Mapping your Goals

You have the ability to attain whatever you seek; within you is
every potential you can imagine. Always aim higher than you
believe you can reach. So often, you'll discover that when your
talents are set free by your imagination, you can achieve any
goal. If people offer their help or wisdom as you go through
life, accept it gratefully. You can learn much from those who
have gone before you. But never be afraid or hesitant to step
off the accepted path and head off in your own direction if your
heart tells you that it's the right way for you. Always believe
that you will ultimately succeed at whatever you do, and never
forget the value of persistence, discipline, and determination.
You are meant to be whatever you dream of becoming.
-- Edmund O'Neill

When one starts out drawing the map of the journey of their life
their are some rules to mapping this journey. "Thank Goodness for
at this point I feel so overwhelmed that I don't know where to
start," you say.

Ok let's begin the journey of a lifetime starts with the first
step. Sometimes these steps are staggering and undecisive but
they get stronger with each step one takes. Success is a
choice. You must decide what you want, why you want it, and how
you plan to achieve it. No one else can, will, or should do that
for you.

So last week in Dream the Impossible Dream we had already begun
to take steps toward mapping this journey. Staying focused is a
close relative to being decisive, but your ability to sustain
your focus from beginning to end determines the timing and
condition of your outcomes. Again a lot depends on your belief in
yourself to be able to keep on trudging when the going gets rough
for we all have those times when we falter in our belief that
this impossible dream can come true. This is the time to stay
focused for if we scatter our power to the wind then we cannot
achieve this impossible dream. When we try and do to many things
at once and push ahead when we are too tired to go any further,
we lose touch with ourselves. We no longer have long talks with
ourselves and see where we are in this journey. Pushing ahead
does not work and then we get discouraged so now at this time we
need to stay decisive and focused like the little girl who knows
that under that Christmas tree is the doll she dreamed of or the
little boy who feels the wind in his hair as he rides that new
bike. No one could tell them that the bike or the doll was not
there.

Accepting failure along the way is an important part of any map.
The fundamental question is not whether you should accept
failure. You have no choice but to expect it as a temporary
condition on the path way of progress. Rather, the question is
how to anticipate failure and redirect resources to grow from the
experience. Faliure gives one the incentive to go back to the
drawing board and see where your map failed you, for you did not
fail just part of the plan was not built on solid rock
foundation. So learn from your experience and go on.

The game of life is won in the hours spent with oneself dreaming
the Impossible dream. When you are open to a new path one will
present itself. You must dig within your own unique prespective
of life to find this dream and manifest it for it is yours and
yours alone no other person can dream this particular dream.
Friends can advise, relatives can guide you with their
experiences but it is your dream that is manifesting on this
journey not theirs. Remember that Your Future deserves
consideration. It will someday be your present reality. It's
worth considering seriously.

Some pitfalls that keep us from obtaining our goals is setting
our goals to high or too low. One of the most frequent reasons
why others find so much frustration with their goals is because
they set them too high. Creating goals that are unattainable not
only makes it impossible to succeed, but it also creates a
negative attitude towards oneself. "I knew I couldn't do it."
Well, setting a goal to be a ballerina when you are 65 is
probably not very realistic. When you set goals too high and
constantly fall short you may just give up.

The reverse of setting unattainable goals is when goals are set
too low, there is no motivation to work hard. When you feel like
you don't have to work that hard to reach your goals, you don't
think about them nor do you really care if you reach it.

In order for people to feel compelled to work hard towards
something, they must feel challenged. Setting goals too low
decreases motivation and energy. So we go back to seeing in
your minds eye the Christmas doll under the tree. You want her
don't you? You get excited when you think about brushing her
hair, riding her around in a buggy. So reach for the stars! You
have within the potential to move moutains. Set your goals so
each step brings you closer to them but they are not quite in
reach. This keeps one excited about the journey. When you set
your goals make sure they are both challenging and attainable.
This way you will be motivated to work hard and feel the rush of
success when you accomplish your goals! Anticipation is sometimes
as exciting as rewards.
So go on make your map one step at a time.

and remember it is good to have an end to journey towards,
but it is the journey that matters, in the end........