There is no regular measure of progress.Goal setting is the most important of all personal improvement ideas. Goals give you a sense of purpose and direction, a process to keep score, and the confidence that only comes from knowing where youre going. When you have goals, you develop an almost mystical ability to achieve them. You begin to develop that insatiable desire to do whatever it takes, to develop whatever you need to develop, to achieve your goal. Occasionally, most people have thought about changing or improving. Some even go to the extent of buying a self-improvement book, but few ever complete it.
Many people dream of becoming, of succeeding, but very few will ever realize their dreams because they never do anything about it.
To have...you must become! might aptly describe the number one reason that the majority of people will never reap the rewards they NEVER pay the price they NEVER take their dreams and establish goals.
If you have a goal, something to strive for, you can become whatever it takes to achieve the goal.
The value of goals is evident in the world of sports. Can you imagine a football game without a goal post? Without goals many people play the game of life, running up and down the field without ever scoring. Goals help us to overcome obstacles to success.
When your goals are clearly defined, problems become opportunities for solutions, and determination becomes our dominant characteristic. Our attitude becomes positive and confident. The late Will Rogers, one of the most quoted and remembered Americans, once said The difference between winning and losing any contest begins long before the game starts...and its no secret. The winners expect to win - the losers just hope. If you expect to win, to succeed - you will!
In life, you cannot always decide what will happen to you, but you can always decide how you will react to what happens.
There are many, many reasons for success, but only three for failure:
1 - We only fail when we stop learning from our setbacks.
2 - We fail when we give up and stop trying.
3 - We fail when we start justifying our failure by pointing the finger of blame on someone or something else.
Goal setting helps you to concentrate on success, or how you can achieve goals. Put another way, in the words of William Shakespeare, echoed by Robert Kennedy: Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.
It is entirely possible for you to be very busy and working very hard instead of smart. The secret of the really successful person is that they work smarter, rather than harder. They concentrate on the end of the field, on the touchdowns, rather than the first downs.
Some people never recognize that good intentions are seldom a substitute for competence and end results. In the world of self-fulfillment, no one is entitled to an A for effort.
If you were going to have open heart surgery, would you select your surgeon on the basis of good intentions or his ability?
Theres a story about a man who was facing a similar situation and was rather worried because the odds of success in his operation were rather small. Seven out of ten people usually died on the operating table. Finally, a very observant nurse recognized the mans problem, and attempted to put his mind at ease. With a sincere attempt to approach him with logic, she explained that actually he had nothing to worry about. In fact, the odds were very strong in his favor because his doctor had already lost nine out of his last ten patients. He was really overdue for success.
In life, as in surgery, it is the end result that counts. The wins, not the losses; the touchdowns, not the first downs.
The only determining factor in achieving the end result you want is you! Its deciding what results you want; making sure theyre big enough, high enough, tough enough to stretch you, to force you to grow to reach them. When we stop growing and learning, we start failing. The mind is like a muscle. If someone taped your arm to your side for six months, how much strength do you think youd have in that arm? Could you strengthen the muscles or the arm? How? By exercise. The same thing is true of our minds.
The successful person is one who has ingrained that concept so deeply, it is second nature to him. The mind is the greatest asset, the most powerful muscle, and exercising it is a daily, almost second nature HABIT.
In the final analysis, the responsibility of strengthening and improving lies on your shoulders. The only real form of development is self-development.
