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Stay On Target! Stay On Target!
Donovan Baldwin
You Star Wars fans remember that chant from one of the Star
Wars films. I have to apologize here. I HAVE seen and enjoyed
all the Star Wars movies, but am not enough of a fan to remember
tasty tidbits like who said it and in which episode. However,
I DO remember that the speaker was exhorting a comrade to
"Stay on target" and to ignore all those pesky little attacking
fighters trying to blow him to smithereens!
Fortunately for most of us, the attackers we have to dodge
on a day to day basis are a little less lethal. Unfortunately,
they can be distracting enough to divert us away from a path
to success, whether in life, relationships, or in business.
There has been an awful lot written about goals over the years,
and most would agree that having a goal is paramount importance
in achieving success. Even so, you might be surprised at how
few people have really thought about what their true goals
are, much less about how to stay on target to achieve these
goals.
The other day, I was reminded of this as I walked across a
large parking lot with a companion. We were both headed towards
the door of a building about 100 yards away. As we walked,
I noticed that my companion seemed to almost be walking into
me as he veered away from the path to the door. It didn't
take much to figure out what was happening. His head was down,
and he was concentrating on the ground immediately in front
of his feet, and never once looked at the door to see where
it was in relation to his path. I, on the other hand, kept
glancing at the door in the distance, and made that my object
of interest as I scanned the surrounding area for possible
pitfalls. I was walking towards the door, and my friend was
walking, thinking he was headed for the door he had seen several
steps ago, but actually veering off course again and again.
I had been taught this sort of thing years ago by my father,
but the army had really strengthened it in me. Not only had
I been involved in moving through areas where it was necessary
to keep a fix on some distant target, but it had also been
necessary to be constantly aware of my surroundings as well,
gauging and evaluating as I went, and sometimes actually having
to take an intentional detour around some obstacle in order
to arrive at my destination. Failure to keep my eye on my
target would result in my failing to arrive at it, particularly
with the distractions of terrain and events to divert me from
a direct path.
Once a goal, consider it a target, has been formed, whether
to make a certain number of dollars in a given time, or to
lose a certain number of pounds, or to clear away the clutter
in the garage, we tend to get distracted by other things,
events, people in our lives and lose sight of the goal that
seemed so plain and easily achieved. If we let these distractions
take hold, achieving that goal, when we remember it, not only
seems much more difficult than when we originally envisaged
it, but may actually seem to be completely unachievable, causing
us to give up and experience a feeling of failure.
True enough, we may fail anyway. After all, a goal is simply
a target towards which we strive, and in the real world, we
may actually find that our original goal IS realistically
unattainable. However, being able to experience effective
progress towards that goal, not only gives us a boost of confidence,
but, nearing the goal, allows us to more accurately assess
our ability to reach it. We might even find that we need to
set a more realistic goal, or even a more challenging one.
But if we are not approaching the goal, we may simply quit.
One of the simplest solutions to this problem is to "glance
at the door" once in a while. In other words, we very often
have to pay attention to a lot of other distractions in our
daily lives, so to stay on target, we need to periodically
and intentionally review what our goal is. It is easier to
set our course towards a specific and recognizable goal that
doesn't waver, also, and for this reason it is often recommended
that goals be written down and stated with some specific language
and expectations. This written goal should be taken out and
reexamined thoroughly at least once a day, and perhaps even
more often. Maybe you could have it written on a card in your
wallet and tape a copy to your bathroom mirror or the door
of your refrigerator.
Every time you repeat your goal to yourself, reexamine it
to make sure that it hasn't moved. Although you want to avoid
wavering back and forth in uncertainty, you DO want to be
able to realistically modify your goal to reflect reality
and progress.
Copyright 2006 Donovan Baldwin
Donovan Baldwin is retired military with 21 years
of service. He currently makes his living online. He has blogs
on the subjects of Internet business, real estate investing,
and health, fitness and weight loss at donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com
, real--estate--investing.blogspot.com
, and nodiet4me.blogspot.com
Article Source: http://articlekarma.com
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