“Every day you decide how you’re going knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus.” – Oprah Winfrey
We all have our goals in life, and each one makes us unique in our ways. These goals keep us going and move us forward in life as we aspire to achieve these goals in mind. It may help us reach what we want if we know how to keep these goals in mind.
When we become goal-oriented, we focus on achieving an outlined outcome of what we want to have. And more often, we become driven and motivated by this purpose. Here is an eight (8) step-by-step guide on how to keep our goals in mind. Let's go!
1. Decide on behaviors that would help you towards your goals.
We tend to behave differently towards different people -- our family, friends, peers, as well as to strangers. This is because our behavior aids and keeps us moving towards our goals. We may show different behaviors, but these 3Ds would help us keep focused towards our goals:
Driven - In whatever goal we may have, we are always driven by motivation from special people around us. In my case, my driving force is my family. They are the ones who keep me focused on my goals. Think of who or what keeps you going.
Disciplined - Having a drive is one thing, but also having the right mindset is another. Having discipline will keep us focused. And with this behavior, we keep the right mentality needed to stay on track towards our goals.
Dedicated - With motivation and discipline, the right amount of dedication completes my 3 Ds. This dedication in everything we do glues everything and keeps us focused every day. May it be dedication towards ourselves or to others, all are factors that keep me going.
Each of us can formulate our own set of behaviors helpful to keep our goals in mind. The 3Ds which are mentioned above is a great start in staying aligned with our goals.
2. Know what these behaviors can do for you.
When we have determined the behaviors beneficial for us, we also need to know what they can do to achieve our goals. Each conduct contributes to the success we want to accomplish as we keep our goals in mind. Let us take the 3D’s mentioned above and what it could do:
Being driven allows us to always be at our very best in everything we do.
Being disciplined keeps us mentally prepared for whatever lies ahead.
Being dedicated shows the level of focus we have towards my goals.
3. Be aware of circumstances that make these behaviors occur.
As we get used to these behaviors, we become comfortable in our shells and keep everything natural while still maintaining the focus we need for our goals. Automatically, we become prepared with any circumstances that would deem suitable for us to use particular behaviors in our wheelhouse.
Our drive helps us in situations focused on long-term goals; our discipline suits perfectly for circumstances that need to weigh options. Lastly, dedication gear towards instances that show our love and concern for those important to us.
4. Determine how often these circumstances happen.
Once we become aware and natural of the circumstances that trigger our behaviors, we can now determine how frequently we encounter these situations. Knowing how often we overlook these instances keeps us on our feet all the time, making us aware of our surroundings and how we can go about these events.
5. Assess how these behaviors directly affect you after.
As we become more and more aware of the behaviors we possess and the circumstances that make us use them towards our goals, we can slowly assess how the effects of these situations can make or break us. We can assess each behavior into two:
Short-term – results we can still change since they concern short periods of effects for our goals.
Long-term – these are life-changing results that may be small or big ones but would change the course of our path towards our goals.
Nevertheless, we assess the effects of our behavior towards our goals to be better versions of ourselves moving forward. I may have experienced weakness and defeat after determining the impact of my behavior before, but what's important was that we have always stood up and continued aspiring for our goals. This assessment should always be constructive and never destructive for us.
6. Allow yourself to be vulnerable.
We become vulnerable when we let our guards down for a moment of reflection, then bring it back up once we have learned from this assessment. Being vulnerable also allows us to be still human and be natural in achieving our goals.
We always become vulnerable when it comes to our family since they are mostly our primary motivation with the goals we have. I believe that vulnerability is more of a strength rather than a weakness because it allows us to be flexible and amiable as we roll with the punches of life. In this way, we can make a known weakness be for our best interest.
7. Learn from this vulnerability and change it.
As we reciprocate vulnerability from a weakness into a strength, we also learn from what has happened. As we understand, we can change negative behaviors and retain positive ones. That is why we allow ourselves to be vulnerable at times to learn. As we make ourselves vulnerable, we would learn how to use it to our advantage later on.
8. Reflect
All of the things we have talked about earlier will all be wasted if we cannot reflect and use them to our advantage. We do this step-by-step guide to better ourselves and make our goals and dreams a reality. As we reflect upon our actions, we make our goals transpire.
At the end of the day, these steps won't work if we do not allow ourselves to explore and grow as we reach our goals. Now, we have the effective equation towards success with the drive as our motivation, the discipline as our power, and the dedication as our moving force. And with these eight (8) practical steps as our guide, we can never go wrong as we make our goals in mind work for us and our loved ones.