Develop Passion and Desire for Achieving Your Goals!
During my seminars and workshops, many people ask me how they can develop greater levels of motivation and passion. The answer is simple: Start setting goals for yourself!
We are all motivated by challenge and pursuit. We can never really be fulfilled unless we are progressing towards something of importance. Decide what’s important to you and how you want to improve your life. By deciding what is you want you will develop a burning desire to accomplish your goals. Defeat the fear and attitude of “stagnation” that seems to hold other people back.
Goals challenge you to grow. If you never set a goal, how do you move out of your comfort zone? We are naturally programmed to always follow the path of least resistance. In goal setting, following the path of least resistance and always doing what is fun, easy, and convenient, will limit your success. Achieving your goals is challenging. If it weren’t challenging, it wouldn’t be called a goal. It would be called a pastime, hobby, or interest. However, our natural tendency to stay within the comfort zone can be overridden by goal setting.
We are all natural goal setters and high achievers. We must simply unlock our potential. It all depends on how badly you want to achieve the goal. How passionate are you about what you want to accomplish? The more intensely you desire your goal, the more likely you will be to exert your powers of self discipline and more likely you are to actually make yourself do the things you need to do when you need to do them.
The biggest obstacle to setting goals and thus achieving goals is fear and the many forms that fear can take; failure, rejection, ridicule, etc. However, a strong desire coupled with a passion to succeed will overcome the feeling of fear. If you continually think about and visualize what it is you want, and do it with passion, your desire will become so strong that it will virtually eliminate any fear or apprehension you have. In order to have motivation for achieving your goals, you must think about all the benefits, rewards, and advantages you will realize once the goal is reached. This is the exciting part; actually thinking about and visualizing what your life will look like once you achieve what you want!
Here is an exercise for developing and maintaining passion and desire for achieving your goals:
- Write out all the reasons you can think of for accomplishing your goal.
- Write out all the ways you will benefit when you finally do accomplish your goal.
- Clearly visualize and emotionalize your goal on a daily basis.
- Tell people about your goals and what you want to accomplish.
Imagine of all the benefits, satisfactions, and rewards you will realize when you accomplish your goal. The more reasons you can come up with, the stronger your desire will be. Visualizing your goals will help burn them into your subconscious—like a CD burner—and program you to achieve them. Emotionalizing your goals or creating the “feeling” as though you already achieved them will also help in programming you to succeed. Telling other people about what you aspire to do helps hold you accountable.
It is vitally important that you write out your goals. In your head, they are wishes or hopes. But written down, they are tangible and can become a reality. Perhaps the most important reason for writing down your goals is that in addition to clarifying them, it intensifies your desire and belief in yourself that you can accomplish what you set out to do. If your belief and desire are strong enough, nothing can stop you. By simply writing out your goals, you will increase your chances for accomplishing them immensely.
Goal setting will do more to ensure your success than any other skill you could master. Setting goals and thinking about them raises our self-image and enables us to break out of the comfort zone. All success comes from defining one major goal or purpose. Accomplishing one critical goal will enable you to build momentum to accomplish additional goals at a rapid rate. Like attracts like, so as you start accomplishing your goals you’ll become more courageous and positive. You’ll display greater levels of self-esteem and confidence which will in turn attract even more positive to you helping you achieve at an even higher level. Goal setting is that powerful!
If you would like to receive a free copy of the Ascend Goal Setting Action Plan and Worksheet please send an email to [email protected].
Good luck!
Donald J. Strankowski Jr. is founder and president of Ascend Career and Life Strategies, a career training and management firm for businesses, professionals and executives. He works out of Boulder, Colorado and can be contacted at 303-245-7049, via email at [email protected], or on the web at www.AscendCareers.net
Just Published! Get Hired! 10 Simple Steps for Winning the Job You Desire—in Any Economy by Donald J. Strankowski
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