One of the reasons people fail to get things they want in life isn’t because they don’t set goals or have a workable plan. They set goals all the time in one form or another. It’s because they deviate. They take their eye off the mountain and wander off course.
If you find yourself sidetracked with other extraneous or unimportant tasks, it might do you well to ask yourself the following question: Does what I’m doing right now help meet the objective? For example, if your goal is to lose weight, and at that moment, you find yourself in front of the TV, grazing on chips and dip, you might want to reevaluate and redirect your efforts.
The ability to single-mindedly concentrate on one task at a time and stay with it till completion is the one thing that will take you further than almost anything else you can do.
Like Dirty Harry said, “A man’s gotta know his limitations.” With all the demands on you, and little time to complete them, you can find yourself stepping into the twilight zone. With issues ranging from your kid’s soccer game to endless meetings and workplace commitments, it can seem almost impossible to balance your goals with outside obligations and needs.
You may need to become more aggressive. Perhaps even ruthless.
Back in the 80’s, I was a newly hired pilot flying for a commuter airline in Puerto Rico when I was assigned to fly to one of our outer islands to pick up a group of managers attending a meeting. The return flight to San Juan was to be at night. No big deal. But when I met my passengers, I darn near flipped my cookies. They were all drunk.
We weren’t in the air ten minutes when things began to get crazy. Laughing, carousing and baiting me for my attention, the group was getting out of hand. It was turning into a dangerous situation. I desperately needed to regain control of the flight, so I leaned over to the person next to me and whispered a message.
“I think we’re lost…”
News quickly spread to the back of the airplane. You could now hear a pin drop. The idea of being lost at sea, at night, was enough to bring the group to a catatonic state of silence. This may have been a ruthless maneuver but it worked. It instantly quelled the distraction and I was able to concentrate, get back on target, and reach the destination.
Like my night flying adventure, you too will have plenty of people and weird situations getting in your face, interrupting you, making noise and baiting you for your attention. When the world seems bent on throwing you your team off course, you must be ruthless about staying on course. When problems and distractions pop up on your radar screen…fly the airplane.
This may seem obvious. But a lot of people get distracted and, consequently, their plans crash and burn.
As we mentioned, one of the most effective tools you can use to stay on target is the power of the written word. Unfortunately, less than five percent of the population write out their goals. But those who do commit to a written record have a good chance of attaining their goal.
Why is this? Because a bit of mental magic occurs when you put your plan to paper. You can’t see it, but your goal begins to transpire in multiple unnoticed forms when you mind has a clear picture of where it’s going. With clarity as its compass, your subconscious mind takes over and steers toward the fulfillment of whatever target you provide it. What’s more, it will work 24/7 toward that target acquisition.
In addition to this, when you begin to realize some of the progress toward your goal, you will get an unmistakable feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. This in turn provokes you to think about your goal even more, giving your subconscious more clarity. Writing out the goal establishes a reminder mechanism and gets the mind established in the right direction.
For example, do you want to go on vacation to Maui or some exotic destination this year? Is there a chance you had that same wish last year. What happened? Why didn’t you go? You didn’t commit and clarify. This year, don’t just talk about the vacation, record the departure date in your day planner.
Instead of fantasizing about a business from your home, design it on paper. Sit down and pencil out a rudimentary business plan. Describe the product or service, the target market, the amount of money you intend to generate and the time frame you intend to begin each step. Establish a mechanism to constantly remind yourself of your objective. Then move toward a daily, progressive realization of that goal. You’ll find you are capable of extraordinary goals, expeditions and adventures if you will only commit.
