I would like to impart disciplines to you that will serve as guidelines to goal realization. I believe you will find them very useful as they did to others. Some of them have been mentioned earlier, most others will be mentioned as we go along.
To pursue our goal, we need to have:
- A sound mind with an absolute positive attitude
- A healthy body
- A deep spiritual faith
How do we initiate the process of goal realization?
Deep within us is an inherent God-given skill we need to call up and bring into the open. This skill cannot deliver positive results, not until we have polished it to its full potential. It takes hard work and dedication to turn it into a workable, efficient machine that will deliver results aimed at the goal we envision to achieve.
Hard work which is reflective of all the positive attitudes we have earlier discussed will serve as the backbone in building our goal. Despite all the hardships we will encounter, we must stand firm and emerge victorious, stop at nothing until we have our goal at hand.
Ask ourselves these questions:
Have I reached my full potential in life?
Am I really satisfied with the way I am?
Have I achieved anything in life so far?
Have I contributed to the well-being of my fellowmen?
Am I an asset to society?
Am I really happy?
A “No” answer to most of the questions should encourage us to aim for our goal.
The following disciplines can serve as guidelines:
- Feel in your heart and mind the goal you love or want to attain.
Feel and search within your heart and mind the kind of things you love to do and have the skill or know-how in doing. When you follow your heart and mind’s desires, you have gained your first step towards goal realization. You will always be enthusiastic about it and this gives you an advantage. Doing something you are familiar with and love to do will make things easier to accomplish so there will be lesser obstacles. Even in the absence of things needed to realize a goal you love to pursue, you will somehow exhaust all the means to make it come true. This trait is inherent within us. A rather simple example, say you want to see a concert of your favorite band group but don’t have enough cash to spend for it, you’ll try to save from other less important expenses.
In the event you cannot feel in your heart and mind the goal you want to pursue, here’s a simple rule you can follow: “Find a need and fill it”. These words, credited to the great industrialist Henry Kaiser have been the guiding principle of many successful entrepreneurs.
- Hone your thinking.
Hone or sharpen your thinking. Distinguish short term, medium term, and long term goals. See if the short term goal will benefit your medium term which in turn can be an advantage for your long term goal. Keep them co-related as much as possible. Know the capacity you can handle. Be fantastic but be realistic. When you set the plan, timetable, and scope, try to envision in your mind the sequence of event as that are probable to happen, how to go about it, possible solutions to obstacles, right approach to situations, among others.
- Aim for the best result.
Whatever outcome comes out of your quest to pursue your goal, make sure you do your best. This will eliminate saying to yourself: “if only I did my best” in case things turn out second best or third best or worst, even a failure. However, you don’t stop if it’s a failure. Capitalize by drawing a lesson or two from it so that you won’t commit the same mistake when you do it again. “Next time, it will be …” is what you must say to yourself. This kind of experience will make you a more skillful, knowledgeable, learned person.
- Differentiate goals from wishes.
Wishes are daydreams or fantasies of what you want to achieve in life but if not acted upon, will remain as fantasies and never turn to realistic goals. To achieve your goal, you have to act, move, work hard on it. Make a definite plan and timetable to reach the ultimate result. Life is not a garden or bed of roses ready for us to pick and enjoy. You have to plant them, nurture them constantly, water them, give them enough sunshine, fertilize them, talk to them if you have to, harvest them by the time the roses are in full bloom.
- To achieve your primary goal, you may need secondary goals.
Sometimes, success in goal realization may seem beyond reach. There seem to be an overwhelming gap in-between. Be as it may, don’t let that discourage you. Take it as a challenge, a challenge to your intelligence. You may need secondary goals as stepping stones to your primary goal, a bridge to connect the gap. It is like taking several flights from different airlines to different places until you finally reach your intended destination. In this case, you may even have to mix air travel with sea and land travel.
- Focus on goals that will benefit others as well.
Your goal may be self-serving, but more so, it must benefit as many as possible. Compared to a self-centered goal, which restricts the flow of success, a serve-all goal releases an aura of confidence and trust gained from other people. Let’s face it, people can somehow see through if your intention is self-serving or all-serving.
Try to aim for a goal that will make you an asset to society, a goal that people will appreciate what you contribute. Goals that will make life easier, goals that will make people smile, goals that will make this world a better place to live in, now and for generations to come.
- Be humble every step of the way in achieving your goal
For every secondary goal you achieve, exercise humility. Never be boastful of your small goals. Never brag about small goals and tell people you are assure to achieve your ultimate goal because of your small successes. I am not discouraging you to aim for your ultimate goal. I fact, the more I am encouraging you to go forth and do it with all humility. As we all know, humility is a virtue and a goal graced with virtue is sure to succeed.
- In realizing your goal, put God first.
In everything you do, put God first and He will utilize all the facilities necessary to aid you into success.
As we have mentioned before, the way to God is through prayer. Whenever we pray, we must do it fervently, with all sincerity and intensity. You will know and feel the aid that God will send forth to realize your goal through ideas that will permeate in your mind. God will plant them in your goal. Welcome it with an embrace and be sure to thank Him for it.
And you know what makes it even more beautiful? That you cannot go wrong because your idea is inspired by God, it comes from God and everything that comes from Him is sure to succeed. . .
Whenever you set to realize a goal, you must hold on to it tenaciously. Make your goal as clear and as vivid as you can.
By the time you have achieved your goal, you will feel an air of satisfaction, contentment; to be exact, a feeling of happiness. Doesn’t this feeling turn the “No” answers to our earlier questions to “Yes”?
Let us go back to these questions.
Have I reached my full potential in life? Yes, I have.
Am I really satisfied with the way I am? I am now.
Have I achieved anything in life so far? Yes, I have.
Have I contributed to the well-being of my fellowmen? I firmly believe I do.
Am I an asset to society? I believe I am.
Am I really happy? Yes, I am.
And you know what’s good about achieving your goal aside from happiness?
You will feel an air of confidence, self-esteem, and respect for yourself, you can’t help but congratulate yourself. You will be stronger not only mentally but spiritually as well.
Wait no more. Start your goal realization now.
Finalizing Your Goals
No comments:
Post a Comment