by Marta Mulungo
If you are reading this blog post, chances are that you are an adult and as such, there is at least one thing that you desire in life. Human beings are goal orientated and this means that regardless of the level of achievement they are in, there is something else that they desire, it is how we are wired and we cannot get away from it, and it’s a good thing – it took us from the stone age, to the current digital era, it took us from carriages and horses to airplanes and space travel…
Maxwell Maltz said, “You and I function akin to bicycles. Unless we are moving forward toward an objective, we will fall and fail.”
Many people though do not know how to set goals in the way that the mind can do something with it. Your mind works on images and for it to support you to start moving towards what you really want out of life, you must do at least three things…
Decide what you want
You would think this to be an easy exercise, but many people fail right here. Getting the clarity of what is your main goal, what you really want more than anything in life is crucial. You see, to live a fulfilled life, you must have clarity of where you are and where you are going. I always advise my clients to have two types of goals (a) a professional or entrepreneurial goals which is the type of services you will render in exchange for the money that you want and (b) how you want to live your life, what type of experiences and environment you want to expose yourself to – the house, the car the family, the travel and leisure, etc. If you have this clearly defined, then you have step one completed...
Write your goal in a goal card
If your goal is not written somewhere, it's not a goal yet, it’s a dream or a wish. Wishing for something does not take you there, you need to make a committed decision that you really want it and one great way to do that is to write a goal statement. Write your goal in the present tense as if you already achieved it. Something like:
I am so happy and grateful now that my fast-food business is up and running, I employ 15 committed professionals and we achieve a monthly revenue of..$$$. I live in a beautiful house located in …. I travel around the world on business and leisure and….
J.C. Penny, founder of the retail store chain, which bears his name said, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I’ll give you a person who will make history. Give me a person without a goal and I’ll give you a stock clerk.”
Remember, people who write down their goals achieve the most and live a fulfilled life. All their efforts are channelled towards something they really want. If you do nothing else today give this some good thought – set your goal, and then write it down to read often. You will reap the rewards of this one task for the rest of your life.
Create an image
Now, this is the fun part, but one that most people find difficult to follow. You see, your mind works on images, meaning it can only take you to a destination that you have created an image for. When you think of something, you always have an image associated with that something, for example when you say CAT, you actually see the image of a CAT in the screen of your mind, and not the words C-A-T. that is because of how the mind is designed.
When you decide you want something, you need to create an image of that something and hand it to the mind. The trick is to visualize the success and not the process because often you do not know how and that is what gets people stuck. Imagine what it will be when you achieve the success you seek. In the example of the goal statement, imagine what it will be when your fast food business is up and running and you have 15 great employees and are making the money that you decided? What will it be for you? what will it mean for you? how will you feel? what type of car will you be driving then? what will your friends say? Just close your eyes and play with that image. Do that every day, consistently and also rewrite that goal statement every day. Very soon, it will become your reality because what the mind can conceive, it can create.
Hold it in your mind so you can hold it in your hands…
To your success
Marta
Marta Mulungo is a Human Resources Specialist and Results Coach. Her passion is to help people transform their ideas into results. In her coaching journey, she assists entrepreneurs and professionals whose doubts and fears are keeping them away from the money and the business they desire. Marta holds a Master degree in Human Resources Management and Development from the University of Manchester, a Bachelor degree in Organizational Psychology. She is certified as a Results Coach through the Proctor Gallagher Institute, USA, as a Humanistic Coach through MORE Institute, Germany and as an International Coach through International Coaching Community. Contact Marta via email at info.mmcoaching@gmail.com.