals should excite you

Any purpose which triggers those butterflies in your stomach should be taken seriously. This way you can keep your energy on the road. If the excitement is not there the goal is probably not yours, you just thought it is. But thoughts are mental. Those can be implanted.

Intellect and mental processes won’t help to achieve big goals if the emotion is absent. A goal without a powerful feeling attached to it is not an achievable goal. Of course, you can bring the garbage out, and you won’t thrill by happiness once you did that. But please don’t mix such daily routines with goals.

Goals should be something ambitious beyond what you had or have now. Something new that brings you out of your comfort zone and takes you one step further in life. Those things are goals. The biggest goal of all should be your life mission for example. But you can start building up that highest goal through smaller goals with one, three, five years’ time tag on them.

An unexpected challenge

Now that we defined what a goal is you know that is expected of you to grow through the process. Because your goal is at least a bit bigger than what you are right now. Or is something extra than what you have.

What happens when you start growing in the direction of your goal? You change.

Is this bad? Of course not. For you it is perfect. But it may not be for those close to you. Why? Because you change and they don’t. They feel you leave them behind and they don’t like it.

So what happens?

They start sabotaging you, critique any step you’ll take. Telling you, “You’re weird, different, and strange.”

Of course, you are. You’re growing. That’s why is said to surround yourself with people who are on the same mindset, a level you want to achieve. Or those who are willing to take the journey with you.

But that’s not always possible. What to do then?

Clear the noise

Ask them nicely to support you. Tell them you love them but they won’t influence you and would be an act of kindness or love from their part if they at least leave you in peace if cannot support you. Ignore them if nothing else works. After that move forward. At some point, they will understand. But not now. That’s ok. It’s your goal, not theirs.

My GIFT to YOU!

Now a good news. The end of the year is near, and I want you to be ready and prepared for your best year ever. So I’ve designed the most effective goal setting worksheet which works.

If you go through all of those steps, your goal should become bulletproof. Just sign up for the Weekly Boost, and you’ll receive the planner to start your 2019 goal right now.

Don’t worry, in case you’re already subscribed; you’ll receive the planner as well.

I have one wish though. Next year around this time, please come back and share with me how you reached the goal designed with the help of this worksheet. Will you do that for me?

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Originally published at platinum-development.ro

Author(s)

  • Dr. Cristina Imre

    Executive Coach & Mentor for Startup Founders & Executives | Serial Entrepreneur

    Aecho

    Throughout her career, Cristina has been focused on the idea of building and leaving a lasting legacy. For that, quality, purpose-driven, empathic leadership is needed at the top. An entrepreneur at heart, problem solver, executive by action, mindset expert as the usual self. The nonconventional way in which she combined experience and experiments became her hallmark. Cristina Imre served as a leader and executive in multiple industries, including, (but not limited to), healthcare, e-learning, banking, call centers and manufacturing, AI, real estate, financial services, marketing, sales, etc. Worked with multiple startups, SMB's and multinational distributed teams. By breaking down dysfunctional patterns in business, career, and personal life, she stresses the importance of self-improvement at any level. Through her two decades of research, testing, and application of unique and classical methods on business and leadership development, Cristina gained a unique insight into the world we live in and how we function as humans. Quoting her: "Our future is unwritten, and we can only move forward or regress by not improving ourselves, not learning from our history, and not thinking long-term. There is no middle road." Feel free to message her directly through LinkedIn if you sense there is a synergy to explore. P.S. She also wrote 4 books (2 non-fiction, 2 fiction) and you can find her articles around the web and her views on her social media channels, especially YouTube.