A stands for As if now, All Areas of Life, Achievable and Action
As If ... this is very simple. If you had the goal right now, what would you be doing, saying, thinking and feeling? When you write out your goals you must write them in the present tense, i.e as if now
I have
I am now
I feel
This I also find very useful for taking what are called action steps. If you knew without any shadow of a doubt, what would you not be acting differently?
OK suppose your goal is to have a brand new Mercedes Black Convertible.
You would write it out as :
It is now December 6th 2008 .I own my own new Black SLR McLaren Mercedes Convertible. It has leather seats. The roof folds back, quickly and easily. I am cocooned in totally safety. I feel the leather steering wheel in my hands. I grip the wheel with a great feeling of confidence. I feel the confidence grow and expand from my chest to all parts of my body. As I drive I feel the wind stroke my hair, the sunshine shining and warming my face. It has a Bosé sound system, I hear my favourite band, Counting Crows all around me. The drive is smooth and comfortable. I am driving down a country lane. The tress and hedges whizz past me. Flashes of sunlight breakthrough the trees and leaves. The car was easy , quick and an absolute joy to find and purchase etc.
When writing you want to invoke as many of your senses as possible. I see, I hear, I feel, I smell, I taste., I know the last sentence is actually in the past tense..the car was.. I've included that so that my mind knows how I want the process to be finding and buying my car. I also add the date at the begin so I have a deadline for my goal. Deadlines are allowed to change. Putting a date also keeps the writing in the present. That way you're not writing I will...future tense. The future will always be the future.
All Areas of Life
You must have goals in all areas of life. By having goals in all areas of your life. You and your goals remain in balance. The larger life areas are relationships, personal development, family, business and career, spirituality, health and fitness. There are other areas too. Yet you can normally find that a smaller goal will fit into a larger goal area.
Achievable
What I think is achievable is totally up to you. The naysayers will often tell you to be realistic. This for me is them just keeping you down at their level of goal achievement. All goals are achievable. It may mean you need the help of others to learn new skills etc, but all things being equal any goal can be got. Others would say they need to be realistic. Normally goals aren't achieved because of beliefs, either personal or social. Sometimes a goal will not be achieved because physically you can't. After all, I am not going to win Wimbledon Tennis Championship. 1. I don't play tennis, 2. I don't practice tennis. 3. Physically I'm not up to playing against the best. Yet I can certain improve my game by taking lessons, modelling how the best players play. By doing that, I will improve my tennis game.
If you don't think a goal is possible why? Most likely you have a belief that it can't be done. Remove it, let it go. Most goals have already been achieved by somebody else. Find out how they did it.
Action
You must be the main catalyst for your goal. Others may help you, but you must be the one in control of the process. The goal must fit within all areas of your life. If not, why not? If the goal is harmful to others and yourself, you'll have a much harder time achieving it.
Taking action towards your goal is a must. Remember this any action you do, is leading you towards your goal! Some goals do just happen. Yet if you take action towards your goal what are you doing? You telling yourself and the universe that the goal is achievable! If you knew 100% the goal was going to happen how would you act, what would you do, where would you go?
Taking action doesn't have to be a show stopper piece. You just need to do something. If you're buying a new car what do you need to do?
- Decide which car you want
- Buy some magazines
- Put a picture on your vision board
- Go to a dealership
- Take a test drive
- Arrange finance or buy with cash
- Drive away happy with the keys.
You see you can do many things towards your goal The big actions steps are actually many small steps put together. Decide on some action that real stretches you.
i.e Buying a new flat
small step : make up a house warming music party list
bigger step : pack bags ready to leave!
Happy Travels
A
part 2 here, part 1 here
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