We all have dreams. We have a multitude of wishes. Most of us want a life that is at least a little if not very different from the one we’re living now. A better brighter reality. There’s a lot that we want, but unfortunately don’t always manage to achieve. Why so? Why don’t dreams turn into reality?
To create the reality that we want, we first need to dream it. You can’t consciously create what you can’t imagine.
The first and perhaps the most crucial step in achieving what you want is understanding what it is that you really want. Sounds simple to the extent of being silly does it?
Do you really know what you want clearly?
Most people have a vague abstract concept of what they want. I want to be successful, I want to be thin or I just want my child to stop troubling me! Are your goals similarly broad and undefined?
All possible opportunities exist in the world.
It’s a forest out there, with fruits and flowers and plants and trees beyond your imagination. Which one do you want to pick? Choose wisely.
The ultimate goal
Understanding through the metaphor of the forest, vague goals are like wanting to have a tree. Just a tree – without any details of what kind, by when or where. There is also a lack of clarity of what it is that you want to get out of the tree. Do you want shade? Or do you want the flowers? Do you want the fruits? The leaves? The view?
So why do you want a tree? What is it that you want to get out of your goal? What is your ultimate goal?
It’s time now to clarify what is it that you really want. Is it financial security, independence, peace of mind, balance, good health, power, satisfaction, a sense of purpose, passion or something else?
Means to the end
Identifying your ultimate goal or motive will then help you identify the best tools to achieve it, will help you to choose the best path which reaches your destination.
What will make you feel independent? What are you passionate about? What assets will make you feel financially secure? What is your definition of balance? What all would being healthy involve? These will be your tangible goals.
Different goals will obviously require different approaches, different routes and different workmanship. You can’t deal with facts through philosophy or creativity through rules. You cannot tend to a rice field the same way you tend to a rose plant. None can thrive. Your tangible goals will help you focus and devise efficient and appropriate work plans to achieve them.
Without them, you may just keep wandering around the forest, with a lot of trees within but just outside your reach. And even if you do grab one, it may not give you what you really wanted and leave you dissatisfied. Do you want to end up with a coconut when what you actually wanted were apples? 😉
Post contributed by: Mahima Gupta (Psychologist, Inner Space, 2010-2012)
Imran… I agree its difficult to understand what our goals could be. Perhaps that is why this article is encouraging one to gain more clarity. Sometimes when you gain clarity, you realize you possibly don’t even want what you have been running after 🙂
Oh yes I’d second the keep playing football bit 🙂
Nice, but in today’s world there’s so much confusion over what we really want or what are primary or secondary goal is. In the course to achieve our goals we tend to loose direction or focus and head towards some new random goals. The world is round and we’re all running a never ending marathon around it, the good thing is we would never know whether we will win or loose.
I’d Say: Play Football & keep scoring goals 🙂