I used to get so frustrated by people who kept telling me to “set goals” or “write your goals out” as if by some magical genie, they would suddenly come true.
The reality is that most of us continually fail to reach our goals, many don’t even get started.
Then what happens…
- You get down on yourself and become depressed
- You blame and lash out at others around you
- You lose self confidence and self esteem
- You are less likely to act on future dreams and goals
- The level of stress goes up and your mind and body pay the price
- Many people turn to drugs, alcohol, or eating to bury their pain and suffering
Not exactly the way to drive your business goals forward is it?
Despite what you may believe today, the vast majority of stress and associated problems in your life is not do to being overworked or too busy, it rather comes from not being able to make significant progress toward your goals (or not having goals in the first place)
People KNOW when they are fooling themselves and not living up to their true potential.
That discontinuity between what you are capable of, what you were meant to do and what you are ACTUALLY doing at this point in your life causes tremendous stress and anxiety.
It stands to reason that if you can become better at keeping energy around your goals, sticking to them and using the tremendous inner strength you have to reach your objectives in life that you will have LESS stress ,be HAPPIER, experience better emotional and physical HEALTH and attract much more positivity into your life.
3 Ways To Generate HUGE Energy Around Your Goals
Make Them BIG and EXCITING
It’s tough to sustain energy around trying to lose 10lbs because your mind secretly knows all of the things you have to give-up in order to achieve that admirable, but uninspiring goal.
Now what if your goal was different.
For example, if you enjoy a sport – then vow to be the best in your league around that sport within the next year — in doing so, you will train and become more attractive, healthier and a better athlete.
Or, if competition doesn’t fire you up then set a goal to look like you were X years ago (pick a time in your life when you felt you looked amazing and place that image front of mind).
Now you have a goal that is much BIGGER, much more emotionally charged and something you can get excited about each day.
The same goes for business…some of the top entrepreneurs of this century were driven by HUGE goals…
- Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) was driven by having a PC in every home
- Steve Jobs was driven by making the highest quality/best looking personal devices (Ipod, phones, tablets, etc…)
- Sir Richard Branson has been driven to completely disrupt industries (not compete or incrementally add value, but DISRUPT them completely and become #1 doing so)
Make your goals BIG and emotionally charged so that you can’t help but be energized by just reviewing your goals daily
Think About Your LEGACY
If you have set goals for yourself in the past, please do me this favor and leave a comment here answering this question…did you think at all about your legacy (what accomplishment of your goal may leave) will be when you set that goal?
For most people the answer is no.
What I have found to be amazingly powerful in setting and achieving goals is thinking in terms of what legacy you want to leave your family, friends, customers, community, church or other organization when you wrap up your life contribution.
This adds a real twist to the process of goal setting, one that can give you the edge you have been looking for when setting goals that have profound meaning and energy associated with them.
What Will You CONTRIBUTE TO Your Customers/Followers?
Another way of asking the legacy question is asking yourself what value or contribution you will leave upon realizing your goals.
That contribution may be financial, helping someone else develop their own self confidence and live to their potential, artistic (music, architecture, movies, etc…) or any other way you will improve their lives in a major way.
When you link your goals to improving someone else’s life in a significant way you will have attached tremendous energy to keeping and realizing your goals.
Your goals need to matter, they must be BIG and meaningful, they must hit you emotionally so that you build massive energy around the daily grind associated with making those goals come true.
When you achieve this level of goal setting, staying motivated and preventing procrastination becomes so much easier and natural.
