Start looking at life as a journey that you're on
where anything and everything is possible.
Every journey has a starting point and that's where you may want to consider yourself right now - at the starting point of the rest of your life's experiences. Your age is insignificant. Sound corny or crazy? Sorry, it's just a fact of life.
There's no exact age when children become conditioned to abandon the idea that anything and everything in life is possible. What a shame that they do. Most abandon their childhood dreams and accept mediocrity as a way of life. Remember when your children (if applicable) took their first steps? They had set a goal and were on a mission to achieve that goal and they were determined to be successful - YES!!!! Remember the look of determination on their little faces?
In later years, most simply give up their dream or desire of wanting to live the good life. If you have, consider a new starting point in your life - now. Your answer to Q1 below is very important. Why? Because it could be and it's entirely up to you - the starting point of the rest of your life's experiences. So write your answers for later reference giving your answer much thought and consideration.
If you are single or married with children in school - or have a significant other – encourage them all to write their thoughts on the subjects below with no discussion. Tell them to take their time and give much thought to each topic and when they are through writing, compare your answers with theirs. You'll all be amazed! Use your imagination right now about why “You’ll all be amazed!”
You'll be amazed to learn how far apart you probably are in your thinking about where you are and where they are now. Being far apart in your thinking is not good but it is good to become aware of those differences. You should begin working together now on some common goals. But back to the project.
Q1. Where am I now with my life? Consider seriously: what is . . .
It has been determined that most people are definitely not where they desire to be in life regardless of their age. Take your time and reflect on the topics below and try to determine where you are now concerning each topic. Then add your own and write your thoughts.
Do you love, like, dislike or hate the following?
· your health?
· your religion? (if applicable)
· your spouse? (if applicable)
· your in-laws? (if applicable)
· your children? (if applicable)
· your significant other? (if applicable)
· your job? (if applicable)
· your decision making ability?
· your neighbors?
· your honesty?
· your home where you presently live?
· the transportation vehicle(s) you presently drive?
· the neighborhood where you presently live?
· your salary or income?
· your chances for advancement at work?
· the state where you presently live?
· the weather where you presently live?
. your importance?
· etc, etc, etc. . . . .
Good job! Or did you skip the first written Exercise? Answering that first question is so important and to repeat, writing your answers is important so you can come back to those answers later to see how you're doing with your life's experiences. Are they staying the same? Are they worse? Or are they vastly improved now that you're paying attention to them and caring about them?
Even fewer people reflect on the answer to question 2. Why? Because they would need to use their imagination and thinking skills and in today's world, both have become dulled because of the time most spend watching television and /or playing computer games. Others don't do it because they see no way to achieve their goals even if they thought about them and wrote them down. They are totally negative about their lives and their futures.
Follow the analogy mentioned above about Life being a journey. How many people start out on a journey not knowing where they are going and desire to be? Answering Q2 is probably the most important thing that you could ever do about improving your future. Why? Just look at the next question and try to determine yourself why it is important.
Q2. Where do I desire to be? Consider seriously: what can be. . .
Did you go back to your answers to Q1 and start thinking "If I don't like this or that, how can I change it so that I can start liking it?" For instance with #1 above - your health - which should always stay in the #1 position of your goal setting; if you don't like your health at the present time, how can you change it? Maybe, just maybe you could change your eating and drinking and smoking habits if applicable and necessary, changing your exercising habits or lack thereof, or maybe start following your doctor's orders if applicable, etc. I hope you took Q2 seriously because everyone needs to define what living the good life is for themselves.
If this gets boring to you, you'll learn what estimated % of the population you fall into below. That should be very interesting to you. However, if writing your answers to Q1 through Q5 does get boring to you, simply: Click Here!
If you are still reading here about how to set your goals - congratulations. It is very important for you to again follow the analogy of Life being a journey. When planning a journey, don't you generally try to decide what the fastest, cheapest, and most comfortable route or way to get there is according to when you want to be there. Of course you do, and like the first two questions, this answer is also going to require some thought. Take time now to write your answer to Q3.
Q3. When do I desire to be there? Consider seriously: When can it be. . .
Q4 below is the hardest question of all to answer and trying to answer it is the reason so many people never consider or bother thinking about setting goals. They simply don't know how to begin to achieve their goals. Once again, follow the analogy of Life as a journey. Then determine, what is the most important question when planning any journey?
Q4. How do I get there? Consider seriously again: what is . . .
The answer to Q4. is probably the biggest concern most people have about setting goals seriously. When setting goals you are not alone in becoming frustrated when thinking about what to write when trying to answer Q4. Why? Because most people do not begin to know how to make enough money by planning, implementing and successfully achieving their goals by simply writing their answer to Q4 so they don't even try. In fact, not knowing how to answer this question is why only an estimated 5% of the American population ever sets goals and why only an estimated 1`% bother to write their goals. They are just not knowledgeable about how to achieve their goals even if they knew what their goals were and had taken or took the time right now to reflect on and write their goals. Strange but true.
Important! If you get stumped about how to answer this particular question, don't give-up because you will receive help below answering this hardest of the five questions. Give Q4 a lot of thought - a lot of thought - and be sure to write your answer later to this very important question because you're going to find an explicit explanation below of how to achieve your money goals and how to get there - meaning making enough money for you to be able to get where you desire to be. You should really get excited reading the directions.
There is one final question in this Setting Goals series. Answering it should be easier than the others. The final analogy of life being like a journey is for you to decide what you want to do when you get to your journey's destination. In other words, what do you want to do with your life when you get where you want to be? So please write your answer to this final question.
Q5. What do I do when I get there?
There are basically two things you can do when you get where you desire to be. First, you can say "Now that I'm here, I'm just going to sit back and relax and enjoy my new life" and do just that - and that's fine. Or second, you can say "Wow, I finally made it and now that I know how to set goals I'm going to set new ones." So what's the first thing to do? Think! Go back to Q1 and determine where you are now and where you now want to be. If you do that, remember to write your answers to Q1 through Q5. Also remember, it is always up to you. Doesn't it feel good to be able to control your life by actually setting goals?
Remember, if you thought about achieving your goals by mentally answering all five questions above, you may feel good about placing yourself in the estimated 5% of the population who actually sets and tries to achieve their goals. If you did as suggested and recommended and wrote your answers to all five questions, you can really be proud as you are now with the estimated 1% of the population that has done so. Does that make you feel good about yourself? It should and I hope it does.
We will now go back up to Q4 - How do I get there? An excellent answer to that question follows. Read carefully all the words below.
Important! Read Carefully!
To start learning the answer to Q4 above ~
"How Do I Get There?"
I’ll be glad to help you any way that I can. Email me!
Note:
The 5 questions discussed above came from the book "How To Set Goals And Start Living The Good Life" written by John Parker and Pat Parker. Click here to read about their book. (To return here if you go there, click "Back" in upper left corner to return)
