My Pro-Log

Do you have dreams about being successful, happy and satisfied with your job? Sure you do…everyone does. Everybody at one point had great goals and dreams for their life, their career, and even their hobby. If you can decide to buy a BigMac (with cheese) from McDonald’s, then you can achieve any goal you set for yourself. It’s really quite simple.

Brad Isaac, the author of the blog Persistence Unlimited, has an inspirational view on successfully setting goals. His philosophy is that whether you want to buy a BigMac at McDonald’s or earn a $1,000,000 you have to go through the same process of achieving your goal. The only difference is the amount of time & planning that goes into reaching the desired destination…

Here are 5 questions you must ask yourself in order to successfully reach any goal you have set:

1. What do I want?
A journey has to start with the end in mind. If you don’t have a destination, then you’ll never really leave, but more importantly you’ll never really arrive.

Define what you want. Do it as specifically as you can.

Example:
Goal: Buy a BigMac (with cheese) from McDonald’s
Goal: Earn $1,000,000:
2. When do I want this?
Every day you set goals and achieve them. The goals that are easy to achieve are ones that are quickly obtainable. The harder goals are ones that take years or possibly decades to achieve.

When you decide to get a “BigMac (with cheese) from McDonald’s” you normally know when you want it. Why, when you want something bigger do you not define that too? Most people treat the long-term goals differently than short-term goals. They want to earn $1,000,000, but they don’t know when they want it as long as it happens…Don’t do this.

Define when you want it.

Example:
Goal: Buy a BigMac (with cheese) from McDonald’s for lunch today…
Goal: Earn $1,000,000 in the next 10 years…

3. Where am I now in relation to where my goal is?
When you use Google Maps to look up directions to your friends house you have to have the starting address. In order to successfully arrive at the correct destination, you have to know where you are compared to where your going.

Define where you will start from.

Example:
Goal: I’m at home and I want to buy a BigMac (with cheese) from McDonald’s for lunch today…
Goal: I have no money and I want to earn $1,000,000 in the next 10 years…

4. What do I need to do in order to get from here to there?
What steps do you have to take to get from point A to point B? There may be a long list of things that you have to do in order to achieve some of your goals, but you’ll never arrive if you don’t know what needs to be done in between now and then.

Define how you will do it.

5. Is it worth it?
I’ve found that if I define what I want, when I want it and how to get there, then the next question I have to ask myself is, “Is it worth the cost?” If the goal out ways the cost (time, money, energy, relationships, etc.), then follow the plan that you have outlined with these five questions.
Decide if it’s worth the cost.

Goal setting is really quite simple. You do it every day with every decision you make. Some goals are short-term. Some goals are long-term. Either one is achieved through the same process. To successfully achieve your goals you mus:

Define what you want.
Define when you want it.
Define where you will start from.
Define how to do it.
Decide if it’s worth the cost.