Recording Your Private Goals

If you want to achieve all your dreams, then write them down in a simple but remembering way

Most of us have private goals. Goal realization is a powerful tool for personal improvement. But as we all know, there is a big difference between setting goals and actually achieving them. Many of our goals go unmet and simply fade away into nothingness.

Sometimes, this is appropriate. Perhaps our lives or our priorities have changed. Maybe we once wanted to make a million dollars, for instance, but now realize that there are other things more important to us than money.

But other times, not meeting our goals means we have given up on ourselves or on our dreams.

If you want to make sure you meet the goals that are important to you, one of the best things you can do is write them down. Writing down a goal is like making a contract with yourself. We’ve all heard the joke about verbal contracts-that they’re not worth the paper they’re written on. Goals are much the same way. Unless you capture exactly what you want and what you plan to do to get there, even your best intentions can simply vanish like a magician’s rabbit.

Writing down your goals makes them concrete and real. It is a call to action to your subconscious. You are putting yourself on notice that you are very serious about making this goal happen.

What is the best way to write down a private goal? Well, the most important thing is simply to get it on paper. It doesn’t matter if you scribble it on the back of a grocery list with a magic marker or type it neatly into a word processing program, nor does it matter whether or not your spelling and grammar are perfect.

Write your private goals in the present tense. Instead of, “I want to go on a Mediterranean Cruise,” or “I will go on a Mediterranean Cruise,” write, “I am enjoying myself on a Mediterranean Cruise.” Your conscious mind may know that you haven’t achieved your goal yet, but to the subconscious, the powerhouse of ideas and the source of creative action, it is a fait accompli.

Now take a look at your goal. Are there smaller goals you must accomplish before the main goal can be achieved? For instance, in order to take your cruise, perhaps you will have to save $10,000 or build up enough vacation time at work. Be sure to write these goals down as well.

Now it is time to write down your plan of action. Your plan of action should be immediate and concrete. What do you need to do today to start working towards your goal? Perhaps you have figured out that you can save the money you need in a year if you work an extra five hours per week and cut the number of meals you eat out by half. So today you can write, “I am working an extra hour and preparing a delicious meal for myself at home.”

Check on your written goals every week or so to make sure they are still what you want and that, if they are, you are still doing what you need to do to achieve them. Frequent checking allows you to get back on track quickly, if you start to slip away from your plan of action. Make sure to write down the progress you have made and give yourself plenty of credit for successes.

Goal realization is an important part of improving your life. For the best chance of achieving your private goals, write them down and refer to your written goals frequently to make sure you are headed in the right direction.