You ARE already goal setting

Worthy goals push, drive and motivate you to do more, to be more and to have more.  If I think back to my childhood, I can remember one of my earliest goals in life.  I was a small child, and I mean that in stature not just being young.  To give you a better vision of what I mean, I was only four foot three inches in the ninth grade.  So as you can imagine, many of the bigger boys made not only a goal of but a pastime out of picking on me.  I internally set a goal to create situations in my little life that would help me avoid as much of this school yard harassment as possible.

So, how does a small boy accomplish this large feat?  I accomplished this goal by breaking it down into three smaller goals.  First, I learned from my father (who by the way was six feet three inches tall) that making people laugh was the quickest way to reach inside them.  So my first sub goal was to hone my sense of humor.  You see, if you can engage a person, and make them laugh, I found they were far less likely to want to mistreat you.

Second sub goal was to leverage a powerful force to my side.  What powerful force you ask?  Well, let me explain and I am sure you can figure out which one of the primary human drivers I was leveraging for this goal.  Every school year (and throughout the summer) I would make friends with some of the more popular and pretty girls.  I did this knowing that some of those ‘more manly’ boys would want meet and learn about these girls.  Thus, having those lovely ladies as friends gave him and I some common ground.  A side benefit of this goal was the obvious ego boost that came with being friends with some of the more popular and attractive girls at school.

Sub goal three was set as a back-up plan…when all else fails you should know how to

1)      Run

2)      Fight

So I learned both.  Why fight?  Because you cannot always far enough or fast enough.  Why run?  Because you cannot always fight your way out.  Even though by the time I had gotten into high school I had about three years of martial arts under my belt (no pun intended) - there were times when running WAS and IS the best option.  One such time was when I was surrounded by nine guys whom did not like the fact that I had befriended a girl named ‘Tracy.’  Tracy’s boyfriend was in juvenile hall and when he got out they surrounded me as I left school.  I am no Jackie Chan or Jett Lee, heck I am not even Steven Segal, so running in this case was the best solution.  However, in those times when the odds were a little better I was able to use the martial arts I had learned to defend myself and others.  Again a side benefit of this sub goal was the self-esteem, self-confidence and inner calm that come from feeling strong enough to protect yourself and those you care about even when you choose not to use it.

All this goes to show that goal setting has been a part of my life since very early in my life.  I am betting that setting goals has been a part of your life from an early age as well, directly or indirectly.   Did you have your eye on someone you wanted to date?  Were you able to get that first date?  Did you see that new TV in the advertisement and figure out how you could make it fit into your budget?  Did your child come to you and say how much they really really really wanted you to be at their play/recital/show?  You see even indirectly goal setting is already a part of your life.

Now is the time to make it an ACTIVE part of your life and truly compound and reap the benefits that a focused goals plan can get you.  It has been said that we are only truly happy when we are actively working towards a worthy goal.  And you know what – this is not new news!

You need to set and work towards worthy goals and yes I will be taking you through an entirely new way to set your goals in up-coming posts – but in the mean time you can find many other great tips and techniques for goals setting, (including brainstorming your goals) in previous postb.  Let me know your thoughts, questions and concerns!

 

Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s TOP Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs

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