Goals- Creating What You Want

09 Apr Goals- Creating What You Want

Everyone has dreams. Perhaps hopes for something or to become something. It might be to aspire to the next career level, own a business, have financial freedom, have more time with the family, and etc.

There is a popular saying that if wishes were horses, everyone would ride. My interpretation of this is that if simply wishing makes things happen or come true or to fruition, everyone will be on that wagon and all we have to do is wish.

I must emphasize that It is crucial to have a wish and a dream; as without this, no one would be able to accomplish anything. Having a dream is keeping hope alive, which strengthens the human soul and spirit. There is a saying in the bible at Proverbs 13:12 which helps to put this in perspective. It says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

So, it is good to have a desire, a dream and hope of what you want as a starting point. However, we all know that simply wishing and having a dream is not quite enough. Therefore, to see our desire fulfilled, we have to put them into manageable clear chunks called GOALS.

Goals help us to create what we want, move from our point A to point B, and achieve our dreams.

Goal Setting

As stated in my previous articles, always begin with the end in mind, by asking questions such as what do I want? who do I want to be? What does the future I want look like? Feel free to dream, let your mind freely roam to the place where you find joy and comfort. Then write this down so that it is clear to you and you can see the dream/vision clearly.

Habakkuk 2:2 says: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets…..”

In the business world, they call this a business plan, while in project planning, this is called a business case. This is because a business case/business plan form the blue print to which the business/project owners and all stakeholders defer through the life time of the business/project to ensure they are keeping on track to achieve the vision of the business of the project. They also ensure it is written down and plain in the form of a vision and mission statements.

Likewise, you must translate your dream/vision to a written down Goal, this becomes your blue print as you take steps to achieve it.

Goal Qualities

Your WHAT-For your goal setting, you must translate your dream/vision to something specific, tangible and achievable.

For example, it is not enough to say I want to be financially free- you must define what “financially free” means for you as financial freedom is ambiguous and vary from person to person. For someone, financial freedom might mean having 10 houses, 5 cars, a nice career and 6-figure job in the city, while for someone else, it may be owing one mortgage free house, having a holiday home in a rural setting overlooking the beauty of nature and running their own family business. What exactly does financial freedom mean to you? This will help you to be more specific and targeted at your goal.

Your WHY- You must identify with your goal and have the “why” behind it. Why do you want it? This will motivate you to keep going till your become your dream.

The reason behind your goal empowers you, helps you to focus on your dream/vision and give you inner strength to navigate challenging situations or obstacles you may encounter along the way. Your “why” also extinguishes any possible limiting beliefs that may crop up, such as I cannot, I am too old to start this, I am not good enough etc. If you haven’t established your “Why”, now is the time to take a step back and understand why you want to achieve this dream or this goal.

Your HOW- How would you measure and know that you have achieved your goal. This is where you outline the parameters-: break down the goal into chunks so that it is easy for you to identify once each step is achieved. Also, another vital HOW question is how will achieving this goal benefit others around you such as family, children, etc.

Your WHEN- This is where you state when you want to achieve your goal or dream by. The timelines you give yourself must be realistic in relation to your personal circumstance so that it is achievable.

However, it should be challenging enough to start to ensure that you are stretching yourself to attain it and be a better version of you.

Want to put your dreams into action? Write down your goal today and feel free to share it with me by contacting me using the contact me link on my website. I will be delighted to walk your journey with you!