Almost everyone knows that, if you want to make progress in life, you have to have goals. However, most people believe that goals are something you set for the future and then take steps to attain. Although, in some respects this is true, there’s a much more powerful way of using goals “Starting with the end in mind”.
You see, if you look forward toward a goal, you’re immediately confronted by all the obstacles to its achievement. All the “but how….?s” and all the “I can’t because……s”
These questions and statements are disempowering. Instead, ask yourself “What would I really love? What’s the biggest and best outcome I can imagine for this aspect of my life? These are power questions. They allow you to dream, unimpeded by circumstances and situations, all of which are surmountable if you can just see past them.
Under conditions where you’re relaxed and comfortable, allow yourself to ponder the question “what would I really love?” and let the answers come to you at first without censoring them. The answers that come from your inner mind may at first be confused and confusing. After-all, has your brain ever been asked this question before? But, the answers will slowly start to make sense. They may come in the form of images or feelings rather than words, but they’ll become clear to you. Let this ideal future of yours become vivid and detailed.
Allow yourself to soak in this ideal future as if it were already here. How does it feel? What does it look like and sound like? Perhaps even how does it smell? Who have you had to become to make this ideal future a reality?
Next, ask yourself if this future you’re imagining feels exactly right to you, or should you change it a little? Perhaps once you‘ve achieved what you currently think you want, you’ll realize that you only wanted “that….” so that “something else……”. In this case, the goal you’re thinking of is a “means goal” not an “end goal”. For example, you might want to have lots of money, but you realize that it’s actually the things you could buy with that money that you want, and then, that you only want those things so you can feel secure, or feel free to have, do or be something. End goals are more powerful than means goals, because they contain within them your WHY! Why do you want this outcome? If the answer is “so that….” then you’re still dealing with a means goal. These goals are still important. They may be important milestones on your way to your true desires. Getting clarity on your true desire, what you really want at the end of all this, will be the driving force to achieving this outcome and all the goals and milestones along the way. Often this end goal will be a feeling rather than a thing. A feeling that you and your family are SECURE and abundantly provided for. A feeling that you’re FREE to be, have or do what you want. A feeling of being SEEN, acknowledged and appreciated. Security, freedom and recognition are basic human needs and the driving force behind much of what we do. Getting clear on what you really want, enlists the help of your subconscious as you strive to achieve the necessary milestones along the way and getting rid of the self-sabotage that used to stop you in your tracks whenever your subconscious noticed that your actions might result in significant (dangerous) CHANGE.
Notice, that up to this point we have focused only on “What?” not on “How?”
The mind has evolved to protect us from danger and disappointment more than to take us to what we would like. Therefore, it’s more inclined to see possible dangers and obstacles than it is to see ways forward. To keep us safe, the mind tries to keep the current situation unchanged into the future. After-all, we are already able to survive as things are now, even if we don’t much like it. However, the mind cannot easily distinguish between what is real and what is vividly imagined. Therefore, from the perspective of already having achieved your ideal future, you can safely look backward in time to see how it was accomplished. From this perspective your mind understands that it “must be possible, because it is” and its job is now to keep this current situation going.
While still imagining yourself living your ideal future, look back in time (in your imagination) to see what must have happened to make it true.
What strategies and skills have you had to develop to make this ideal future a reality? What has to have been achieved along the way? Try to get as much detail as you can on these milestones while looking back in time at them. These are the milestones that you must have passed on your way to your desired future and they now become the milestones for you to achieve your ideal future, starting from your real present.
From each milestone, look back to see how it was achieved. What steps did you need to take to get to this point on your journey? These are your action steps. Write them down, still without allowing yourself to consider “how” they should be done. Some of them cannot be completed until others are already done, but they should all be listed.
Now, look at your list of steps. Which ones can you start from where you are now, with what resources you now have? Start scheduling these steps into your calendar and highlight them in your to-do list. Make sure that each day you’re doing something that will take you in the direction of your goals, not just busy work.
Then look at those steps that you can’t easily start now. What’s preventing you from achieving these now? These are your obstacles. Ask yourself what you should do to overcome these obstacles. Does it just need more time, or for another step to be taken first? Or does it need you to seek out new resources or new skills or to find another person who can do this part for you?
Something I learned from a very young age that has been invaluable to me on my journey is that “THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY”. Commit to finding a way to move toward your ideal future and believe in yourself.
After-all Johann Wolfgang von Goethe tell us: “Whatever you think you can do or dream you can, begin it because boldness has magic and power and genius in it”.
And Napoleon Hill tells us in his famous book, Think and Grow Rich, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
Dare to dream.
LifeChanger: Extraordinary IS achievable.
