The Preconditions of Goal Setting

The Preconditions of Goal Setting

 

By Madeleine York

 

Are you a Goal Setter?  Do you think diligently and carefully about what it is you want to achieve and then go after it with total commitment?  If you do, you are among the very few. Research has revealed that only about four percent of the people in this country have written goals, while ten or eleven percent have a few goals “in mind.”  Then we wonder why nothing ever works for us, since we often feel like a rudderless ship on a storm-tossed sea. 

 

Most of us ‘wish’ for things to happen, and yes, we may even write a few thoughts down now and again but….  Unfortunately, what most of us do is chart our lives like the person driving around New York with a map of Los Angeles.  We know we want to get somewhere but we have the wrong directions to get to our destination.  How do we create our own map—the one that will lead us to the happiness and fulfillment we all truly deserve?

 

Our first step should be to consider whether or not your goals are achievable.  Establishing goals to direct your life by is essential, but they must be ones that you believe are realistic. For instance, if you are a 65-year-old person, you may find a goal of winning the marathon highly desirable but unrealistic.  However, entering or even finishing the marathon is realistic as long as you have done the necessary training. 

 

In addition to being realistic, a goal must be believable.  A person graduating from law school has the credentials to practice law, and may have set a goal to open his or her own office, but if that person does not believe in his/her talents it is unlikely that a flourishing career is on the horizon.  It’s been said that, “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it achieve.”  While we often say, “When I see it I’ll believe it,” we should say, “When I believe it I’ll see it.”

 

The second step to consider is whether the goal is acceptable.  This concept is difficult to appreciate since it appears obvious that one would only set goals, which provide happiness or success.  Unfortunately, it may be your unconscious mind driving your actions and if your consciousness does not consider you to be worthy of the good you seek, it is unlikely that you will reach the desired destination. 

 

For instance, the attorney who is unable to accept his true place in the professional world may well be driven by fear of success.  If that program has been internalized, it is unlikely that success is an acceptable concept to that person. I often work with people who are working well below their levels of ability and education.  Unless and until they can reprogram their inner self, their unconscious computer, they will continue to find certain goals unacceptable, even those greatly desired.

 

If you believe your goal is truly achievable and acceptable, you are now ready to move to the five step model that will propel you to success which you read on this blog.

 

 

Madeleine York

York Career Development, Inc.

Houston-Austin

866-502-8258 office

512-565-8506 mobile

www.yorkinc.com

myork@yorkinc.com