Personal Goals:by Vic
Johnson
How to Set Personal Goals That
Inspire You to Take Action Remember when you thought you could
do and be anything?
The innocence of early
childhood is perhaps the last time you were unencumbered by
perceived limitations and labels. Personal goal setting was
simple, and there was no doubt you could achieve anything. When
asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” you would
have responded with whatever struck your fancy that day,
whatever you were “in to.” You did not concern yourself with
how you would do it, if you could do it, or if you should do
it. Your dreams were based on what you wanted, pure and simple.
You set personal goals based on wonder and curiosity, not
practicality.
The dreams of childhood were
big dreams. Travel into space, win a medal at the Olympics,
become a rock star. Soon enough the dreams become modified to
reflect what is practical and expected of us. This is precisely
when most people start having trouble setting personal goals.
The dreams are no longer larger than life, so why take steps to
achieve them? Big dreams inspire big action. When you set
personal goals, they need to have huge payoffs for you in order
for you to take consistent steps to achieving them. You need to
feel excited – even giddy – at the prospect of seeing your
dream come true.
When you aspire to
something that is less than what you really want,
procrastination sets in. With a big dream in your sights,
procrastination is a lot less likely to occur. You may have
heard of making a “life list” of places you would like to see,
things you would like to try, and dreams you would like to see
realized. Instead of making a list of goals based on what you
think is attainable or would fit into your life, start your
personal goal setting with a life list of the big stuff that
really gets you going. Here again, draw on the feelings of
childhood for inspiration as you set personal goals. Remember
the annual letter to Santa Claus? Even if you did not celebrate
Christmas, you can imagine the wish lists sent to the North
Pole were not full of realistic, practical requests. They
included the biggest, best gifts a child could think of,
because there was always the possibility that Santa would bring
you exactly what you wanted. Dreaming big has the added benefit
of inspiring others to come to your aid in your pursuit of the
goal.
If your personal goal
setting is limited, or “small,” why would anyone want to help
you achieve them? People want to be part of something
special.
Big goals motivate friends,
family, and even complete strangers to help you reach them.
When you set personal goals, go back to those childhood
aspirations. Sure, you may not want to be an astronaut anymore,
but the old dreams can spark new life goals. Perhaps you would
like to go to a grown-up space camp or become an amateur
astronomer. Whatever goal you set, make it big. As the ancient
emperor Marcus Aurelius said, “Dream big dreams; only big
dreams have the power to move men’s souls.”
Copyright © 2006-2008 Vic
Johnson Vic Johnson is a popular motivational speaker, author
and Internet Infopreneur who has created some of the most
visited personal development sites on the Web.
To learn more about the power
of big dreams in goal setting, download a free copy of Goal
Setting Secrets of the World's #1 Acheiver
at
http://www.Goals-2-Go.com/gss.html?KBID=6366
Why Not Joe
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