Long Range Goals – Chapter 2

Now, check to see if you goals are in balance. For example, if you find that you have lots of ten-year goals but very few one-year goals, this could mean you’re putting off having to act now by postponing the target date.
On the other hand, if you have very long-term goals, perhaps you haven’t yet decided what kind of life you want to build over the long run.
The key here is to develop a balance between shorter-term and longer-term goals. (A little later we’ll discuss true short-term goals. These are goals that take less than a year to accomplish.)
Are you bit bewildered by the idea of having too many goals? Are you the kind of person who is more comfortable focusing on one goal at a time?
Actually, there is a good reason for developing multiple layers of goals. Without many and varied types of goals, you could fall prey to the same thing that happened to some of early Apollo astronauts. Some of them, upon returning from the moon, experienced deep emotional problems. The reason?
Once you’ve been to moon, where else do you go?
After years of training, visualizing, and anticipating the lunar flight, that moment, glorious as it was, was gone. All of a sudden there seemed to be an end, a finish to their life’s work, and depression set in.
As a result of this experience, later astronauts were trained to have other major projects “on the fire” after their space was done.

Long Range Goals – Chapter 1

In your notebook or on a sheet of paper, write the heading, “LONG-RANGE GOALS”. Your task is to answer the question, “What do I want within the next one to ten years?”
The key to doing exercise effectively is to take as little time as possible writing down as many items as possible. Take between twelve to fifteen minutes for the whole exercise, and try to write down about fifty different items.
To help you get started, consider the following half-dozen questions as guidelines:
1.What do I want to do?
2.What do I want to be?
3.What do I want to see?
4.What do I want to have?
5.Where do I want to go?
6.What would I like to share?
With these half-dozen queries in mind, answer the primary question: “What do I want within the next one to ten years?”Allow you mind to free-flow. Don’t try to be detailed now; this will come later. For instance, if you want gray Mercedes 280SL with black interior, just write “280” and move to the next item.
After you have completed your list, review what you’ve written.
Next put the numbers of years you believe it will take for you to achieve or to acquire each item on your list. Next to the items you’ll reach in a year or so, write the number “1”. Next to the goals you believe will take approximately three years to accomplish, write the number “3”. Next to those you will take seven years, write “7”. And finally, next to those items you estimate will take ten years to attains, write “10”

Goal - How To Set Them

We already discussed the importance of discipline. And now let’ us start exercising this positive trait.
If you haven’t yet done so, get out a notebook or a diary. I want you to transform yourself from spectator (reader) into participant (writer).

The kind of homework you’re about to do here is a little unusual in that it lasts a lifetime. The subject is goals, and as you’ll soon learn, goals are a lifelong preoccupation – ever-evolving, ever-changing.
Why should you put yourself through this? Because by doing the work involved you’re taking the first step towards developing the kind of life you’ve always dreamed about but never believed would happen for you. So let’s get on with it.
The sooner you exert the discipline, the sooner you’ll enjoy the result. And once the results come in, I promise you won’t mind one bit that it took some extra work and discipline.