Hello! Seiiti Arata. How can we achieve our goals and objectives?
What do people who have achieved their goals do differently? I will answer that question in this video.
As you know, some people think they depend on luck. That is, they put themselves in a vulnerable, needy position, in which some unpredictable element of chance is necessary, introduced by mysterious luck.
In the previous episode [http://arata.se/hello40], we learnt a different way to look at luck: we can create our luck. Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.
For you who want to do your best to achieve your goals, here is today’s first tip:
1. Preparation allows us to identify and grab the opportunities ahead.
Are you prepared? Have you begun to prepare yourself?
It doesn’t matter where you are now. Your speed, your acceleration and your direction are what matter.
Even if you are still crawling and have only a little preparation, it will help you to have a genuine willingness to pay the price, to do what has to be done. That is the minimum required to get you off to a good start.
2. You will only reach the goal that is specific.
If you don’t set your goal clearly, what kind of result do you think you will have? By definition the goal must be specific, so that you can measure and understand how you are progressing.
That said, write down the different areas of your life in which you want to achieve goals. Perhaps it is a goal in your career, or maybe in your personal relationships, or even some leisure projects, something related to being in good shape.
When you are making your notes, be sure to be specific and to clarify your goal exactly. Don’t write something like “I want to be happy / I want to find love / I want to make more money”, because that’s all too abstract and useless. It is important to be specific.
In order to be specific, you will write down what your current state is, where you are today. Then make a note on where you want to get. Set yourself a realistic deadline for that
For instance: “Now I am a manager, and I want to be promoted to commercial director by the end of this year.” Or maybe “I weigh 75 kilos now, and within six months I want to get to 67 kilos, which is my ideal weight.” Understand?
Good. Now ask yourself: why haven’t you achieved your goal yet? There are many reasons, and it is important that you know yourself well to find good answers.
3. It’s not your words but your behaviour that will show your true priorities.
If you are unhappy with the area you chose, note that a big part of today’s situation is a result of your choices in the past. It is a reflection of the amount of dedication, love, respect, attention and PRIORITY that this area has received to date.
No need to judge yourself punitively, as that won’t bring you any useful outcome. Unfortunately, we see that a lot of people who say that they let themselves go with the binging, and now they are obese. People who say they were lazy haven’t studied enough and then failed to pass a tough exam.
Therefore, take it easy on the self-criticism. Note that while someone hasn’t prioritised staying in good shape, they may have dearly looked after their family. One who has not studied has perhaps worked hard to help pay household bills.
Everyone has the same number of hours in the day. Our behaviour shows our priorities. The results we reap depend on those choices.
In order to achieve your goals, it is necessary to prioritise. Now I leave you with a question for you to answer in your notebook: do you really, genuinely want to prioritise your goals?
If so, what do you need to do THE MOST? What do you need to do THE LEAST?
Bonus tip: Devoting time is not all it takes to achieve challenging goals. Time going by does not solve the problem on its own. It’s no use spending hours and hours stuck in a task if we are not totally into it, body and soul. We must be emotionally involved.
4. Setting goals is not enough. We must also set procedures to achieve the goals.
In addition to high priority and involvement, I’ve got to increase the number of times I perform activities that allow me to reach the goal. I have to be conscientious. I need to create routines that I always and inevitably follow.
As always, I like to keep the most important tip for the end of the video. Here it is: the big mistake people make when trying to accomplish their goal is to decide only the final destination.
Why is that a mistake? Because they don’t know the procedure to reach the goal. There has been no route planning. Setting the final destination without specifying the route is guaranteed to get you lost or to make you give up before reaching the goal.
Therefore, that specific goal that goes, “Today I weigh 75 kilos, and within six months I want to get to 67 kilos” is not enough on its own. I must define what exactly I will do every day for the next six months.
The focus, then, has to be on the actions we will take (or the ones we will not perform) daily, with consistency. The focus shouldn’t be on the goal. The focus is on the process. If you need to work on your focus, I strongly recommend that you visit the link [http://arata.se/focuscourse].
People who have reached their goals are those who show consistency on implementing processes. They have something like a laser beam focus; they are implacable and do not feel lazy. They perform that activity at whatever cost.
Remember the question from the very beginning of the video? What do people who achieve their goals do differently? Here goes:
People who have achieved challenging goals do not focus directly on the goals. They focus on the performance of actions that will naturally lead them to their goals.
Go now to http://arata.se/focuscourse to learn how you too can take control of your focus to achieve your goals.