Plan, Purpose, Intention; The Importance of Goals

Were you one of the children that always heard that goal setting is important but, yet never actually witnessed the application of someone using them? If your childhood schooling was anything at all like mine then we both really missed out on the vital influence of goal setting and the effects it can have on our dreams.

Let's face it! A dream without a plan is just that, a dream. I have always hated the saying, "follow your dreams." Oh, please! Your dream is not going to open the door and say, "hey, you! Come on we are going this way!" That's why I always say, create your dreams. That is very important to remember when you are preparing and setting goals. You have to think long-term and work your way down the line until you know exactly what you need to do right now to get you closer to your long-term vision.

So goals are important and all but where do we start? There are a lot of different ways that you can use goals. I like to use a systematic approach. Every year my goal set changes. My ten year year and five year goals hopefully haven't changed but, it's okay if they do! Sometimes we have a change of heart but, that leads me to a very important aspect of any goal setting decision. Let's put the emphasis on that last word there; decision.

You must decide. Where are you going? What's your end vision look like? This is absolutely essential. Planning your goals has to be done with intention. Each short term goal needs to create a stepping stone toward your long term goal. That's how your create your dreams! Liong term goals are going to look like just that, a dream! Don't let that scare you, believe it and you can acheive it!

Now you figured out the dream so what's the next step? Decide on something more tangible that you can attain that will get you closer to that big dream of yours. On my board this would be my one year goal, the big long term goal being ten and five years. Now, one year is a lot to fathom still so let's keep breaking it down. Now that I know what I need to accomplish this year in order to get closer to my five and ten year goals I'm going to break my year down into more tangible goals.

Next month I will be invovled in local meetings discussing artwork in the community. I will also be involved in local and some non-local art contests. I will have 4 new blog posts and 4 final pieces of new artwork as well as added 2 new members to my Master Mind group. See how easy that is? These are definite tanglible actions that I will do eventually leading me to my year goal to be a full time artist. It's incredibly easy to keep breaking it down but, you may have to practice witht his trial and error style for a little bit. Just make sure that the closer your goals get to the present the easier and more tangibile they are. For example I would then break down my goals into this month and then next week and this week. This week I will be gathering contacts and finishing up a piece of art as a well as writing a blog post.

Setting goals needs to be coherent with what you want and these goals need to be actions. Careful! It's fairly easy to saty in dreamworld where all these goals are more like clouds and an imaginary friend than they are concrete plans of action. Perhaps the important aspect of goal setting is that it gives your daily habits and descisions purpose. Why are you spending hours and hours writing, editing, etc? Why are you spending hours and hours practicing, studying, etc? You could be out partying or swimming. You have to have purpose. The reason I am giving up having fun right now is because I'm creating a dream and I am williong to work for it! Don't forget to cultivate your relationships but, remember to give yourself alone time too.

Now go out there and keep on keepin' on! You can acheive your dreams if, and only if you create them! So what are you waiting for? Get steppin'!

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