The Purpose of a Goal

E. R. Haas, writes that 74% of the population allow their dreams and goals to die because they are not focused. I like to think I'm in the 26% of those who are focused. What about you?

Anyway, Haas' article was a wake-up call for me. I do have goals. I do write them down. I do read them occassionally. But, the sad truth is my life does not reflect focus. I have unfinished projects, great ideas in my head, and brilliant advice for others. What about you?

Have you identified something you can focus on? Something you absolutely must make happen, period? Haas' went on to say that people confuse dreams, goals, and plans. This confusion leads to a mental disconnect, so the goal falls by the wayside.

The purpose of a goal is to help us narrow our focus. A goal gives us something to work towards, it gives us a reason to keep moving forward. Back when I was working on my degree, I created a doable plan to help me accomplish that goal. I remained focused on completing each small tasks (homework, papers, etc.) realizing that each small tasks would eventually add up to one big goal completed. I wanted my degree. It was a consuming passion, and I was determined that I would do whatever I had to -- I had to reach my goal.

Well, now that I'm awake, I'm revisiting my goals, my dreams, and my plans. I believe to be successful (you define it) we must have all three. The trick is to know the difference in the purpose of each, and to integrate all three into our lives.

Until next post, remember ...
"Life with no purpose is no life at all!"

Purpose and A Burning Desire

It's been hard for me to get in gear these days! I have set a financial goal for my speaking business this year, and I know if I just sit around playing Hearts it will never happen. It's already March! I know that as a motivational speaker and trainer, it's my job to motivate, right? Truth is, I haven't felt motivated. So I thought about why?

I remembered a book I read by Jack Canfield called, "Success Principles" and Jack says you have to have a burning desire ... your why you'll do whatever you have to do to get what you want frame of mind. If you don't have a why, you won't do the what!

Sometimes, as in my case, your why is just not strong enough to sustain you. Translation ... it's really not that important! So I revisted my goal and decided to adjust it. 2007 won't be the year I become a multimillionaire. Heck, I'd rather spend some of my time visting my kids, and grands, anyway.

Speak Life!

I just returned from a 2-day trainer/speaker workshop in Kansas City. My friend, "Mr. Lifestyle" aka Jamie Swindell did the honors. It was phenomenal!

How? You wonder? Well, unlike most "train-the-trainer" events, Jamie started the day off with us focusing on our internal dialogue and how it hinders our external dialogue. He mentioned that we trainers have huge egos ... Naaahhh! To learn from another trainer, we had to promise to take our egos off, throw them out, and not hurt anyone. Okay, so it was a little hokey. But guess what? That little hokey exercise helped me see that my internal self-talk has kept me from delivering 100%. You see, not only is "Mr. Lifestyle" a great trainer...he makes six figures and only works 5 -- yep, count 'em -- f-i-v-e days a month, teaching Excel no less.

Anyway, this training got me to thinking about what I'm saying to myself. What's keeping me from breaking out of the rut we trainers sometimes crawl in to? Yep, you got it! Negative self-talk! Mmm...reminds me of a Proverb I heard recently: "The power of life and death is in the tongue" How about we start speaking life?