For the last couple weeks I have been talking about goals. I started by defining my own goals for 2011 and then followed up by looking at the problems people face on the way to achieving their goals. So, I decided not to leave you guys hanging by giving you everything that could go wrong with your goals and give you some words of encouragement towards achieving them.

The main thread of these three blog posts is the fact that goal setting and goal achievement needs to be more methodical and structured. It is paramount to make the goal as tangible as possible. Make the goal real really ask yourself why do I want to achieve this goal…what impact would it have if I actually achieved the goal? One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight. Great goal, right? But what would actually achieving that goal mean to a person? Would that mean that they could fit in their favorite jeans? If so, why not put those jeans out where you could see them every single day? Would it mean that you could play sports with your kids or take a hike with your significant other? It is important to remind yourself why you set that goal.

Outline the steps you need to achieve that goal. The more important the goal, the more important the steps are. Some people have these great ideas and don’t have any clue where to begin. In college, I wanted to become a writer and motivational speaker. The truth was that I had no clue how to become a motivational speaker until three years after I graduated when I met my mentor Frank Miles. I did not attempt to find out what it took to become a motivational speaker, it was just this idea in the back of my mind. I was so bad that I did not go to Google and type how to become a motivational speaker (hint).

Make your goals a priority. If your goal is to start a company or start writing a book, you must treat it like a part-time job. It is imperative that you don’t treat it as a hobby, you must take it seriously. This is your future and work needs to be treated like work. Like I said in the last post, make an appointment with yourself and don’t allow distraction unless it’s an emergency.

When you decide to make an appointment, you should formalize the appointment. It may be a bad idea to work on your idea while watching American Idol or some other TV show like that. In setting up your plan, maybe you want to get out of the house and work at a book store or a coffee shop. In my line of work, I have a home office and cannot just pick up my laptop and take it into the living room. I can only write when my manager Kristi is in my office, so that means I can only write Monday-Thursday from 9-2. There were days when I would rather watch paint dry than write, but I knew that I would not get the opportunity to write until the next day. But at the end of the day, I wrote despite my apathy.

Timelapse - Lighthouse (Oct 2012) from IMK Digital Multimedia on Vimeo.