Bulls-eye!
Streak your way to achieving your goals by practising the following techniques, says Sunil Parekh
Human beings have enormous potential. We see many people achieving big things in life, while on the other hand, we also see many people simply wasting their time, or struggling all their lives. What’s the difference between the two?
The BIG difference between these two set of people is goals. Successful people have a clear vision for their life, and have clearly written goals. When we set goals and constantly focus on them, we are guiding our inner powers or potential to start working in the direction of our goals. For eg, when we set a goal such as “I want to become a world class engineer,” we set into motion the inner powers to do whatever it takes to become a world class engineer. Obviously, one needs to have a burning desire for the same. When we have a clear goal and have a strong purpose for achieving this goal, something inside us moves and things start falling into place. We attract people, events, ideas, opportunities and resources that can help us achieve our goal.
Without goals, the inner potential is completely wasted and remains dormant. If we don’t know where we want to go, how can we get anywhere? For eg, if you get on a train and don’t know where you want to get off, you will obviously get lost. Similarly, unless we know where we want to go in life, we get lost and our inner potential gets wasted. Goals help us tap into our inner potential ”“ they help unleash the power within.
Goals need not be only materialistic. They can be for anything that you wish for in your life. Losing weight, being happy and joyful, having a great relationship, having good health, are all goals.
So, how should one set goals for maximum results? Here are a few processes that one can follow to set goals:
Create a long-term vision for your life
Sit in a quiet place, make sure there are no distractions in the surrounding. Now, assuming that you have a magic wand in your hand (i.e. no restrictions, boundaries or limitations), ask yourself: “What is the kind of life that I would like to create for myself?”
Set a clear vision for various areas of your life including career, relationships, finance, health and appearance, free time/family time, personal and community. Try to visualise as far as you can. Once you start getting clear pictures in your mind, start capturing your vision in a book. This process is known as the idealisation process, where you can create an ideal picture of your life, without any limitations.
When you clarify the vision for your life, you are in effect programming your ”˜Inner GPS System.’ As with the traditional GPS System, once you specify the destination address, the GPS takes over and calculates the path that is the easiest and shortest for you to get to your destination. Similarly, when you clarify your vision, the Inner GPS System figures out a way that is the easiest and the shortest for you to reach your vision. When setting the vision, you don’t necessarily need to know how to get there. Your Inner GPS System (which is your subconscious mind) will show you the way. As in the GPS system, you will be clearly guided step by step to reach your vision.
For example when Mahatma Gandhi set a vision for free India, he had no idea how he would make it happen. When Bill Gates set a vision of having a PC on every desk and interconnected, he had no idea how to make this happen.
This is true of great leaders like Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and business leaders like Dhirubhai Ambani, the Tatas or the Birlas. When they set the vision, they had no idea of how it would convert into reality. They, however, had one thing in common: A burning desire and 100 per cent belief that they will achieve their vision.
Vision to reality
Once your vision is clear, it is time to convert it into reality. For this purpose, we must break the vision into small actionable steps, which are essentially our goals. A goal can be considered a baby step towards your vision. When we set goals, we need to ensure that they are (a) balanced and (b) smart.
Balanced goals means having goals in all areas of life. Balanced goals are the key to long-term success and happiness. If we focus on only certain areas of life (eg. only business or only health), we may lose out on other areas. Picture a situation where you are receiving a big award for a huge achievement in your business, but on the other side your divorce papers are being prepared”¦does this success really make sense? Or you have a fantastic body with six or eight packs, but don’t have a penny in your pocket”¦does this make sense either? True success and happiness can be achieved only when all areas of our life are balanced. Set goals in all areas of life (health, wealth, relationships, business/career, finance, personal and community).
How to get there
Goals should be realistic and achievable. Such goals are called Smart Goals.
Smart goals are written to make sure we achieve the goals. Each letter of SMART has a meaning:
S ”“ Specific: Be absolutely clear about what you want.
Instead of saying, “I want to lose 10 kgs,” say, “I want my weight to be 65 kgs”.
M ”“ Measurable: The goal should be measurable so that you can track whether you are making progress or not. The goal to have a weight of 65 kgs is definitely trackable. Either you are making progress or you are not. There is no confusion.
A ”“ Attainable: This depends on whether you truly believe in your goal and your capacity to achieve it. If there is any doubt, unfortunately, you may get stuck along the path. It is best to set a goal which you truly believe can be achieved. For eg. if the goal is to go from a monthly income of Rs. 50,000 to Rs. three lakhs within a time period, it is best to progress by steps. So you may affirm: “I want my monthly income to be Rs. One lakh within one year.” Remember, if the mind accepts the goal, it will make it happen. If it rejects the goal, we may de-motivate ourselves by not achieving it.
R ”“ Realistic: The goal needs to be even practically possible. Setting a goal like: “I want to establish world peace” may not be realistic unless that is your life purpose, and you assume world leadership to make this happen.
T ”“ Timebound: Goals must have a deadline. Once we set a deadline, we force our inner powers to work accordingly. If it is open ended, the inner power may think that there is enough time, so may not start rolling the ball. Having a goal like: I want to buy a new car in the next six months’ isn’t as powerful as ”˜I want to buy a brand new Silver Honda City GXI by December 31, 2014.
Get started by writing your goals and see the magic happen in your life. Note that you need to write the goals with your hand and not type the goals. Writing your goals with your hand triggers the subconscious mind, which in turn helps in attracting all the resources to convert your goals into reality.
Check this out
Try this exercise and see the magic happen in your life:
Take a beautiful spiral book and write your top 10 goals on the first page. On the next day, go to page two and without referring to page one, write your top 10 goals. Do this every day. What you will notice is that at first it is difficult to recall the goals, so you may see goals changing everyday and also the priorities shifting. As you continue this exercise every day, you will become more and more clear of your goals and the priorities. In 15 to 20 days, you will see that writing your goals will become effortless and the sequence will also be exactly the same every day. At this time your mind has clearly gotten tuned to all your goals. You will start seeing your goals moving faster towards completion. This exercise is one of the most powerful exercises for goal achievement.
Another way to achieve your goals faster is to visualise regularly that you have already achieved your goals. The best time to visualize is before going to sleep, and immediately on arising in the morning. Visualisation impresses the goal on your subconscious mind, which in turn starts working to help you achieve your goal.
At the end, remember that nothing ever happens without action. Staying focussed on your goals, making concrete plans to achieve them, and taking appropriate actions will help you achieve your goals faster than you can ever dream of.
About the Author : Sunil Parekh is an international success coach and a mind power trainer. He is the CEO of RISE Development Academy.
(Article Courtesy Life Positive Magazine, India)
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