subject: The Pathway to Goal Success [print this page] The Pathway to Goal Success The Pathway to Goal Success
Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. - Vince Lombardi, legendary football coach
Let's suspend our disbelief for a moment. Imagine finding Aladdin's lamp, what would your three wishes be? Many of us already have our answers lined up and ready to go. It would run along the lines of more money than I can spend in one lifetime, long life, and perhaps our own tropical island.
What we don't consider is that we don't actually need to rub Aladdin's lamp to make these dreams come true. Really!
Take a step back and assess your own goals. If you haven't made a list of your personal goal by now, stop what you're doing and go write them down. Having a tangible list will help you remember and keep track of what you've achieved so far.
There are usually two kinds of goals: long term and short term. Long term includes the big ticket items so to speak, like graduating college with honors or buying that million dollar mansion. Short term goals are just that, things that need to be done sooner. They can be something that needs to be done daily (getting dinner on the table, walking the dog, etc). Let's exclude short term goals for now and focus on the things that seem to be harder to achieve.
Let's say our goal was to make a million dollars. Gee, that seems awfully hard to do. Barring winning the lottery there doesn't seem to be a way to earn that much money in the job that you're in right now. The first thing you need to do is believe you'll see that million dollars. If you don't think you can do it, then you won't do it. Simple as that.
Now visualize your path to the million dollars. What does it look like? Does it involve sitting on your butt the whole day? Or doesn't it involve switching professions and staying late at the office?
Common sense dictates that smaller goals are more successful to achieve so let's chop up that million dollar goal into smaller, easier pieces. This way it won't seem too monumental. I obviously can't write your path for you since we're all different but analyze your life and see the steps you need to take to get closer to your goals.
Taking risks and leaving your comfort zone are things that you need to consider when you move towards your dream. Also, like Vince Lombardi said, hard work must also be involved.
Achieving your goal isn't impossible, like a million dollars isn't impossible; Ask Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey. Take it step by step and never stop believing and you'll get there too.
