So Let’s Talk About Goals…

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Here’s a quick tip: Don’t call them “Goals”, call them “Promises”.
You’ll work harder to keep your promises,
than you will to achieve your goals.

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Years ago I made a promise to myself to be earning $1,000,000 per year by Dec 31st, 2010. And while I know some people who are already making that kind of money, I’m sure a lot of other people would say it’s a really crazy goal. They may think it is too hard to achieve, or that nobody needs that kind of money in the first place. I disagree.
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If you are an Olympic athlete, winning a gold medal might be a pretty big goal. If you are a musician, it might be cutting an album. A snowboarder, getting sponsored. A mountain climber, Everest. Are achieving any of these things really necessary? Guess it all depends on your beliefs. It depends on what you value. It depends on what you consider to be essential.
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A good question to ask yourself is: Once you hit your goal, once you have finally achieved this thing you set out to do, what then? Will you totally stop doing that thing you love to do? Or will you keep on doing it even after you achieve your goal? Here’s one thing I have learned about pursuing goals: It’s pointless doing it for the sake of whatever you might achieve. You must do it for the sake of who you will become, and what you will experience in the process.
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If you suddenly win a million dollars,
then you better hurry up and become a millionaire,
otherwise you are sure to lose it.

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It’s attitude that counts. Its our psychology, our philosophy, our state of mind, our perspective that truly matters most. Why? Because one day you might wake up and realize that “thoughts are things”. That good or bad, whatever we believe, whatever we hold to be true, and especially whatever we consistently focus on, will eventually show up in our lives one way or another.
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Why do we do what we do? Some people never seem to give it any thought. Never wonder about their real purpose or reasons for doing things, they just go ahead and do them. Other people are obsessed. They think about things way too much. They suffer “paralysis from analysis.” In truth, we all do both at one time or another. Sometimes we say “he who hesitates is lost” and other times we say “look before you leap.”
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If you can see opposite points of view, then what should you believe? Which way should you turn? Goals can give you direction, AND you must remember that if you are living for your goals than you are missing the whole point. The fact is, goals are nothing but markers along the path. They give us something to shoot for, but it’s our values that matter most.
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Goals ask: “What do I want to achieve?”
Values ask: “What is truly most important?”

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When I was many years younger, the most important thing to me was freedom. That’s what I valued most. Later, when I had all the freedom I wanted, what I valued most was…sex. When I had all the sex I wanted, what I valued most was family. Once I had a family, what I valued most was truth. And now that I’ve found some truth, what’s most important to me is living well and doing whatever that requires. Without compromising my core values..
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Reasons Come First.

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“Reasons come first, answers come second. If you get a big enough WHY to do something, the HOW becomes easier.”
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When did I first hear that…must have been at least 25 years ago. Yeah, I was probably 19 at the time. No, I was 18, because I was still living with my parents. Looking for a way to move out as soon as possible. Looking for a way to make some money, because back then I believed that money equaled freedom. I desperately wanted to be free.
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So a friend had given me an audio tape to listen to. It was a motivational tape called “Do Well Regardless”, by a man named Jim Rohn. What I heard on that tape had a profound impact on my life. For one, it helped me make millions of dollars in real estate.
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That was a long time ago. My first million dollar cheque came when I was 22 years old. I am now more than twice that age, and, much to my chagrin, I have yet to make the same kinds of profits that I was making when I walked away from real estate almost twenty years ago. I tried in business, failed. Tried the stock market, failed. Tried the internet, failed.
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For almost two decades now, I have tried and tried to hit my goal of netting over a million dollars a year, but that particular target has continued to elude me. Still, I know that everything happens for a reason, and at last the reasons are clear. One reason I haven’t achieved that goal, is because I wasn’t having enough fun in the process. I wasn’t honestly enjoying whatever I was doing. It was always just a means to an end. And that was my mistake. But I do enjoy writing. And I love teaching. Think I’m just gonna run with that and see where it may lead…
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