BECOME A GOAL GETTER

Most disucssions and messages about goal-setting stop right there — at the goal-setting.  But, goal-getting is the, well, the goal! You need a plan to get not just set - so today, we end this week’s focus on goals by talking about the getting!
 
“The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act, we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably in thought and act.” — Orison Swett Marden
 
10 Steps to Goal-Getting [Apprehend Your Goals]
Following yesterday’s work, you have been taken through the 7-Steps to Goal-Setting, now it is time to focus on Goal-Getting!  Here are the ten simple steps to ensure you get your goals:
 
1. Identify Your Top Goals:  From the exercise yesterday, identify the top 5-7 goals you believe are ‘musts’ for you to achieve.  For each one, complete steps 2 - 10 as described below.
 
2. Motivate Yourself to Act: 
a) Write down the pain or cost to you if do not achieve this goal;
b) Write down all the benefits/pleasure you will receive by working towards and achieving each of these goals.
 
3. Anticipate Obstacles:  List all potential roadblocks that could prevent you from reaching this goal.  Ask yourself why you have not already achieved this goal.  Perhaps it wasn’t on your radar screen before.  However, maybe you have been resisting accomplishing this goal for another reason - what is it and how do you overcome it this time?
 
4. Assess New Knowledge Requirements:  What do you need to learn, and/or new skills do you need to acquire to achieve this goal?
 
5. Resource Identification:  What time, talent and treasure (money) from yourself and others will you need to achieve this goal?
 
6. Do Your OPRA plan (see last week’s messages):  For each goal, identify the desired outcomes you are focused on, the purpose that is driving you, the rewards you will give yourself along the way, and the specific actions you will need to take to achieve each goal.
 
7. Double Check that Each Goal is S.M.A.R.T:  Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Sensitive.
 
8. Act Now:  Once you have completed the previous seven steps, do not delay, take some action immediately to move forward towards achieving that goal.  Even if it is as simple as Internet research, making a phone call, visualizing what it will be like to have achieved the goal — do something right now!
 
9. Continue to Act - Every Day:  Do something every day that moves you toward your most important goal.  This daily habit will cause you to develop the BIG MO — momentum!
 
10. Track Your Progress:  Hold yourself accountable to hit clearly defined milestones along the way to achieving the goal.
 
Program Your Mind and Body [Proclaim and Obtain Your Goals]
Now that you have identified your goals by completing the seven goal-setting steps, and have completed the ten goal-getting steps, it is time to lock in your odds of success in achieving your goals.  You must start speaking into existence each goal.  You must visualize what it will look like, feel like, sound like to achieve each goal.
 
For each goal, develop affirmations that you speak to yourself (out loud) at least 3 times per day.  Affirmations need to be personal, positive, present tense statements of your goals.  Here are some examples:
> I am a fit, healthy athlete and weigh 185 lbs.
> I am financially free, with no dept, passive income of at least $150,000 per year, and have $1,000,000 invested.
> I give freely of my time and talent to the community by volunteering 10 hours per month at the Boys and Girls Club.
> I am continually striving for a deeper walk with God by spending daily time in prayer, Bible study, and performing my God-given assignment.
 
*Take Responsibility For What You Can Do by Designing Your Dream Board, Supersizing Your Goals, Setting and Getting Your Goals, and Apprehending/Proclaiming/Obtaining

DAILY PRAYER 
“A man has joy by the answer of his mouth.” - Proverbs 15:23a  and
“The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty.” - Proverbs 21:5a
 
Lord, help us to be dreamers, to be supersize thinkers, to be goal-setters, and to be goal-getters — all aimed at fulfilling the potential that you placed in us.  In Jesus name, Amen.
 
Tag You’re It — GO!
 
Grace and peace multiplied to you,

GO LARGE - GOAL LARGE

Many things in life can be supersized - only problem - most of them are not good for you (do you really need 5 lbs of french fries).  But, supersizing your goals is a very good thing! 
 
Most people don’t even have goals, let alone have them supersized - today we change that for you!

Successful People Have Written Goals and a Personal Strategic Plan!

WRITTEN Goals Make All the Difference
In February 2003, USA Today reported on a study of people who had set New Year’s resolutions the year before.  They found that only 4 percent of the people who had made New Year’s resolutions, but had not put them in writing, actually followed through on them.  But 46 percent of those people who had written down their New Year’s resolutions carried them out.  This is a difference in success rates of more than 1,100 percent!
 
There is a power in taking a thought in your head - and putting it on paper.  You find clarity, you see gaps, you move from interested to committed.  If you get nothing else from today’s message, accept the discipline of writing down your goals.
 
7 - Steps to Goal-Setting
If you took yesterday’s message to heart and have decided to do your own dream board, then you are well on your way to goal-setting.  Here are the seven simple steps to powerfully setting goals:
 
1. Dream/Brainstorm:  Write down everything you want to be, do or have in the key areas of your life - a. Faith; b. Family; c. Friends; d. Fitness; e. Finances; g. Fun; and h. Career/Business (somebody needs to invent an ‘f’ word for career!).
 
2. Streamline/Prioritize Your Dream List
     a. Ask yourself “Why” for each of the things listed on your list from step #1 — if you can’t come up with a good why, then it doesn’t survive for the next round.
 
     b. Ask yourself “Are the remaining dreams (left after step #2-a) consistent with my values?”.
 
     c. Ask yourself “Will achieving the remaining dreams (left after step #2-b) be worth the effort — assess cost vs. benefit (i.e. will reaching this goal make me happier?  healthier? more prosperous? give me more peace of mind? make me more secure? improve my relationships with others?).  In other words, will achieving the remaining dreams take you to a place you desire to be in your life?
 
     d. Ask yourself “Have you really stretched yourself?”  “Will these dreams need the help and resources of others?”  “Is the size of these dreams a little big scary?” “Have you really supersized your dreams - beyond your wildest dreams”.  Force yourself to adjust your dream list to think bigger than you have ever thought before.  Make them so big, that if you fall short, what you hit is still way beyond your comfort zone.  Why pursue a life of mediocrity, of small dreams, of little growth — go for the gusto of high adventure, beyond you thinking, create a legacy of big dreams - well accomplished.
 
3. Check for Balance with Regard to Timing:  Divide the remaining dreams from step #2-c into short-range (12 months or less), intermediate (1 - 2 years), and long-term (2 - 5 years).
 
4. Turn the remaining dreams (from Step #3) into S.M.A.R.T. Goals:  Make them Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant (to your purpose and values), and Time-Sensitive.
 
5. Prioritize the goals (which are lead dominoes - if achieved would tend to help achieve the other goals)
 
6. Make a final decision as to the top 2-3 goals in each area of your life that you are committed to achieving.
 
7. Write down your final list of goals - have it with you everywhere - in the car, in the office, in the bathroom, in your wallet/purse

**It is never too late to plan a better future - start today with a fresh set of goals**

DAILY PRAYER 
“He who earnestly seeks good, finds favor.” - Proverbs 11:27  and
“Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished.” - Proverbs 13.12b
 
Lord, help us to think bigger, think better, do more - but for the right reasons and in the right way.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Work on your dream board, and your goal-setting.  Tomorrow we will focus on goal-getting!  After all, setting goals is not the ultimate destination — it is who you become in the pursuit of those goals, and the actual getting of those goals that we are after.
 
Grace and peace multiplied to you,

Michael Stay
President
Core Impact, Inc

GOAL-SETTING and GOAL-GETTING

This week our theme is all about goals - how to set them and how to get them!
 
Today we start with the all important first step which is to capture your dreams in an exciting and fun way.  Get ready to throw caution to the wind, believe anything is possible, and commit to changing your life in 2008.
 
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!
 
Dream Board Fundamentals
To turbocharge your dreams you are in for a fun exercise.  Creation of your own personal dream board will provide incredible benefits for you.  First of all, what is a dream board?  It is a place to graphically represent your dreams in a powerful way to imprint your mind, will and emotions with a powerful image of your dreams.
 
So, go purchase a poster board or other heavy stock display board that you can mount photo’s, pictures, headlines and other fun depictions of your dreams.  Secondly, think about your dreams.  Last week, I suggested you develop a list of all the things you want to be, have and do.  From that list, prioritize and choose key dreams that you are really passionate about pursuing. 
 
Get Creative - Picture Your Future!
Now, go on a mad hunt of finding graphical resources that represent those priority dreams - taking your own photo’s, cutting out pictures from magazines, securing catalogs, printing off pictures from the Internet, and otherwise grab other graphical depictions of your top dreams wherever you can find them.  Perhaps a visit to a parade of homes, a new auto dealer’s lot, a university that you wish to attend, a business that you have your eye on purchasing, a hobby that you love to participate in, etc.
 
Now for the creative part - take those graphical resources and arrange them on your dream board in a collage type arrangement.  Add headlines, or other descriptors to embellish, explain, or enhance your dreams.  A true art projects for adults - cut, paste (well maybe glue), circle, highlight, arrange, etc.  Play with it, have fun with it, make it your own parade of dreams.
 
Now place this board in a place that you can view and study everyday.  Fast forward and visualize your life as if you have already achieved the dreams on your board, how does it feel, how does it look, how is your life changed.  This needs to become a habit of idealization - imagine a perfect future for your health, your business, your finances, your family, or any other area.  Your conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time, either positive or negative.  You may be capable of thinking hundreds of thoughts in a row, but you can only think of one thought at a time.  Therefore, pick thoughts that will help lead you to the actualization of your dreams.
  
**Step out in faith, create your dream board & let it be a catalyst to change your life**

DAILY PRAYER 
“A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul.” - Proverbs 13:19a  and
“But when the desire comes it is a tree of life.” - Proverbs 13.12b
 
Lord, please expand our dreams, align our dreams to your Word and will, and bless our dreams.  In Jesus name, Amen.
 
 
Today our focus has been on identifying your dreams, and powerfully displaying them to imprint and focus your thoughts on them.  Tomorrow we will talk about supersizing your goals, and then Wednesday will be about apprehending, proclaiming and obtaining!
 
Grace and peace multiplied to you,

Michael Stay
President
Core Impact, Inc