What are your goals? Do you want to make a lot of money? What for? The fact is that the more specific your goal is, the more likely you are to achieve it. For example, let’s say you want a new car this year. That’s fine if just any old car will do. The question is, do you want any old car or do you want an iridium silver 2008 Mercedes-Benz E550 with voice control and ipod integration kit? When you’re specific something magical happens. You’re mind unconsciously searches out ways for you to achieve your goal. Maybe you’ll notice an article about a local Mercedes dealership going out of business. That little gem would slip by you if you didn’t know exactly what you wanted. But how can you take a nebulous idea and turn it into something concrete that’ll really excite you? Good question. Here’s how:
First sit down and write out your goal list. At this point you’re just trying to list your goals; it doesn’t matter how specific. What is it that you want to achieve this year, next year, or in the next ten years? Write down everything! Higher salary, new car, inner peace, whatever it is; write it down now! I like to shoot for fifteen goals. For me it’s a good number that’s just outside of my comfort zone. Whatever number you choose, make sure it’s enough to both excite you and scare you a little bit. Remember that true personal growth happens when you’re outside your comfort zone.
After you finish your list, expand on it. If you said you wanted a higher salary, now’s the time to specify how much. Do you want to make $50,000 or $100,000? When you’re doing this, make sure that your goal is obtainable. If you’re making $32,000 now and your goal is to make $100,000 next year, you’d better have one heck of a plan or it’s not going to happen. Once you’ve made your goals specific, the fun part begins.
Create a goal scrapbook! If you wanted that iridium silver 2008 Benz, then find pictures of it in magazines and make a page exclusively dedicated to that goal. You could have the car in an open road setting or maybe you could create a picture of your Benz pulling up to red velvet ropes or driving through the wine country, whatever! It’s your goal, have fun with it! This exercise accomplishes two things. First, taking the time to put these pages together will solidify the goal in your mind. You wouldn’t take the time to do this if you weren’t truly serious about achieving your goals. This determination will put your subconscious to work and steer you towards success. Second, after you’re finished making your scrapbook you’ll have a constant and vivid reminder of what you want in life. Any time you feel like quitting, you can flip through your scrapbook and remind yourself how much you want to succeed.
Remember that anybody can say they want something. It takes someone who’s driven to articulate exactly what they want and make it real enough to go for it!