Truth Seeker: Going for the Goal
This idea of making a goal and sticking with it, all started when I finished reading, Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. I have always been in the habit of making goals and resolutions, but typically they would fade out before I ever reached them. It finally occurred to me, after reading this book, that my goals failed every time, because I didn't have a plan to conquer them in the first place!
I am a Type A personality. I love to organize. I love to plan. I spend way too much time in the journal and planner section of Target. But when it came time to creating a plan to conquer a goal, I failed in that department. Maybe it was because the goal seemed too out of reach, too difficult, or maybe I believed I couldn't do it. Either way I wasn't doing what I said I wanted to do, because I didn't have a road map, to get me to where I wanted to go.
As soon as I finished reading Girl, Stop Apologizing, I knew that I had a goal in the back of my mind that I was too afraid to say out loud. I didn't know if I could actually achieve it, but I said it out loud anyways. I very shyly walked up to my husband and said "I am going to publish a journal".
Hollis includes in her book, a visual that explains how you can plan for your goals (see picture above). The way that she explains how you conquer your goals... is not a new concept. Simply saying you are going to do something will not push you towards your goals. Planning for it, will.
The plan is simple... you work your way BACKWARDS. Start with your goal as if you just completed it. You ran a marathon. You published a book. You paid off your student debt. You saved your marriage. You completed a project. The steps that follow will be your main steps (the things you need to do, to complete your goal). In my example below, I started by saying my goal is to write and sell my journals. I needed to think of the 3-4 main things that I needed to do, to make that goal happen. Notice I said what I needed to do, not how.
The truth is you won't know how to do certain things at first. There will be steps where you have to do a little digging, a little research, and a whole lot of googling. Just focus on what it is that you need to do in order to reach your goal. And the final step in planning backwards, is speaking life into your goal. Remember... that's the scariest part. Speak life into your goal, proclaiming that this is what I am going to do, you may not be sure how, but you will work towards your goal despite it all. Once that happens, you are able to look forward, rather than backwards.
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Think of that one goal that keeps popping into your head. No matter how silly you think it is, or how impossible it seems to conquer... what is that one goal you have? Write it down as if you just completed it. Not "I want to...", but rather "I just did...".
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What are the 3-4 steps that you know will lead you to your goal? Remember not to worry about how you will make it happen, but instead what do you need to do to get there? I knew that in order to have my own journals, I needed to write them first, design them, and then publish them.
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2. _______________
3. _______________
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Now you have a general idea, a map of how to stay on course, to get to your goal. Of course along the way you will need to make "stops" to figure out the how, and the when... but you know your what. Now it is time to speak life into your goal... so that you may confidently work towards your goal.
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