A purpose and its goals are supposed to help us grow and become a bigger and better version of ourself. When we stretch our mind and imagine something new, we do not know all the actions needed to get to where we can enjoy what we have envisioned. There is a bit of confusion. And many times it is where we remain stuck.
In the absence of clarity we are paralyzed by fear, just like when we were kids and we were afraid to go outside in the dark of night. That is, until we discovered the conforting security of a flashlight. The obscurity had not vanished, but we were comforted to see the few steps in front of us. Likely, our goals are to be our inspiration in the darkest hours, to help us focus on the next step we need to take to reach the next milestone on this map of the journey we created for ourself.
How do we go about setting goals?
There are 6 key components to achieving your goals and your purpose: visualizing, planning, acting, evaluating, setting a time frame and writing it down.
1. Visualization will assist you in making what you have dreamed a reality. It has been proven scientifically that when an athlete visualizes his performance the same muscles, nerves, neurones fire as when he is actually competing. When you imagine vividly, with as many of your five senses as possible, the mind thinks it is real and he then tries to correspond to that reality.
2. Planning only occurs if you think your dream can be a reality. It allows you to make it feasable, to reduce it to smaller pieces, like the expression that says the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. A plan also helps you to deal with the fear of the unknown. Your past experiences serve as a foundation to stand upon to take your next leap.
3. Actions reinforce your beliefs in your own abilities and move you forward, closer to your dream. Without action there is no progression, no growth.
4. Evaluation serves as a measure of the progress and allows you to pick a different strategy if you are not getting the results you were expecting from this course of action.
5. Setting a date helps you create a sense of urgency and control your tendancy to procrastinate. Without a date it is easy to be nonchalant and postpone your actions indefinitely. A word of caution: if you did not reach your goal by the set date, it does not mean you failed but that the date was wrong. Unfortunately at this point in our evolution we do not have the awareness to predict with certainty when a thought will becomes physically tangible. We are still guessing. And setting a date is just a guess, not a measure of success or failure.
6. Writing your purpose and your goals make them tangible and give you a reference point when you are going downhill and you get discouraged. It will help you to remember why you are on this journey and to stay focused. Growing is not only a succession of successes. Some challenges are to be expected… That’s what life is all about.
Imagine a life where you clearly know where you are going. You have seen your target afar and you have hit it with your arrow, to which was attached a rope. Now you only need to hold the rope, take the steps, go around the obstacles and be on the journey. You have faith because you know that it is only a matter of time before you reach your target. It sounds easy, right? And it is the feeling that your purpose and goals will create. You will then be inspired, no matter what, to pursue your purpose and your goals.
