Commitment Turns Stumbling Blocks Into Stepping Stones

To become successful it is necessary to be committed to yourself, your ideas, your desires and your goals.  The word commitment strikes fear in the hearts of many people, but commitment is as simple as setting goals and action plans.

Goal setting to most people is a chore they do only on a small scale, if at all.  To most people, goals are something they talk about but seldom have in a concrete form.  When you have well defined goals, you know where you are going and how to get there.  I define this as Commitment.  To establish the road map to achieve your real potential you must have written goals and desires.  Remember if you do not stand for something, you will fall for anything.

Have you ever wondered why you set some goals but they never seem to come true.  To understand why this happens we need to realize we function in three realms of consciousness.  In psychological terms the three areas become the creative subconscious, the subconscious (mental) and the conscious (physical).

The process starts in the creative subconscious in the form of thoughts or desires.  We then move them into the subconscious and begin to formulate them into goals.  Now most people stop there without moving it into the conscious realm.  If it does not move to the conscious or physical realm, your chances of achieving the results you want are slim because you are being influenced constantly on the physical and mental realms.  By writing down your goals and your action plans will move from the mental realm to the physical realm

Let's look at the steps necessary to bring your goals from the mental realms to the physical realms so you can begin to achieve your success.

A goal of life is to live a balanced life.  In order to live a balanced life your goals need to be established in all of major areas.  There are eight major areas in which to set goals.

1.      Spiritual

2.      Family

3.      Professional or Career

4.      Mental Self-Improvement

5.      Physical Self-Improvement

6.      Financial

7.      Social

8.      Community

The seven steps to establishing your goals in the physical realm are:

1.      Assess the "As Is"

2.      Establish the "Target Point"

3.      Select the goals, set the time tables and put them in writing

4.      Commit yourself to the goals by knowing the "Whys"

5.      Determine there are no conflicts

6.      Start working on the "Bite Size" pieces

7.      Follow up and change as necessary

Step one.  You need to understand where you are right now or the "As Is" situation.  If you do not know where you are when you start to plan goals, you will draw your road map with only one road.

Think for a moment of being lost, you have no idea where you are.  If you have a map that shows where help is, but you don't know where you are on the map, can you use it to get out of the wilderness?  Probably not.

Most people, when sitting down to write out or establish their goals never bother to think about where they currently are in their progress, so write down where you are right now to establish a base line.

Step two.  In establishing your goals in the physical realm, you need to decide on a "Target Point".  This statement will be a description of what you really want out of life.  You write down what you want for yourself, your family and should be based on all eight goal setting areas.  This statement will be written in approximately 250 words or one page long.

The statement is future orientated, write it based on how you will look 2 years, 5 years, 10 years or 100 years from now.  The time span is up to you.  Be creative and positive in your statement.  Write as if someone has waved a magic wand over you and erased all your limitations.

Step three.  You now know where you are and where you are going.  You can select the goals that will give you the desired results.  Write out what has to happen to move you toward or into the "Target Point" areas.  Set the timetables so you will know when you want to accomplish these goals, then you will not end up on "Someday I'll".  Without definite timetables, we will drift and will not accomplish what we set out to do.  With the definite time tables we stay on track and do the things we need to do when we are supposed to do them.  Break down the goals into three areas: Long Term, Mid Term and Short Term.

Long term goals are one year long.  We can control things or events one year at a time and anything longer falls into our "Target Point".  The question to ask yourself is, "What can I do during this year that will move me towards my Target Point?"

Next we break down the long term into midterm goals.  These can be quarterly or monthly time spans and will give us 4 to 12 check points to gauge our progress.

Next break these midterm goals down even further into short term goals. Weekly or daily goals will make our progress easier and seemingly faster to accomplish.  Your goals are now into "Bite Size" pieces you can work with.

All of these items need to be put into writing so we have a physical record of these goals and action plans.

Step four.  Commit yourself to the goals by knowing the "Whys".  The only way to stay on track with goal achieving is to know why you want to achieve it.  If someone else is establishing the goals you probably won't have any real commitment in going after them.  Always ask this question, "Why is this goal important for me to accomplish?"

Step five.  Determine if you have conflicts in any area.  When goals written are out you can look them over and see if they are in conflict with each other.  If you do not solve the conflicts before starting to use your goal sheets the chances of becoming confused and disillusioned will be greatly intensified.  Now is the time to eliminate any of the conflicts.

Step six.  Start working on the "Bite Size" pieces.  If you try to accomplish the long term goal first you will become frustrated because it is too large to do in one bite.  By working on the short term goals or the bite size areas we accomplish things faster.

Step seven.  Follow up and change when necessary.  Change and choice are the only two things that are constant in the world.  We always have change going on around us and we always have the choice on how we are going to deal with it.  We can deal with change either positively or negatively.  The only way we know it is time to change our goals is to follow up on a consistent basis.  This means we read and look  at our goals on a daily basis.  On the bottom of each goal sheet you should print in large letters, "It Is OK To Change!"

Over the years I have found certain keys to help people write their goals.  Some people write their goals as if they had to defend them in the Supreme Court.  Remember the KISS principle - Keep It Super Simple.

• Write them in pencil
• Make them a working document
• Write them in everyday language
• Keep them flexible - IT'S OK TO CHANGE
• Keep them positive
• Some goals will be maintenance goals
• Keep them in a three ring binder or out where you will see them
• Can be drawings, etc
• Show them only to people of like mind
• Dream a little - dream a lot
• Reward yourself when results are achieved

Action Verbs to use for Goal Statements

To reach a specific level of performance:

• Achieve
• Cut
• Gain
• Increase
• Maintain
• Obtain
• Perform
• Produce
• Provide
• Raise
• Reach
• Reduce
• Save
• Spend
• Improve
• Invest

To start something new:

• Add
• Conduct
• Create
• Complete
• Develop
• Design
• Establish
• Obtain
• Plan
• Produce
• Provide
• Start
• Initiate

Change something current:

• Control
• Change
• Centralize
• Correct
• Decentralize
• Decrease
• Diversify
• Enlarge
• Eliminate
• Gain
• Improve
• Increase
• Modify
• Reduce
• Resolve
• Solve
• Strengthen
• Stop
• Update

Continue something current:

• Conduct
• Continue
• Hold
• Maintain
• Provide
• Repeat

Coordinate elements:

• Announce
• Assign
• Communicate
• Combine
• Coordinate
• Discuss
• Encourage
• Inform
• Involve
• Join
• Lead
• Market
• Participate
• Promote
• Publish
• Separate
• Support
• Gain

Investigate potential:

• Approve
• Confirm
• Determine
• Evaluate
• Examine
• Experiment
• Find
• Identify
• Recommend
• Research
• Review
• Select
• Study
• Submit
• Verify
• Analyze

So sit down right now and start the process.  Use these tools to take the things you desire, plan the steps to accomplish them and put them in writing.  Carry them in your day planner or in plastic sheets on your desk and study them daily.  I would bet that you will be accomplishing your goals faster and really reach your top potential before you know it!