GoaL-Setting

                                         

Knowledge helps you to reach your destination provided you know what the destination is. An ancient Indian sage was teaching his disciples the art of archery. He put a wooden bird as the target and asked them to aim at the eye of the bird. The first disciple was asked to describe what he saw. He said, "I see the trees, the branches, the leaves, the sky, the bird and its eye.."

The sage asked this disciple to wait. Then he asked the second disciple the same question and he replied , "I only see the eye of the bird." The sage said, "Very good, then There are many reasons, including :-- shoot." The arrow went straight and hit the eye of the bird. What is the moral of the story? Unless we focus, we cannot achieve our goal. It is hard to focus and concentrate, but it is a skill that can be learned.

                                           
                                             On the journey to life's highway, keep your eyes upon the
                                              goal. Focus on the donuts, not upon the hole.
                                                                                                               :----  Anonymous 

 * KEEP YOUR EYES UPON THE GOAL *

On July 4, 1952, Florence Chadwick was on her way to becoming the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel.  She had already conquered the English Channel. The world was watching. Chadwick fought the dense fog, bone-chilling cold and many times, the sharks. She was striving to reach the shore but every time she looked through her goggles, all she could see was the dense fog. Unable to see the shore, she gave up. Chadwick was disappointed when srepliedhe found out that she was only half a mile from the coast. She quit, not because she was a quitter but because her goal was not in sight anywhere. The elements didn't stop her. She said, "I'm not making excuses. If only I had seen the land, I could have made it." Two months later, she went back and swam the Catalina Channel. This time, in spite of the bad weather, she had her goal in mind and not only accomplished it but beat the men's record by two hours.

 * Why are Goals Important?

On the best sunny day, the most powerful magnifying glass will not light paper if you keep moving the glass. But if you focus and hold it, the paper will light up. That is the power of concentration. A man was travelling and stopped at an intersection. He asked an elderly man, "Where does this road take me?" The elderly person asked, "Where do you want to go?" The man replied, "I don't know." The elderly person said, "Then take any road. What difference does it make?" How true. When we don't know where we are going, any road will take us there. Supposing you have the football eleven enthusiastically ready to play the game, all charged up, and then someone took the goal post away. What would happen to the game? There is nothing left. How do you keep score? How do you know you have arrived? Enthusiasm without direction is like wildfire and leads to frustration. Goals  give a sense of direction. Would you sit in a train or a plane without knowing where it was going? The obvious  answer is no. Then why do people go through life without having any goals?

                                 There are many reasons, including :--

* DREAMS* 

People confuse goals with dreams and wishes. Dreams and wishes are nothing more than desires. Desires are weak. Desires become strong when they are supported by :- 

♦ direction

♦ determination

♦ discipline

♦ deadlines

That is what differentiates a desire from a goal. Goals are dreams with a deadline and an action plan. Goals can be worthy or unworthy. It is passion, not wishing, that turns dreams into reality. Steps to turn a dream into reality :--

1. Have a definite, clear written goal.

2. Have a plan to accomplish it.

3. Read the first two twice a day.

Why Don't More People Set Goals?

                                 There are many reasons, including :--

1. A pessimistic attitude--Always seeing the pitfalls rather than the possibilities.
2. Fear of failure--What if I don't make it? People feel subconsciously that if they don't set goals and if they don't make it, then they haven't failed. But they are failures to begin with.
3. A lack of ambition--This is a result of our value system and lack of desire to live a fulfilled life. Our limited thinking prevents us from progress. There was a fisherman who, every time he caught a big fish, would throw it back into the river, keeping only the smaller ones. A man watching this unusual behaviour asked the fisherman why he was doing this. The fisherman replied, "Because I have a small frying pan." Most people never make it in life because they are carrying a small frying pan. That is limited thinking.
4. A fear of rejection--If I don't make it, what will other people say?
5. Procrastination--"Someday, I will set my goals." This ties in with a lack of ambition.
6. Low self-esteem--Because a person is not internally driven and has no inspiration.
7. Ignorance of the importance of goals--Nobody taught them and they never learned the importance of goal-setting.
8. A lack of knowledge about goal-setting--People don't know the mechanics of setting goals. They need a step-by-step guide so that they can follow a system. Goal setting is a series of steps. When you buy a plane ticket, what does it say?

If you ask most people what is their one major objective in life, they would probably give you a vague answer, such as, "I want to be successful, be happy, make a good living," and that is it. They are all wishes and none of them are clear goals. Goals must be SMART :--

1. S--specific. For example, "I want to lose weight." This is wishful thinking. It becomes a goal when I pin myself down to "I will lose 10 pounds in 90 days."
2. M--must be measurable. If we cannot measure it, we cannot accomplish it. Measurement is a way of monitoring our progress.
3. A--must be achievable. Achievable means that it should be out of reach enough to be challenging but it should not be out of sight, otherwise it becomes disheartening. 4. R--realistic. A person who wants to lose 50 pounds in~30 days is being unrealistic. 5. T--time-bound. There should be a starting date and a finishing date.

Goals can be :--

1. short-term--up to one year.
2. mid-term--up to three years.
3. long-term--up to five years.
Goals can be longer than five years but then they become a purpose of life. And having a purpose is very important because without one, it is possible to develop tunnel vision, where we are only obsessed with achieving our goals. Goals are more easily achieved if they are broken into small ones.

                           ( Life is hard by the yard, but by the inch, it's a cinch.)
                                                                                                        :-- -- Gean Gordon