Rohn: These 5 Questions Will Define Where You’re Going in Life
Dec 15,2016
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Goal setting is a very import🙈ant first step, but goal achieveꩲment is a continuous, lifelong process.
Goals are important for a genuinely success-oriented person. Without them, you’re just playing around. The difference between a goal-directed individual and someone without goals is like the difference between a Wimbledo🌳n champion and a kid batting a tennis ball around on a court with no net, no opponent to bring out the best in himౠ and no way of keeping score.
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Despite everything that’s been written about the importance of goal setting, very few people actu𝔍ally put it into practice. It’s always amazed me, the way the average person devotes more thought and effort to planning his or her two-week vacation than to
Goals represent challenge in its most positive form. Leaders have their personal goalsꦛ, as well as those of their organization, clearly in focus. In fact, for the vast majority of people who aren’t able to do it for themselves.
Over the years, I’ve developed some ideas about effective goal setting, and I’d like to share those with you. I also want 🍬to point out some traps of goal-directed behavior that aren’t usually ta🍰lked about but certainly ought to be.
When I was a kid, I used to dream what it would be like to buy a ticket on a train and just go someplace. I didn’t really think ab✃out where I’d be going or how long it would take to get there. I 📖just loved the idea of getting on the train and letting it take me somewhere.
I guess theꦫre’s still something appealing about that idea, but it’s not really the way you should live your life as a mature human being. When you grow up, you buy a ticket on a train or a plane because you want to go someplace, and you know exactly wh𝔍ere you’re going.
You might have to change planes in a different city; your flight might be canceled; you might have to switch to another flight; you might not feel like talking to the person seated next to you. You know where you’re headed, and you’re quite determined to g෴et there. That’s goal-directed behavior in its simplest form.
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There are short-term goals and long-term goals. Sometimes you’re 🐻flying across the country; other times you’re just walking down to the corner grocery store. Long-term goals are the equivalent of a major journey. When you reach the point where you’ve achieved your long-term goals, , and the process of getting to that point will have transformed you into a stronger, wiser and higher-performing person.
How can you identify your long-term goals? On a sheet of paper or in a notebo𓆉ok, write these five questions:
- What do I want to do?
- Who do I want to be?
- What do I want to see?
- What do I want to have?
- Where do I want to go?
Under each of these categories,ཧ write down several possible long-term goals. Be very relaxed about this. Just allow your mind to flow and come up with three to six ideas for each category. Don’t worry about a lot of details at this point, and don’t spend too much time𝐆 describing a particular goal.
For example, refer to category one. Suppose y♉ou want to write a book about the history of your family going back to the arrival of your great grandparents in the U.S. Just quickly jot down, “” ♚Then it occurs to you that you’ve always wanted to see the pyramids in Egypt, so you write “pyramids.”
Keep writing down ideas as long as the list of categories continues to inspire you. You𒀰’ll probably be surprised at some of the things that turn up. You might have kept a great many desires and aspirations hidden in the back of your mind, but will move them to🏅 the forefront of your consciousness. That’s one of the benefits of this technique.
When you’re satisfied with your list of long-term goals, read through the list once again. Then beside each item, write the number ofౠ years that you believe it will take you to achieve that particular✃ goal.
It’s best toꦗ round off the numbers into one-year, three-year, five-year and 10-year time frames.
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For example, you might estimate that it will take you 10 years to r🅘esearch and write the book on your family history, but you’ll need only five years to reach a position where you can take a trip to the pyramids. Create a time frame like this for every one of your long-term goals.
When you’re finished entering your time frames, there should be a fairly balanced distribution for all your goals. If there are many one-and three-year objectives but only a few in the 10-year category, maybe you need 🐠to think more about what you really want your life to add up to… . But if there’s a preponderance of 10-year goals and relatively few of the shorter-term variety, this might be an indication that you tend to put things off. Keep working on your list, adding and subtracting goals with various time frames, until you’ve created a more or less even distribution.
Now comes the really ch🌺allenging and interesting part. So far you’ve just been Now you’re going to start asking yourself what’s really important compared to what might just be fun.
Choose four goals from each of the four time frames: one-year, three-year, five-year and 10-year. You now have 16 separate goals. So far you’ve only referred to them in shorthand fashion., but now you’re ꦡgoing to start seeing them very clearly in your mind’s eye. You’re going to see each goal just as if it were being realized this very minute, and you’re going to write down a detailed description𝓀 of exactly what you see.
Do you intend to open a handmade furniture store in three years? What will the store look like from the street? Will there be gold leaf lettering on the wind🎃ows, or will there be a sign hanging over the door instead? How many square feet will the store contain? Will there be a showroom area for the furniture in front and a workspace in the back, or will the furniture be built at a different location? Do you intend to have any employees, or
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in or✱der to see your goal with absolute clarity, and then write the information down. That writte⛎n record will become one of your most important personal possessions.
But that’s not all. Any goal is a powerful motivator only if there’s a powerful reas🌠on behind it. Why do you want to achieve your goals? Why do you want to own a handmade fuღrniture store, or a private airplane, or a newspaper in a small town in Vermont? Why do you want to compete in a triathlon, or visit the Australian outback, or be the first woman in your family to earn a Ph.D.?
Write down in the same degree of detail that you used to wri💙te your descriptions. If you can’t find a clear and convincing reason for each of your 16 goals, do some serious re-evaluating. You might have more whims or pipe dreams than real goals, and now is the ꦰright time to make that discovery.
Keep working on your list until you have 16 clearly envisioned, strongly motivating long-term goals. At regular intervals, rev🥃iew what you’ve written, and keep careful track of your progress toward these objectives.
Above all, persevere! Goal setting is a very important first step, but goal achievement is a continuous, lifelong process. That’s what makes it so challenging. That’s also why 𓂃it’s so extremely rewarding to finally attain your ꦅlong-term goals.
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Jim Rohn, the man many consider to be , shared his success philosophies and principles for over 46 years, with more than 6,000 audiences and over 5 million people worldwide. Prior to his passing in 2009, Rohn partnered with to bring his indelible wisdom to our audience, 🎉who have long cherished the writings and teachings of this personal development leg𒈔end. Today, SUCCESS continues to share Mr. Rohn's timeless principles to long-time fans and newfound followers.