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The ability to set goals and make plans for their accomplishment is, in reality, the “master skill” of success. It is the single most important skill that you can learn and perfect. Goal setting will do more to help you achieve the things you want in life than anything else you can ever learn to do.If you want to have a successful and fulfilling life you will have to set and pursue goals for the rest of your life. As you learn to set and achieve goals you’ll find that that the pleasure you experience when you achieve a goal, no matter how great, only lasts a short while: a week, maybe a month. The rest of the time, the great bulk of your lifetime, will be spent in pursuit of more goals.When you set a goal and make a plan to achieve it, you will be happy as long as you don’t feel that you need to achieve it. When you feel you have to achieve your goal, the pursuit loses its joy. It becomes a teeth-gritting, stress-inducing, and frustration-producing endeavor. This is why the pursuit of any goal must be enjoyable if you are going to have any chance of achieving it.Random goals are hard to achieve, because they don’t create a desire inside you to really have them. To achieve a goal it must mean something to you. It must be something you really want with your whole heart and sole.When you set a goal you should always ask yourself why you want to achieve it. How will achieving this goal improve your life? Will it bring you more wealth? Will it bring you more happiness or better health? There has to be a reason why you want to achieve the goal you’re setting. Earl Nightingale called it a “worthy ideal.”This is one of the main reasons why people who have learned to set goals at a young age achieve so much more in life than most people. Parents who teach their children how to set goals on a regular basis are giving them one of the most important future success tools possible.When parents reward their children for achieving a goal such as a higher grade in school or for some other achievement they making the pursuit of goals fun and their children want to set goals for more and more things. Goal setting then becomes a habit that a child continues to do into and through his or her entire adult life.If you randomly set a goal you need to revise the status of your goal. Change it from a need to desire. It’s a simple decision. When you feel pressured and unhappy about working toward your goal, the feeling is your warning light reminding you that a goal is a preference. Remember, the starting point of all achievement is not need, it is desire.If reminding yourself of this fact doesn’t change how you feel, consider giving up on your goal because chances are you will never achieve it. Most likely you will discover that you don’t want to give up, because the act of thinking about it will help put your goal in perspective.The goals you set are your own. It’s your life. You don’t have to set them, and you don’t have to achieve them. As long as you are aware of this fact, the process of setting goals will be enjoyable, and it will make it much easier to maintain a positive attitude. When you forget it and start thinking you need to accomplish your goal, you loose the pleasure of the pursuit. Without pleasure what’s the point of setting goals at all.You may be thinking: “The point of my goal is not pleasure. I’m trying to send my child to college,” or “I’ve got to pay my mortgage.” If you are thinking this way, you may be in the trap right and not know it. You don’t have to do any of these things.When you recognize that these are games you have set up for yourself, your mental and physical health will improve, your personality will be more pleasing and your mind will calmer. All of these things will help you think more accurately.Most important, recognizing that your goals are desires and not needs will make success more likely for you. There is also an added bonus: it will make the pursuit more fun.Copyright©2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many businesses around the world, on the subjects of leadership, achievement, goals, strategic business planning, and marketing. Joe is the author of three books, Starting Your Own Business, Finding Your Purpose In Life, and The Guerrilla Marketing Workbook.
Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com
Read more articles and newsletters at: www.jlmandassociates.com
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