Lesson 33: If you dream it …. date it & just do it

I have been doing research today on team vision and purpose and how to action it et cetera, et cetera. And it got me to thinking that I need to write down my vision this year – my purpose and the goals that will get me there. Yes, I have definite focus but when it comes to clearly defined goals I have to admit I have not been brave enough to put them on paper. It does take some courage – which I am practicing in serious amounts, so why not take complete accountability and write them down and then post them on my blog (maybe next time) and maybe then some more of you would actually comment after reading ….(that is sort of a joke but hey it would be nice! It gets very lonely on the other side of this keyboard and I have no idea who is actually reading these posts through ….it’s a bloggers small insanity – I’ll share about that another day…you see already off on a tangent!

FOCUS - Michelle – FOCUS!

Goals – yes, one of them is to become completely fluent in French – you are already so bored with that one hey… and the other is to actually get these 4 butts to France (no, I don't have 4 butts - by 4 I mean the four us Mollers!). Being a facilitator and writer of such training material – I should know that any goals should be SMART. Are any of you familiar with the SMART goals tool? I am sure you too have heard it at almost any planning-training session you have ever attended but let’s be Frank or Tom or even Lola – they are the best kind of goals to set.

First off they are SPECIFIC – so no more of this airy-fairy mumbo-pie-in-the-sky-jumbo-beginning-of-the- year-resolutions you make after drinking too much champagne. No these need to be clear, concise and focused goals.

Second – they are MEASURABLE – so you can track the progress as you go along.

Next they are ACHIEVABLE – so I am in no way going to set the goal of becoming America’s Next Top Model – well not this year anyway!

Fourthly they are REALISTIC– I am not going to be buying an outfit to Brad and Angelina’s nuptials  – sadly I don’t think I will make the guest list so that goal should go back to the drawing board.

And lastly they are TIMED – yes – you need to set a date to these – if you don’t … you will just keep procrastinating as I know I will.

So, I am reasonably guilty this year of poor planning – when last did I actually post on my blog? Sin number 1 – I was going to try and blog at least twice a week – you see – no SMART goal and it wasn't written down either! 

I recently read about a survey done with Yale students in the 1950’s. The Board of the Governors of Yale University decided to conduct a survey with the final year students to understand their lifestyle choices, eating habits, spiritual beliefs et cetera. One of the questions was” Do you have any goals?” Surprisingly only 10% of the students confessed to having goals and only 4% of the students actually had their goals written down. Twenty years later, the university went in search of the original group of people to complete a new survey. The most interesting outcome of the new survey was that those students who said they had written down their goals were each earning more than the total earning of the remaining 96%! The moral of the story – having goals is great but writing them down seems to make them more concrete and permanent. How many of us just live for the moment and yes, we may have some achievements in our back pocket but how much more incredible could our lives be if we took charge and actually set some goals and saw then through to completion?

• Okay so SMART is the first step – get specific people and stay realistic but with some level of  challenge.
• Then pen and paper – you have to set them in stone so to speak.
• Next regular goal re-visitation – if you are still not getting anywhere my next suggestion is to ask yourself what your challenges are and what is standing in your way to achieving said goals and be completely honest.
• Important - absolutely no procrastination – this is really self-sabotage. Maybe the real reasons you keep putting off those goals is because you actually feel it cannot be achieved, you don’t believe you deserve it, you are afraid you may fail or you simple don’t believe in yourself. The only way to get past this is to set your gaols despite how you feel and to fight the looming deceiving thoughts of possible failure and stand up to them head on. 
• Face the fear and put your best foot forward despite the uncertainty. Start with something small – get the first one achieved and then set a more challenging one and so you begin to build your confidence.

In Jeremiah 29 verse 11 God tells us that He knows the plan He has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us. Plans to give us hope and a future.

God does have plans for us but I am of the opinion that He also expects us to do something about it – faith without action is useless. We can’t sit around hoping it will just fall into our laps  - we have to take the step and I know God will honour His word and give us the strength, direction and opportunity to make the rest happen. All God’s promises are yes and amen – you just need to start the process to find your purpose, understand your vision and set your goals to make it a reality.

We have to start somewhere… so why not start here – right now. Write down your goals and put them in a place where you can see them every day and take action. I found these useful free on-line tools for you to use - it might make it more of a personal project if you have some tools to support your goal setting.

It’s what I am going to do, let me know how it goes, we can take these steps together.

Keep me posted and share some of your goals – there is no better time to start.

Do it now, do it now!

Here’s to your future and mine,

Michelle