You Can be Great If You Really Want To

The Perfect Time for Planning: December is the perfect time to review your year’s goals and accomplishments noting the progress you have made. It is also the perfect time to fine tune your Vision, Purpose, Mission, Values and create a Goal Plan for the coming New Year. This article will describe how you can accomplish this important activity.

Why Have Vision, Purpose, Mission, and Value Statements: When a person knows their destination in life (Vision), why they are living (Purpose), how they are best serving (Mission), and precisely what they Value, then they are equipped with the knowledge and guidance to say YES or NO to the many things that come into their lives. Living congruently with your Vision, Purpose, Mission, and Values (VPMVs) is rewarding and brings inner peace, happiness, and joy to your life. But first, you need to know your VPMVs!

Your Vision: Vision is a vivid picture of where you want to go in your life. It’s your ideal destination. Most people just react to life events and let other people tell them what to do. They have no clear idea of what they desire or how far they can grow and develop. They don’t take responsibility for the quality of their lives and blame their situations on events and circumstances outside themselves. With a clear vivid vision, people know what they desire, want to create, and they are deciding and choosing to take actions to achieve the life they want.

Choose a time in the future – one, three, five, 10, or 20 years in the future, and imagine what the ideal life would be like. Write a detailed and vivid description of that ideal life. Fill your description with emotion and inspirational words that will motivate you and act as a beacon to guide you in the creation of what you want. After writing your description, distill it into a written statement that you can remember (one or two sentences at the most). You will be using this statement of your vision to guide your decisions and choices in life. With a clear direction to travel, you will be guided in your path as if you had a compass to show you the way.

Your Purpose: Your arrival on this earth is not some coincidence. Your purpose for existing is not to consume resources in pursuit of indulgences with no meaning. You came into this world to fulfill some very unique and important purpose or purposes. Identifying that purpose and conducting your mission within that purpose can bring you great satisfaction, joy, and happiness. Working and living “on purpose” becomes seamless as the time flies by with total immersion in your “on purpose” activities. What are you passionate about? What contribution to the world do you naturally love to make? What is your purpose for living and working on this earth? Why are you here?

Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed. Let your mind dwell on the subject of purpose. Ask yourself the question, “Why am I here?” Immediately after asking that question, write your first thought(s) on a piece of paper. Continue asking the same question and recording your initial thoughts until you have exhausted all possible answers. Examine your recorded thoughts for some common theme that answers your question. Capture that theme in a statement of your purpose. As time passes, your purpose may evolve.

Your Mission: Your mission describes your labor, what you do both in work and life. It involves using your natural skills, strengths, and competencies. Your mission is where you will be able to perform your best work tirelessly with great energy, meaning, joy, and satisfaction. What is your mission?

Mission statements are made up of four parts. They are:

Who you are? (I am a unique person of greatness and unlimited potential)

What are your major roles? (i.e. son or daughter, husband or wife, father or mother, business leader, provider for your family, etc.)

What services do you provide in each of your roles? (i.e. respect & love, companionship, nurturing and education, coaching and feedback, secure financial planning, supervision, labor, etc.)

To what standard do you provide your services? (excellence, etc.)

Jot down your answers to the questions using unbounded brainstorming techniques. Identify common themes and combine into phrases. Combine your phrases into a sentence or two and polish to create your unique mission statement. As with purpose, your mission may change and evolve with time.

Your Values: Values are guides to your thinking, behavior, actions, and results. Values act as boundaries to conducting your mission, living on purpose, and traveling toward your vision. Therefore, identifying your guiding values can be quite valuable in your life journey.

As you develop into and through adulthood you learn to value certain objects, relationships, characteristics, and concepts. It is natural to find yourself learning to value hundreds of “things.” However, hundreds of valued things can’t act as guides.

Brainstorm and write on a piece of paper all the things you value. Include ideals or which you are aware and characteristics you admire in leaders, friends, and people. With your complete list, look for common themes or ways to combine items into similar groups. For instance, keeping commitments could be grouped with integrity. Continue the combining process until you feel that you have identified your foundational values. The number of values and wording should be such that you can instantly recall what they are. After identifying your values, you can begin to consciously use them in your work and life. As they are used and you think more about your values, you may want to repeat this exercise or refine your current list. Over time you will become sure of your foundational values and know what they are.

Dream Again – Goal Planning: Most people I know work many hours, have a family to raise, and other obligations that consume most if not all of their time and lives. Dreams they once had are placed on the back burner, so long ago, that they can’t be remembered today. It’s time to pause, reflect, resurrect, and record anew those dreams. Take time to crystallize your dreams so you may create the future you want. If you don’t dream, you won’t have a future, at least the future you desire and wish to create.

Find a quiet place where you can relax and just let your thoughts travel back into the past and forward into your future. What are all the things you want to learn, become, do, visit, own, feel, interact with, and impact. Take 3 X 5 cards and write one item on each new card. Let your imagination run wild with no limitations, especially financial costs. Write them down as you dream them one to a card.

John Goddard did this when he was 15 and created a list of 127 adventures he wanted to experience. Type 60 words a minute, milk a rattlesnake, travel the Amazon river, climb Mt. Everest, go into space, hold his breath under water for 3 minutes. John Goddard has accomplished 109 of his dreams. He is a very happy man.

Take your cards (goals) and sort them into the following three piles: Must do, Like to do, Will do if time permits. Then prioritize each pile and combine them Must do on top, Like to do next, and then Will do if time permits. You now have a priority list of your dreams that become your life goals. Take the top two or three dreams / goals, plan their accomplishment, and start taking actions to manifest them. When you feel comfortable with your progress and have time, activate the next priority dream / goal on your prioritized list and repeat the process. Do this each New Year and you will never run out of adventures!

If You Do Nothing Else! I challenge you to take out a pen right now and write down three goals that if you accomplished them in 2007 would make it the best year ever. The hard part is making up your mind, the rest is just work! Make up your mind now, make the commitment, and take the first step toward realizing one of your goals.

For everyone, to get any type of success in life, goal setting is very important and what is even more important is the fact that you stick to those goals which are essential to achieve the hopes and dreams connected with it.

A good and organized plan of action is the first major step towards successful goal setting. For example, someone who wishes to earn more money can do an additional job while he is at home after full day in office. In this way, he can earn more money while working from home and also spend his time creatively which he earlier was spending by watching television and browsing internet uselessly. This is the simplest example of positive and resourceful goal setting.

A realistic plan is also very important thing while setting up a goal. Like, it would be very unwise if someone says that he wants to save enough to become a billionaire without even knowing how much to earn, how much to spend and then, how much to save. There is no wrong point of thinking big and striving for them but the important thing is that the goals should be within reach otherwise that condition might result in depressive state of mind. So, in order to evade the negative impact of failure of achieving your goals, practicality and setting goals that are within reach is a must thing while setting up goals.

Once you have got your goals set, it is very important to stay focused at it all the time. Actually, it means to be very careful with your funds if suppose your goal involves finances and capital. A prime example is that someone saves a down payment of his home and gets a brand new sports car that catches attention of everybody on the road. A person who is focused on buying a new home with that saved money will feel more contented than one who buys a new car from same money hastily just to calm down his enticement. After some time, this will definitely result in remorse for the car buyer.

Setting up of goals is a very important part of our lives right from the beginning. Whether in some school assignment, holiday homework that needs to be finished in a week, some project or venture work that has to be finished by the end of the day or any financial goal or plan that needs to be accomplished, effective planning and goal setting will definitely help you conclude even the hardest and the most challenging tasks within the prescribed deadlines with great ease and effortlessness.

Everyone wants to prosper, grow and excel. This is human nature and more than a factual understatement but the question is how do you excel, get the ingredients, requisites for growth and development? Million dollar question! The answer is simply just by getting unbiased knowledge to put into practical use.

Live events such as workshops on motivation, motivational mentoring and workshop conferences, Europe conferences, Asian conferences, skill workshop, are often a source of guidance and inspiration as has always been to achieve your desirable goals in an active rather than passive way. Such events are organized and targeted at variety of audiences from corporate executives to students, policy makers and professionals inter alia, in any calling.The interactive nature of such events makes it possible for even the slowest learner or reserved person, unsuccessful organizations and businesses to grasp the fundamentals and dynamic concepts needed to achieve a particular desire like individual empowerment, leadership development, career path development, corporate strategies, career development plans, and so on.It also provides more insight to others who faring better to gain stronger grounds. Everyone is unique and has a distinct way of doing things. By understanding oneself better, analyzing thoughts, actions for the aim of improvement and taking pragmatic corrective steps against any weaknesses, progress is inevitably around the corner-guaranteed!. Certainly, it is up to the individual or group to focus on objectives and enrich self at every stage of life.

Knowledge is power goes a popular saying. But this remark as good as it sounds has its limitations for knowledge is only potential or temporary power which without practical application geared towards a specific goal is almost meaningless. Extra effort is always needed to continue from where school instructions stops, that is facing the real world. Little wonder, why so many people stuck in the rut while others have made it big in life to the astonishment of many, in some cases without formal schooling.The secret mainly lies in discovering a formula to success and investing time, money and energy to accomplish whatever. Self belief,imagination, sound ideas are invaluable assets to any individual or group which can be transformed to boundless riches, material or otherwise. The fact that other people achieved great heights is an indelible proof that anyone can-Yes anybody can!

Dissatisfaction with prevailing unpleasant circumstances- whether it is the negative impact of the recession or whatever, should propel one to take active steps for transformational change and progress with a colorful spirit. You should be a master of circumstances not a slave thereof. Opportunities abound from any situation, it is just a matter of focus. Being ambitious is a powerful habit which everyone should have but unfortunately; only a few develop such traits. By applying the styles and strategies others used to achieve success practically, the sky seems to be the limit-incontestable fact! History as always reserves comment and does not tell lies. There are tons of examples from states men to celebrities including your own heroes and idols who only reached their status after taking stringent efforts as individuals committed to take charge of their fate. So many became millionaires after being fired from work or lost something which gave them more strength and will power rather than giving up. The same process can apply to you too, way much easier by application of strategies actively other strong personalities used. 

All can achieve self confidence, improve competence and gain self reliance for given practical education, the ability to realize inherent potential becomes manifest for a fulfilled life. Attending interactive live sessions, conferences spanning a day or a few days can lead to dramatic changes and development for life is all about achievements and accomplishments. It provides opportunity to meet people who have experienced worst case scenarios and outlived such, people who never struggled too much and made it and still growing-different strokes for different folks, really. Think possible and you will definitely use those wings you have always had and soar like an eagle.

Laying the right foundation and advancing on it is imminent for success in whatever goal from career development plans to leadership development. You can still make it and sustain, be at parallel with other achievers or even surpass. It is your choice. A good one-take it and make the best out of.