How To Set Goals

In my last entry, we learned all about goal setting and why it’s important. In this article I’m going to take it one step further than most people do and tell you EXACTLY how to structure your goals and goal charts. This won’t be a long article because I’m going to be straight forward with you, if you’re looking for inspiration, read this first and come back. This is a sure fire, no BS way of setting goals that actually works. I’ve seen it work in my own life, and learned it from my Millionaire Mentor. So get ready, you’re about to learn for FREE what most people pay $2000 for when they go to “goal setting” conferences and the like. Here we go!

1. Decide what you want to be, do, or have.

Place no limits on your mind. Anything you can think of, write it down. Cars, Jets, Helicopters, Boats are all things you may want. You may want to be a Husband, a Wife, a Mother, a Father, a millionaire, a world class athlete. Maybe you want to travel the world. Where do you want to go? What countries would you visit and for how long? Spend a good 20-30 minutes on this, and exhaust your creative mind. When you have about 10 for each category (Be, Do, Have) you can stop. You can always add more later!

2. Pick 3 from each of the category that most appeal to you.

Here’s an example:

BE – Millionaire, Writer, Public Speaker

DO – Travel, Write a Screenplay, Speak to a group of 25,000

HAVE – BMW, Helicopter, Boat

The more you know about what you want the better. I haven’t gone into detail here but you’ll want to. What kind of boat, what kind of car? What color?

3. Create an Image showing your dreams.

Use magazines to find images of how you want to look in the future, the car you’ll be driving, the boat you want, the books you want to write, etc. Make a collage of all the images and post them where you’ll see them everyday. A friend of mine actually searched for images online and made a collage which he now uses as his desktop background. Do what works!!

4. Create Deadlines for your Dreams

Notice that up to this point I haven’t used the term “goals”. I’ve used the words dreams or wants because until you set a WRITTEN DEADLINE to accomplish your dreams by, you don’t have goals. Remember that goals are dreams with a deadline! When setting deadlines I find it’s best to set goals for 4 different times.

3 Months

6 Months

1 Year

2 Year

So, if you want to write a book, how soon do you want it done? Carry out the process through those 4 categories. Here’s the example:

3 Months – Find book idea, begin rough draft

6 Months – Working on draft, writing everyday

1 Year – 1st Draft done, edit and prepare for submission

2 Year – Find a Publisher and get published!

Follow this pattern for all your goals, and don’t be afraid to make changes. Your goals are just as alive as you (they are an extension of you) and can change at any time. The great part of setting your goals with the 3 6 1 2 format is that you always stay focused on a short term goal. When you reach your first short term goal of 3 months, your 6 month goal is now your 3 month goal. When you reach your 6 month goal, you’re 1 year goal becomes your new 6 month goal. When you reach your 1 year goal, you’re original 2 year goal is now 1 year away. The process continues on that way, so you never have to look to far ahead.

5. Create a Statement of your Goals you read to yourself (out loud) everyday.

This is my favorite pastime. I attribute most of what has happened to me over the last few months to this one single activity. If you do nothing else then this, you will still see results. Here’s how it works. Take a notebook and begin writing an “I am” statement. List all your goals as if they have already happened for you. Mine begins like this: “I am a thin, healthy, vibrant, and successful man…” I then go into each area of my life and write down my goals as if they have already happened. “I am a dynamic, effective, and sought after speaker…” “I am a published author with a NY Times Bestseller…” Make sure you load your statement with lots of adjectives. Doing this will help you see, hear, and feel the goals when you read your statement. Make it so descriptive that you become immersed in the experience.

I read my statement each morning and each night before bed. This forces my subconscious mind to figure out ways to make my goals happen. This “force” is one of the greatest powers on earth. Just last night I was thinking about a problem I was having in one of my companies. As I lay in bed, almost asleep I set up and subconsciously (haha) said aloud the answer to my problem. I didn’t think it, I didn’t plan it, it just happened. When I told my business partner the idea, he was blown away and called me a genius! But the real genius happens when you write down your goals with a deadline because this puts your mind to work on finding the best way to make what you read a reality.

Why does this happen? Humans have something I called an Incongruence Complex. Basically, it’s near impossible for people to believe two different ideas about the same topic. If you believe you’re fat, you’re going to act like a fat person. If you believe you’re thin, you’ll act thin and make the appropriate choices. When you spend every morning and every night saying that you’re thin, wealthy, healthy, etc. you end up forcing yourself into an incongruity. You can’t be fat and say you’re thin. One of the two has to change. So either you’ll quit reading your statement or you’ll lose the weight. You can’t stay too long doing both.

Try it out! Commit to yourself that you’ll read your statement EVERYDAY for 40 days. 40 days and 40 nights (very biblical huh) you’ll read aloud your goals and think of ways to make them a reality. I guarantee if you do this for 40 days you’ll find yourself moving closer to those goals than you ever thought possible.

6. Commit to removing negative thoughts.

As soon as you begin doing this your old self will begin attacking. Negative thoughts will  fill your mind at a rapid rate. DO NOT fall for this. This is a trap! If you find yourself thinking things like “this’ll never work”, “reading my goals is stupid”, “why am I doing this?”, and other similar thoughts quickly stop the thought and mentally erase it. It will happen, trust me. You are in a war and your mind is the land being fought over. Your logic and emotion play a hard battle, so you must use your logic to overcome the doubt you’ll feel emotionally.

It takes just as much energy to have faith as it does to have doubt. As a matter of fact, both faith and doubt are 5 letter words. I call them the 5 letters that change a man’s life. Faith is hope, opportunity, chance, life, determination, change, belief, etc. Doubt is fear, loss, rejection, control, etc. Choose faith right now and systematically destroy doubt. This will ensure you success.

7. Start Today

In my article, “The Power of Now” you can read all about beginning today and how now is the only reality we have. So if you’ve read this far, I’ll take that as a sign that you’re ready to begin. Get out that paper and a notepad and get started! Write it down in your own words with your own hands, it will help strengthen neural pathways. What are you still reading for? Go do it!!!!