A few tips on Goal Setting

I've been a master goal setter. Pages and
pages of several notebooks are filled with
what I'd like to achieve, have, do,
etc....However I'm also a master
procrastinator. If I ever got around to writing
down all the excuses I've managed to come
up with I could fill volumes.

However I'm not without some
accomplishments. I didn't meet my husband
by sitting around my house wishing he'd come
by on a white horse to swoop me off into
happily ever after. I'm also a pretty good cook,
and it didn't come around by accident (my poor
husband can attest to some of my
catastrophes). All of my failures and
sucsesses have taught me a few things about
goal setting and going after what you want.
Here's a few tips on how to stop being your
own worst enemy.

*Know where you're going. It truly is a journey,
and one that's never going to be successful
unless you have a destination in mind. Make
lists if you must. In fact putting it on paper is a
good idea, because it can help you clarify, and
possibly help you avoid any annoying
sidetrips.

*Have a plan. Now I am not a big fan of
planning, but sometimes you gotta do it, and
sometimes it can be fun. It will tell you where
step one starts, and where you need to be for
step two, etc... however....

*Always think outside the box. As an example,
being a writer is only a recent idea for me.
After taking course at a community college, it
became obvious to me that my best starting
point is not going back to school to get a
degree in English or journalism. So far I've
had two poems published, three articles in
search of the right magazine, and a few pages
of a novel well underway. However there are
some things you can't skip no matter how
boring or excrutiating so be sure to...

*Do your homework because sometimes
there is no way around it. Would you want a
surgeon operating on you
that hasn't been to medical school? On the
other hand maybe your dream is to see the
bright lights of the Las Vegas strip, but you've
heard it's expensive. On the weekend yes, but
have you checked hotels during the week.
Some of those hotels run about 55 during the
week, some even lower than that!!

*Go with what is going to work for you. It goes
without saying that we all run on different time
clocks, and if you are a night person, you are
not going to get up for a 6 a.m yoga class,
unless you are incredibly disciplined. Don't kid
yourself. Sometimes you may have to make
sacrafices, but make as few as possible. If
you feel like you're making too many, you may
need to step back and reasses.

The important thing is to just get out threre
and do it! As Professor Hill says in the Music
Man - "If you keep waiting until tomorrow you'll
wind up with a lot of empty yesterdays."