Success Begins With Setting Goals

I was just having a conversation with a very nice guy I met the other day. He had been down on his luck and going through a rough time since he lost a job he'd held for 10 years in the recent recession. There was a negative domino effect once this happened and his life seemed to spiral out of control.  He was pondering about how to bring positive changes to his life, turn things around, and get his life back on track.

As I was thinking about my own life I realized that anything positive I've ever achieved in life started with dreaming a dream, setting goals, and then executing on them.  Dreams are really just goals with an end date. For example, a dream might be "someday I'd really love to lose weight and get in shape." On the other hand, a goal is "in 12 weeks I want to lose 25 lbs."

As I look back at some of the great milestones in my life, many of them started simply with a desire and a little faith.  Next, I set a goal and figured out the small steps or milestones needed to reach that larger goal. I wrote down specifically what I wanted to accomplish and gave myself a deadline. Sometimes I reward myself for reaching the goal but oftentimes the accomplishment is reward enough.  :)


This approach has worked well for me in many areas of my life including: 1) securing some of the best contracts with desirable companies in my industry,  2)  gaining admission to and graduating from the Ivy League university of my choice,  3) eliminating all credit card debt , 4) buying my first home, 5) winning a sizable sum of cash on a game show, and 6)  purchasing and paying off the luxury car I've always wanted.

I've also used this method when it comes to weight loss and fitness too.  Once I determine my goals I really try to review my goals on a daily (yes, daily) basis to keep them top-of-mind and stay mentally focused. This is what I call my daily mental exercise:

Stacie's 12 week Body-For-Life Transformation Goals:

Start date: 8/2/10           End date: 10/22/10


I am building my best body for life to:

• Lose 20 lbs 
• Lower my bodyfat by 10% 
• Drop 2 dress sizes
• Lose 3-4 inches in my waistline
• Increase my strength, endurance and flexibility

When It Comes To Goal-Setting:

• WHAT do you want to change?   (Visualize your dreams; WHAT inspires you & gives you joy?)
• WHY do you want to change?  (Write down all of the reasons WHY you want to change)*
• Set SPECIFIC goals that are ambitious, but attainable and document them
• Measure your progress against your goals periodically to stay on track
• Celebrate your accomplishments!!!

*I once read about a Harvard study that showed that alumni who had written down their goals were more accomplished years later than their peers who had mentally established goals but didn't document them, and substantially more accomplished than their peers who had not established any goals at all.

Here's to continued happiness, health and abundance.