Destiny Goals

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably they will not be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. 

 David Burnham, British Architect

Your goals should be big enough, bold enough, and exciting enough, to turn you on, if they are, and if your goals point you in the right direction, you’ll notice that some strange things will start to happen. You’ll start to get excited about taking your goals on, you’ll start to get better at what you do, and doors will start opening up for you.

It’s not a lack of talent, but a lack of goals, that causes one’s life to stagnate. Remember: If you are having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, its because you have no new goals. Deciding not to have a specific goal IS a specific goal.

The size of our future goals will determine our future life style. It’s as simple as that but not easy.  George Foreman, twice Heavy Weight Boxing Champion said, “If I see what I want, real good in my mind, I don’t notice any pain in getting it.”

When we make a commitment to accomplishment––not to waiting passively for change, but to making change happen––the resulting improvement in morale becomes a vote of confidence for our life.

A goal’s main purpose is to help develop undeveloped potential. The goal motivates us to action. We work hard and overcome obstacles, and the achieved goal becomes a reward for the effort.

Experiencing temporary setbacks is not a crime. Low aim is! So, what are you aiming for? Your goals should make sense for where you’ve been, where you are now, and where you’re headed.

Be sure you set goals that are: (1) Exciting. (2) Realistic. (3) Measurable. (4) Attainable.

The best goals will energize you and motivate you to take action! Goals will bring your life’s energy into focus. Dreaming without ever focusing will dissipate your precious energy and waste your precious time. Think of goals as “dreams with deadlines,” as someone once put it.

Your goals should be too exciting, too powerful, too rooted in what you already find exhilarating for you to ignore.  If the goal doesn’t motivate you instantly, it needs to be revised!

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: Whatever comes to us in life, we create first in our minds. Whether we know it or not, our best dreams and goals––those that motivate us in a positive direction––are our Creator’s contribution to our personal suggstion box. Judge your goals by the pictures they create in your mind and by how much they motivate you.

No More Repeated Yesterdays

"Choose the road that demands the most from you."

Danny Cox

Charlie’s story from my last blog brings me back to one of the most important lessons I learned during that time of my life. Here it is. Everyday we stand at what some people call the "crossroads of life" but its not really a square cross in the road but a Y in the road. One of the roads leads to sameness and boredom and the other to growth, development and enthusiasm.

So each day ask yourself this question, “Am I doing the best at my job, or am I doing it the way I’ve always done it?” When you know the answer to that question, then you know where that road leads. More often than not, it leads right back to where you were the day before. Instead of taking that tricky right turn, the one that leads to new growth, you find yourself going around in a very familiar circle.

I call that “repeating yesterday.” (We’ll be examining that idea in more depth in a later blog.) This “repeating yesterday” formula is a phenomenon that’s true of companies as well as people—in fact, it would make a pretty good logo for some organizations. These are the companies that I refer to as “Plunging into the future with their eyes affixed to the rear view mirror—they are tradition-centered and unhampered by progress.” They don’t get worked up about new goals; a fair number of them have no goals whatsoever.

Immediate Action: Make photocopies of this “repeating yesterday” diagram, and place them in strategic locations in your home, your office, and on the dashboard of your car to remind yourself of which way you want to go.

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: A love of tradition for its own sake is what I call “nostalgic paralysis”—and it’s a sure-fire recipe for stagnation, inefficiency and burnout.".