Happy New Year!
It's Goal Setting Time Again

by K. Scott Teeters - Reiki Master

The above image is from www.gable-events.co.uk/ gallery.html

Sorry... No Time Off!

As I sit here writing this, it is the last day of 2004. Yes, New Year’s Eve Day. What a stunning year it’s been. “Same old, same old” certainly does not apply to the year 2004. The other day I heard someone say that it was their understanding that our calendar is off by seven years compared to the Mayan calendar. That would make the REAL year we’re about to enter 2012. YIKES!

Well, I must confess, the only insight I have as to what 2005 will bring is this... things will continue to AMAZE us as the new year progresses. And for those of us who are truly “awake,” our days will be filled with constant, total amazement.

There is an underlying theme I have been noticing in many of the books, audios, and live presentations I’ve been experiencing lately. Messengers from all over the metaphysical chart have been telling us, each in their own unique way, that we have the ability to mold and shape our lives any way we want to. This message has many titles, such as - “The Laws of Attraction,” “Manifesting What You Want,” “Creative Visualization,” “The Dream of Heaven,” “Ascending,” “Goal Setting,” and many more.

Many years ago, I either read or heard someone say that as we move along in our spiritual awakening, the teachings become more and more subtle. When I first heard this I remember thinking, “What in the world does that mean?” One of the definitions of the word “subtle” in the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary is this “having or marked by keen insight and ability to penetrate deeply and thoroughly.”

I noticed a subtle but powerful pattern in all of the messages in the books mentioned above, here it is. THERE’S NO TIME OFF in this business of creating what you want! NONE, ZERO, ZIP! From an energetic perspective, we are always pulsing out energy. We are never not pulsing out our energy, even while we are sleeping. (Sleep isn’t just a function of resting and repairing the body. Sleep, according to “Conversations With God” by Neale Donald Walsch, is an agreement between our Soul and our body. The Soul often has a difficult time dealing with the restrictions of the body. Sleep is the Soul’s opportunity to go off and play and experience without the limitations of the body.) In other words, there is never a time when we are not alive.

So as we move through the moment-to-moment experience of our day, we determine the quality of the energy we are pulsing out at EVERY moment of our experience. EVERY MOMENT, we are choosing - positive or negative. In the dualistic experience of life in the third dimension, staying in a place of perfect balance of positive and negative is very challenging. The good news is that because others have been able to achieve and experience this balance, that means that all of us can do the same.

Now here’s where this subtle underpinning comes into play when it comes to attracting what you want, manifesting, or goal setting. There are many ways to set an intention, make a pronouncement, make a declaration, or set a goal. Any method will work. In fact, you can have a lot of fun using combinations of methods. But here’s where the rubber meets the road folks. Let’s establish that you have set your goals and thought through your intention. Great! You thought it, wrote it, visualized it, and said it outloud. Wonderful! Doesn’t it FEEL exciting? I mean, if you REALLY get into it, you can see it, smell it, feel it, taste it... yum... YUM!!! Ahhh... okay, now all you have to do is sit back and wait for it to arrive.

Okay, so you’ve done all that, now it’s time to get back to the “regular” world. You know, go to work, deal with coworkers, deal with your family and friends, handle the news, go shopping, clean your house, do the laundry. You know, normal life stuff.”Chopping wood and carrying water” as the Zen Masters like to say.

You’re getting ready for work and you notice that your kid’s room is a MESS and you think, “When is this kid going to get it together?” You’re driving to work and someone won’t let you into the right lane and you think, “Thanks a lot jackass!” Then you boss tells you that the meeting has been bumped up to 9:30 instead of 3:30, so she needs the presentations NOW! And you think, “If these IDIOTS would get their ACT together I wouldn’t have to get squeezed like this. I should be getting the BIG BONUS instead of the VPs for all of my kind, unselfish, loving deeds!”

And on and on it goes... all day long. Each and every moment, we are pulsing energy in a particular direction - positive or negative. If you think that the thoughts you think outside of your meditation or creative thinking and planning time doesn’t have an affect on the direction of your life experience, THINK AGAIN. Remember, there’s NO TIME OFF with this business we call the experience of Life.

So Why Don’t the Methods and Techniques Work All the Time?

I’ve come to the understanding that the reason why all of the various methods of goal setting or manifestation fail at different times for all of us is because of the quality of our thoughts AFTER we do our goal setting or intention setting. Clearly, we are all at different levels of functioning in Life. James Allen wrote about this in “As A Man Thinketh” when he said, “Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of Life. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.” When we are calm, we become a peace emitting presence.

We all know from experience that when we are upset, our mind can be likened to a lake of burning water. We often think horrible thoughts when we are angry. But just because we don’t express our worst thoughts does not mean that they don’t have their affect. Unfortunately, we are the first recipient of our worst thoughts. This is why the emotional storms of Life often times can completely change the direction of your life. It’s not Karma or God getting back at you for something. It is the fruits of our own thoughts or another’s thoughts that set about directional changes like the first crack of a racked set of pool balls. BAM! And they all go all over the table, bumping and careening into one another. After they all settle to a stop, you have to access the situation and take your best shot from there. Just like the game of Life.

This is an invisible, powerful process that runs in the background of our experience. Even though it runs without our awareness, like gravity, it shapes and colors our Life. “Conversations With God” also reminds us that we have the choice to either live AT THE CAUSE of the affects in our Life, or LIVE AT THE AFFECTS of others in our lives.

Like many things in Life, there is no black and white, hard and fast rule about this. Sometimes it’s a good thing to wait and see how things change. Other times, the best thing to do is boldly state your intention and begin to take action steps to move you towards the experience you desire. The process runs regardless of your awareness. But if you consciously determine your intention and stay focused, positive, and calm, you will create what appears to be magic or miracles in your Life.

Tools For Goal Setting

Here is a brief description of a few goal setting tools I’ve used over the years that have worked for me. I haven’t always achieved every goal I have set. In hind sight, some had to do with a lack of focus and others had to do with changing values or desires. When I was 18 I wanted to drive a 200mph dragster. I didn’t and at the age of 50, it really isn’t something I think I’d like to do now. When I was 25, I thought the life of a rock star would have been pretty cool. Now I know better. When I was 40 (this is beginning to sound like a Frank Sinatra song) I thought being a vice president in a corporation would be a real achievement. It turned out that it’s just not in me to be a corporate animal.

So, your goals will change and that’s perfectly okay. Be flexible with your goal setting but not so much so that you bail out on a goal at the first sign of a challenge. The main difference between a goal and an activity is that a goal should challenge you and be a stretch. If playing lead electric guitar the way that Eric Clapton plays is something that you already are capable of doing, setting a goal to perform in concert is more of a scheduled event rather than a goal. But if singing and playing guitar for people is something you’ve never done but want to, now THAT’S goal.

There’s another more subtle (there’s that word again!) aspect of goal setting that you need to be aware of. For better or worst, we all have a subconscious. There’s no escaping it, as it’s a built in part of the human experience. It’s where our thoughts of doubt and fear come from. If you set a goal that is too grand, your subconscious will start to balk. “Are you NUTS?! You can’t do that, they’ll laugh at you when you start singing. Don’t you remember the time you were a little drunk and played Stairway To Heaven and everyone told you were hurting their ears? You want to go through THAT again DO YA!?”

I’m just having some fun here with my example, but the fact is that there are millions of little voices that tell us “DON’T” if a goal is too big. So when you set your goals, go for a 50% stretch. Let say that you’re now earning $50,000 a year. If you state a goal such as, “I’m going to earn $500,000 this year” although you can have some fun visualizing what you’ll do with that much income, your subconscious will most likely squeak up and tell you why THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE in its attempt to protect you from the pain of failure.

But if you get a goal of earning $75,000 this year, your subconscious is more likely to mumble and grumble and say, “Now hold on there! That’s another $25,000, not exactly chump change... but you know, it’s really not that much in the big scheme of things you know. Let’s see, you could do...” This way your subconscious won’t jump in trying to save you from another painful experience. You could call it, “humoring” your subconscious.

The hardest part is just getting this started. It’s like a huge four-engine jet airliner taking off that needs tremendous energy to get into the air. But once it’s flying, it can safely fly with one engine. Once you get started by being very clear about what you want to achieve or experience, and begin to rack up some forward movement, you can use your own new accomplishment as proof to your subconscious mind that the next stretch is entirely possible. The accomplishment becomes emotional, energetic collateral in your being. You can tell yourself, “Well I handled that stretch, let’s go for another.” And on you go.

Before I get into specific goal setting techniques, I want to cover one more thing. I often hear or read of stories where someone states an objective or a goal and within a very short period of time, the thing shows up in their life with little or no effort on their part. “WOW! That’s AMAZING!” they say. “This stuff REALLY works!” And it can be an amazing thing. But I don’t observe that happening often. Perhaps it’s an everyday happening for those who practice and live at advanced levels of self-mind control. But when it happens to us regular folks, it’s more a matter of coincidence. There’s nothing wrong with that happening either because “coincidence” is the Universe’s way of getting your attention to move you in a higher direction of Life.

When Opportunity Knocks...

The more mundane reality of goal setting is this. When opportunity knocks at your door, it’s usually wearing work clothes. In other words, you have to get busy and get to work. In 1999 I had a goal to have a website to sell my automotive art prints. By the end of the year I had another goal to someday have 5 websites. Now we have 5 websites, an eBay store, and 2 small retail spaces in a local antique co-op of stores. But you know, not one of those websites formed themselves. They just wouldn’t come together on their own. It’s a good thing I wasn’t waiting. The eBay store was just a shell when we first got into it. And the 2 retail spaces were just that, “spaces.” None of these things grew on their own. We did all of the work.

The Preacher and the Farmer Story

This reminds me of a wonderful story I once heard. A preacher was driving through the country on a sunny day and came across a beautiful farm. As he stopped to admire the view of the farm, the farmer came up to the preacher and they began to talk. The preacher said, “My, what a beautiful farm the Lord has blessed you with.” The farmer smiled, nodded, and said, “Yes, the Lord has blessed us with a beautiful farm. But you know, you should have seen this place when he had it all to himself.”

I love that story because it reminds me that most of us are given the raw materials, environment, and a brain to think, create, envision, and experience. “What” we create is up to the quality of our thoughts and visions.

Here are some of my favorite tools for goal setting.

Visualizing & Thinking On Paper

These two skills really do go hand-in -hand. There are many books and tapes on the subject of Creative Visualization. Find one that feels right for you and study it until visualizing becomes a no-brainer. It already is a no-brainer, it’s just that if its hard for you, it’s most likely because it was either disciplined out of you or no one around you nourished it in you. Visualizing is the mental ability to conjuror up pictures or movies about something. If this is a stretch, start by really “looking” at things. Really “look” at shapes, textures, colors, and characteristics of things, so that when you “think” of a new car, or a published book, you can see it in your mind’s eye, or as a movie inside your head.

You’re going to use this “seeing” when you start the question and answer part of goal setting. Zig Zigler used to tell this little story. He said... “ I love archery, and I’m pretty good at it. And if I could spend an afternoon with you, in a short time, I could have you shooting the arrow, real well! And at the end of the afternoon, after you’d been practicing for a time, if I was to put a blindfold on you and spin you around and around, and then told you, “Go ahead, shoot at the target!” After I first duck... you’d say, “Why Zig, how in the world can you expect me to hit a target I can’t see???”

And that’s EXACTLY what Zig is saying. How in the world can I hit a target, that I can not “see” because I haven’t yet envisioned what it is?

Our lives function with an open-ended possibility into the future. We are most definitely shaped by the decisions and choices made in the past that can sometimes limit our experiences and opportunities. I haven’t studied medicine or the prerequisite studies that go before that. I “could” become a doctor, but it’s not likely because I didn’t make decisions in the past that would lead me in that direction. Brian Tracy was fond of saying, “It’s important to put some time into thinking and planning your future, because that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life.” So get good at visualization, it’s really an essential tool.

The technique of thinking on paper is more of a habit than a skill. After all, you’re only sitting there, writing down thoughts and ideas. As long as you are literate, there shouldn’t be too much trouble. Most people resist this because of what their Radio Voice is telling them. FORGET THE RADIO VOICE! It doesn’t mean anything. It wasn’t until I started writing things down that I understood the value of writing things down. Our mind has thoughts that fly around all the time, sometimes at incredible speed. Earl Nightingale used to say, “Ideas are like slippery fish... if you don’t gaff them with the point of a pencil, they’ll get away. “ The palest ink, can sometimes be more effective than the sharpest mind.

The beauty of writing things down is that you no longer have to carry that thought around inside your head. What a waste to carry around in your head a shopping list of goals, when if you have those goals on paper, you can be actively involved in solving the individual tasks of any long term project.

If you feel some resistance to writing things down, do whatever you need to do to get over it, because it is holding you down like an anchor, and you don’t even realize it. There is a curious thing that happens when you start writing things on paper. The process of “writing” is so much slower than “thinking”, that it forces the mind to... slow... down... and the thoughts flow out more completely. Let me explain.

Like most of us, I used to read a book and sometimes wonder how the author knows all that stuff, and is able to explain it to me? “My, what a big brain you must have!” But I began to notice that if I had a bundle of thoughts on a particular subject or understanding, it all seemed to form itself in the process of writing. When I started writing this article, I really only have a vague idea of where I wanted this to go. Once I was in the process, the ideas just began to flow. Had I not started the process, there would not have been any flow. So the real key is to just get started. Even if what you start writing isn’t exactly what you want, just get started. The old saying, “The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step” applies to what we’re talking about here. Just get started writing.

Maybe this resistance comes from how we are taught writing in school. You may have been humiliated in front of the class while trying to read your paper out loud or forced into writing before you had anything to say. Whatever is was, find the root experience and see it from an adult’s perspective. Then talk to that youngster you used to be. “Hey! You were just a kid then, you’re not expected to be a perfect writer, you’re just a kid.!” This is a technique called “Reframing” from NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming. You go back to an experience, add wisdom from an adult perspective, and you let yourself off the hook. This is best done with a guide or a coach to keep you focused. Wherever that anchor came from about “writing”, route it out and cut it, so that you can start writing.

The Many Levels of Goal Setting

Many years ago, business consultants were teaching clients the value of making “to-do lists.” Lists are great, you’ll be making LOTS of lists as you work your goal setting process. But a list without priorities based on what is valuable to you, can keep you very busy doing things of little importance. In the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, to-do lists helped America get a lot done. Remember, any method is better than no method.

When I first stumbled on goal setting in ‘72, it had been taken to the next level by setting goals on everything you want to “be, have, and do.” Then in the mid ‘80s the formula moved up a notch to understanding that we all need to be well-rounded people. So, people were taught to set goals in many areas of their lives, not just their career. We’d been hearing a awful lot about men and a few women who were “workaholics.” It was almost talked about like a disease. But what that did was bring our awareness to the fact that to be a whole person, we need to have goals in many separate areas of our life.

In a course I expereinced from the Dennis Waitley Organization there was an interesting self-test that looked like the one below. The spokes of the wheel were separate “aspects” of a complete “you.” We were to think about each aspect and ask ourselves, “On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the least and 10 being the best) how am I doing in this area?” After you are done asking the question within each aspect, you connect the dots. No one ends up with a perfectly round graphic, There’s no right or wrong, it just shows you where you might be out of balance.

Using the graphic as a tool, you then think about each aspect and ask yourself (actually write this down at the top of your note pad), “Is this important to me, and if so, what can I start to do about it?” As ideas and thoughts bubble up into your awareness... WRITE THEM DOWN... and keep writing down chunks of information from your mind. “This” is using the Mind as an “exquisite master.” As you work through the various aspects, the ideas you are draining out of your thinker and on to the paper, become the new basis of your daily to-do lists.

You can change the topics in the circle. If you do, just make sure they cover a wide variety of areas of living. One of our objectives should be to become a well-rounded person. What good would be career and financial success be if we ignore family and health areas?

If you have sincerely done this, you will feel a surge of enthusiasm that will light you up! Because you are now doing things that REALLY MATTER to you, your day will feel important because you clearly know what you are doing. You are no longer sleepwalking through the day. You have a mission and a purpose. And because you have set your goals in many areas, you’re not becoming myopic... one area of your life doesn’t suffer at the expense of another. People who do this, report that often times for the first time in their life, they feel on track... no longer spinning their wheels.

My latest understanding on Goal Setting now has a spiritual foundation, based on my recent understandings from the “Conversations With God” Series, by Neale Donald Walsch. I consider this, the next level in goal setting and one that works in conjunction with all of the other previous tools. CWG reminds us that the greatest desire of our Soul, is to turn “concept” into “experience.” Our Souls seek to have “beingness” experiences. All of the things we “do”, we do so that we can “be” a certain thing. This is subtle, but very deep, and it may take some time for it to truly sink in...

So, here’s how you apply this to goal setting. With your pen and paper, write at the top of the page, “What beingness experiences would I most like to experience?” It’s important that you write the question at the top of the paper. The reason why is because as you start to work with this question, or any goal setting, or problem solving question... after you are with the question for a time, your mind will begin to wander away from the subject. You may hear a noise that distracts you into thinking about other things. When you begin to notice this, read the question again to bring your focused thoughts back to why your are sitting there in the first place. The “written question” becomes a focusing device, so stay with it. As responses bubble up into your mind, write them down... get the flow going.

Here is the list that popped out of my head when I asked the question: “What is it that I would most like to Be?”

* Creative * Compassionate * Happy *
* Alert * Understanding * Patient * Prosperous *
* Loving * Truthful * Inspirational * Humorous *

Since these are all “Being” qualities, it brings me more in line with my own – on-going spiritual awakening experience. When I was working out my 2001 Goals between Christmas and New Years, I based my categoric goals on my “being” goals and came up with the motivation to complete my book, “it’s Time To Wake Up.” I’d been incubating it for years. Because I had defined my “Being Goals,” my 2001 Goals had a different slant to them... more in alignment with who I am choosing to evolve into.

The Six Weeks A Year Technique

I was on vacation at the Jersey Shore in ‘86 and was on the beach one day. I’d been working as a freelance illustrator for several years, but was feeling a little lost because I felt that I just didn’t have enough time for creative thinking and planning. Then a GREAT idea popped into my head! I decided that when I got home, I was going to clear out an “entire day” from my schedule, take a pad and pen to the park and just “think” all day! You can guess what happened. We went home, I got busy and never had the time to clear out an entire day!

Here’s a wonderful way to get jump started, if this goal setting business has you turned on. I have to credit Earl Nightingale for this one. This one is a real Power Tool.

Let’s get started. Here’s an important question...

Do you think that if you had six weeks each year that were devoted to creative thinking and planning, that you might be able to come up with a few plans that would really add meaning and direction to your life?

Six weeks? Well sure, who wouldn’t. But, who has six weeks a year? Most of us are lucky if we get two weeks a year for vacation!

Well, here’s how you do it. This is NOT easy, but well worth the effort.

If you devoted ONE HOUR every day, Monday thought Friday (you can take the weekends off if you want to) that’s FIVE HOURS per week. Multiply that by 50 weeks (remember, your two weeks vacation now), that totals up to 250 hours per year... that’s just over SIX, FORTY HOUR WORK WEEKS! (250 hours divided by 40 hours {one week}, equals just over SIX, FORTY HOUR WORK WEEKS!!! And all you have to do is devote one hour a day, five days and week, fifty weeks a year. BINGO!

So you say, “Okay, that’s cool, but do you have any idea how busy my life is? Why there’s....” This may be simple, but believe me, it’s hard. I found that morning time was best. I had read somewhere that the first hour of your day can be considered the , “Rudder of the Day.” It sets the course and direction for the day.

What I did was I started setting my alarm clock 10 minutes earlier one day, and let that be my new wake-up time for a few days. Then I set the clock another ten minutes, and so on until I was getting up an hour earlier than I was a few weeks before. So I was getting up around 4:50 and by 5:00 am I was in my family room with some coffee, toast, and my notebook.

An easy trick to stimulating your brain at that hour is to turn on lots of lights. The light will enter your eyes and stimulate your brain so that you won’t be so tempted to nod off to sleep. It’s also important to eat something as well. When you wake up in the morning your blood sugar level is somewhere in the basement. Eating some toast and fruit will also help make you alert.

I had lots of deep, probing questions and various projects that needed to be mapped out, so I always had lots to do. Then around 6:00 AM, I’d get the rest of the family up and running. By the time I was ready to get to my drawing board, I had already been awake and functioning for over three hours. I once read of a famous writer who used to get up every day at 4:00 am and write straight thought to 10:00 am and was done for the day! He said that he got more writing accomplished in those five to six hours than he ever would have had he waited until later. His intention was set, his attention was focused, and the results were obvious.

As I said, this is NOT an easy thing to do, but you may find, as I did, that once you start to enjoy the fruits of spending quality time, “digging in the gold mine between your ears.” you might find yourself as one of the fortunate few who have developed this into a “positive addiction.” You may even find that you look forward to your “personal creative thinking and planning time,” and guard that time because it has become a precious experience.

Goal Books & Goal Maps

Goal Books and Goal Maps can be a lot of fun if you are inclined to arts and crafts kinds of projects. For some people, it adds depth and dimension to what would otherwise be just a dry list of goals. One teacher of mine said that if you are going to write your goals,
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DON’T do it on the back of an envelope or a scrap of paper, because it will end up having about that much value. But if you really take your time and make a nice Goal Book or Goal Poster, it can get you excited about your goals every time you look at your poster, or read your book. Ideally, you will look at and read your poster or book every morning before you start your day and in the evening before you drop off to sleep.

You do this so that as you move into your day, your subconscious mind will be on the lookout for information and experiences that will connect with your goals.

You can start off by getting a pile of old magazines and going through them looking for words and images that are connected to whatever your goals happen to be. If a red Corvette convertible is a goal, get a picture for your poster or book. Whatever your goals are, look for visuals and words to help get you not only excited about your goal, but also serve as a reminder. There’s no right or wrong, just make it something that you’ll be happy to see every day. That’s right, every day. You want to keep refreshing your goals in your mind every day to keep you on course.

After you are finished with your Goal Book or Map, you’re going to use it as a tool for keeping you focused on your goal. Hey, it was important enough for you to write down and make plans for... you need to look at it every day. If you stay aware as you are making your Book or Map, more ideas are likely to surface because you are FOCUSING your Attention.

Your Goal Book or Map can be a work-in-progress, but if you are going to use this technique you need to do the follow-up effort of working and using these tools. The last thing you want to do is make a Goal Book or Goal Map, put it on a shelf or in the closet, and not look at it for months. If you do that, it will most likely just postpone the achievement of your goals because you haven’t given them daily attention.

When I first started making Goal Books I would look at my book every morning in my creative thinking and planning quiet time. I would simply sit down and review the pages, look at the pictures, read whatever caught my eye, and get on with it. This would take, maybe three to five minutes. It helped remind me of why I’d be doing certain things during the day and why it was important. Then, in the evening, I’d look the book over again so that the thoughts and images would be some of the last things in my thinking before I dropped off to sleep. It’s WAY BETTER than watching the news. Unless you have to, DON’T watch local news before you go to sleep. I’m not advocating putting your head in the sand, but you really don’t need to let news stories be some of the last things that enter your head before you go to sleep. That’s like programming yourself for horror.

Your Goal Book or Goal Map can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish... it’s your Book or Map. My books were made with a 3/4” loose-leaf binder that had clear cover that you could slip in an inspiring picture for the cover. Then inside I found bright colored tab separators for the various categories of goals, and would add pictures, lists, brochures... whatever. A Goal Book or Map can be a real power tool. But like a screw driver, that’s just a metal rod with a flat end and a handle if it’s not being used. So, USE your Goal Book... USE your Goal Map...

What I’m Using Now

I’ve been an avid user of the Day-Timer products since the mid-80s. The Sr. Pocket Day-Timer I use comes with little, blank booklets. I use these little booklets for different kinds of Goals Programs I’m working on. The booklets slip neatly into one of the Day-Timer’s pockets, and since I almost always have my Day-Timer with me, I decided to use this approach rather than my previous loose-leaf binder Goal Books.

One booklet is for my “Goals For The Year.” The first half I have a page for the following category goals; “Freelance”, “Websites”, “Savings”, “House”, “Social”, “Health”, and “Personal & Creative Art Projects.” Then, in the second half, I have a Goal page for each month. Based on the Goal Categories, I map out what I want to accomplish for the month. I look at this almost every day so that I stay on track with what’s important to me. Do I get everything done for the month? Sometimes... sometimes not. But it’s okay as long as I’m taking incremental steps towards something that is important to me.

Here's a way to really SUPERCHARGE your goal setting. After you have sorted out your goals for the year, take each goal and break it up into quarterly chunks. Look at each goalk and ask yourself, "What do I see for this goal in the next three months?" Then, relax... and "see" the answer in your mind's eye. Visualize it in the theater of your mind. After you CLEARLY see it, ask yourself another question, "What do I need to do to get there?" Then relax... and "see" the answer in your mind's eye. As ACTION STEPS form in your mind, WRITE THEM DOWN. Don't fall into the trap of thinking, "Oh, I'll remember that." Just write it down.

After you have written down all of your thoughts, rearrange your tasks in order of what's doable right away. Look to see what ACTION STEP you can do within the next few days that will get you started. Someone once said, "Within the forward movement... the solution soon appears."

This year, as I was setting my goals, I filtered them through my latest spiritual understanding about “Beingness” being what it is that my Soul most longs for. This is another one of those subtle aspects of goal setting. If we pull back and ask ourselves WHY we want what we want, the answer always comes back to an expereince of “being.” We want to “be” secure, loving, happy, content, forgiving, patient, and on and on. “Being” objectives are things that can only be experiences in a specific moment of Life. Although it can be connected to material gain, it is not necessairly dependent on having things. While there may be many things that can delight you (such as a new 60-inch plasma tv), you are always at choice to be happy in any given moment.

Perhaps the finest definition of success I ever found was from Earl Nightingale. This was Earl’s definition, but I adopted it for my own, because I’ve never found one finer. Earl said,

“Success, is the progressive realization... of a worthy goal or ideal.”

That’s a beautiful definition because it removes all of the external trappings of what we think success is all about and takes us into the arena of “being.” As long as you are moving forward, taking diligent, progressive steps towards a “worthy” goal, or “ideal,” you are a success.

The over worked, stressed out business man, need not be that way, if he chooses. I’ve worked with people who “got the gold ring” and are about as unhappy as they were before their success. There are also successful people who are very happy, because their business fulfilled a worthy ideal. The size or the status of the goal is irrelevant to your Soul. If in your heart of hearts you feel that you were born to be a teacher, and you are working your way towards being a teacher, because that’s what you most wanted to do... then... you are a success. If your goal was to have a fine service station where you could provide cheerful, helpful service and products to travelers, and that’s what you most wanted to do... then... you are a success.

The beautiful part is that there’s something unique for everyone to achieve... everyone. You can back into it unconsciously or set your sites and go for it, enjoying every step along the way. And just like that sea captain, even though you won’t be able to “see” your goal until you get there, just keep doing certain things every day, never stopping or quitting... then one day, there will be your port of call. You’ll rest, savor the trip, and begin with a new destination, a new goal.

The Really Cool Part

Here’s what I believe is the coolest part of all is this. If you maintain your spiritual perspective, you will live a very full and meaningful life. And the biggest surprise of all? It NEVER ends... Life is Eternal. So keep setting goals, take action today, not tomorrow, and you will become one of the Awakened ones.

Shine on!

Scott