10 Steps to Successful Goal Setting - Part 1 - What Do I Really Want?

10 Steps to Successful Goal Setting - Part 1

We've talked a lot recently about just choosing a goal, anything, and heading towards that. New ideas and goals will come to you once you get moving towards success. Your goals are merely signposts to success.

But then how do you actualize that goal? How do you write it? How do you visualize it? How do you affirm it?

That's what we are going to talk about in the next series of posts, starting right now, with Part 1. Enjoy!

1. What do I really want?

Brainstorm - Just write stuff down, anything you want to do, be or have. Go to fantasy land and let it fly. Brain dump it onto paper. Use mind maps to trigger new ideas. Keep going. Keep coming back to it and add more to it.

It doesn't matter if you turn these into goals or not, if you achieve them or not. That's not what we are doing here, just get everything thing out, then keep dry reaching until you get more.

No need to be specific at first. Just rough ideas will do. The tallest skyscraper started with a simple sketch, the biggest business started with a simple idea of providing a product or a service. The details get worked out later.

What would you do if you couldn't fail? Ask yourself that question. If you couldn't fail, had all the time, money and resources, what would you do, who or what would you be and what would you like to have... or give. No limits. Richard Branson is getting set to take the first tourists into space. This guy started off selling records by mail order! There are no limits to what you can dream, and no limits on what you can achieve.

Don't think about how its going to come about just yet. Again, that's not what we are doing here. If you knew how to be, do or have your goal, you would have it already. Forget about HOW you are going to do it for now.

Think about all the major areas in your life. Most people want to get thin, get rich, get love, or get a lifestyle (houses, cars, holidays, handbags, etc). Think also about what you would like to learn, and what you would like to contribute.

What would you do if the world was going to end in a week? Another powerful question. If you, or the world were going to end in a week, would a shiny red sports car be important? (Hey, it might be, I'm not judging here!)

Create a rich internal experience. Start day dreaming. Make your pictures big and bright, turn up the colours. Listen to the sounds around you, notice what people are saying to you, and about you, and what you are telling yourself. Be aware of the feelings you are generating, and turn them up too. Really get into this dream of yours, make it bigger, better and more sensory than you ever imagine you could. In NLP we call this VAK, Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. Turn up your VAK like they were knobs on a TV.