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For people itchy to make things better
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” Sir Edmund Hillary.
Making goals work for you
Someone recently asked me "What do I do when I have created a goal, and even listed the steps and actions to reach it and then I find myself 'Stopped' and not moving forward with my goal?"
This is something that we often face when we want to achieve goals. Donald Trump said in his book How To Get Rich, "the most important thing you can have is momentum." Although he was talking about business, the same applies for anything we want to achieve in life.
One way of looking at this is through the following process:
THOUGHTS – We start everything we do with a thought. No matter if it's a common task or a major goal. Everything we do begins with our thoughts.
FEELINGS – Our thoughts create feelings we have. So if the thought is "I can do this" then we take an action that moves us forward. However, that works the same way if our thoughts create a negative feeling too….
ACTIONS – Our feelings produce actions. Actions can be GO actions or STOP actions. Go actions are actions that build momentum, even if that momentum is slight. Stop actions are negative actions that slow momentum.
RESULTS – Actions create results. You either take an action that creates a result that takes you closer to your goal or you take an action that creates a result that moves you away from your goal.
Let's look at this in a visual way so you can see what I mean. Imagine a very long steam train, one that has a huge engine. Now if your goal is HUGE then you have to imagine that the train has a lot of separate carriages. The more carriages that are attached (the bigger the goal) the longer it will take to build momentum. When the train begins to take off there is an obvious attempt to get in motion, but all that really happens is a huge puff of smoke, some noise and perhaps the engine moves just slightly forward. With the next puff, more slight movement, and so on. It takes a long time for the train to get into any type of motion. It might even seem like the train is never going to get moving.
But what if the same engine has only one carriage? When the engine starts, the first puff will create immediate, obvious movement. The next puff will create motion and before long, the train is moving along the track with ease. Now if that train was to suddenly take on another carriage, it may feel the weight, but the momentum keeps it going and before long it's chugging along and has MORE momentum behind it because it's actually carrying more weight! Add another car while it's in momentum and the momentum is even greater because of the movement the train has already gained.
Quite often, we look at our goals as a whole, even though we have broken them down into what we think are "Measurable and Achievable" steps. Since goal setting is supposed to motivate us, we should be setting goals that we can achieve quickly. Reaching a large goal is nothing more than achieving a series of smaller goals along the way.
So instead of setting BIG goals, with a lot of steps, we would be better off setting ACHIEVABLE goals and achieving the goal faster. Then we can set another achievable goal and accomplish that goal, and each time setting action steps to achieve the smaller goals just the same way we would set steps to achieve a bigger goal. And remember it's important to REWARD ourselves for our achievements. So if we do achieve goals, celebrate them!
Sometimes, one engine is not enough to pull a train. There simply just isn't enough power in a single engine so we have to add more engines to get the train to move. So if our goal is too big, we simply just can't do it on our own. At this point, we are left with only 2 options. Add more engines (ask for help) or break the goal down into more achievable goals and remove some weight from the larger, overwhelming goal.
It's better to build momentum with smaller goals and stay in momentum by setting other goals along the way. Allow yourself to achieve success. Celebrate that success and enjoy the feeling. Remember, in order to live a great life, all we need to do is learn how to live a great day and then do it over and over again. So learn to fully accomplish a goal, and then do it over and over again.
“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.”
If you are looking for someone to help you drive your steam train faster, please look at my web site or contact me to discuss this.
Ron Tustin
Revive and Thrive Coaching
Read Ron's Blog
www.reviveandthrivecoaching.com
info@rtc.org.nz
Ph 0800 003679
Motivating baby boomers to see the world with fresh eyes.