When Neil Alden Armstrong – a former American astronaut, test pilot, university professor, and United States Naval Aviator – set his foot on the moon on July 21, 1969 spoke the following words…

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

This basic tenet has significant meaning in achieving goals that you’ve set in your life. That means breaking the goals down into measurable steps!

Just like an astronaut, to realize his or her dream to board a spacecraft and eventually walk on the moon, would take years of thorough training and preparation. Only with focus, commitment and relentless determination could an astronaut be ready for the mission to space.

The point I’m trying to make here is… in order to achieve your goals, it’s not enough to just keep thinking and visualizing the ‘goal’ itself. You must be willing to work on it and pay more attention to the ‘actions’ that will take you closer to your goals. In other words, you got to be willing to pay the ‘price’ first before you can attain the ‘prize’.

Too many people tend to focus on the prize first before paying the price! Doing so will not move you closer to your goals.

So, how do you make your goals more achievable?

The answer is to break them down into measurable steps. Besides having a strong determination for success, you must also learn to have realistic expectations. Combined these qualities with a clear action plan, you can surely make your goals achievable.

For example: Let’s say you’ve decided to lose some excess body weight. You want to begin a healthy diet and exercise program. Your goal is to lose 50 pounds in 6 months, follow a healthy diet plan and be able to run two miles a day. It’s March; you indicate a target date of September.

Now, write your goal down: 50 pounds in 6 months; target date: September; action plan: healthy diet plan; run two miles a day. Put your written goal in a place where you can easily see it daily. Next, focus on the action plan, break it down into smaller steps by following a specific diet plan; and begin running 20 to 30 minutes a day.

Monitor your progress. If in the first week, you begin to see results – your confidence will increase; and you will become even more motivated to continue.

Last but not least, don’t give up! If you’ve come so far to set your goals, put them in motion; don’t let your goals die and disappear. Stay focused on your action plan. Don’t think too much about the end result (or prize), pay your price first but more importantly enjoy the journey!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 10:13 pm and is filed under Goal Setting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.