One thing you may not be thinking about now is preparing for the day you reach your goals: being ready, being worthy, becoming the person you need to be in pursuit of what you want. What good is an opportunity if you’re not prepared to take advantage of it? It’s no good. It won’t do a thing for you. Be prepared.
To help you with this preparation, here’s what’s called the “Self-Knowledge Acid Test.” Quickly, without thinking too much about it, list your three most important long-term, work-related goals. Is there a client you’ve been trying to sign for several months? Is there a major sale you’ve been trying to make? Are you hoping for a promotion or a partnership in the firm? These are objectives that you want to achieve, that will take a while to get. Write them down.
Again, without thinking too much about it, quickly list your three most important personal and spiritual goals. These are the things that will make a difference in your personal life. Do you want to go to church more often than just on holidays, grasping all you can from the Sunday sermon? Do you want to spend more quality time with your kids? Do you want to turn the TV off during the dinner hour and actually talk about the important things in life with your family? Do you want to make more dates with your spouse? Do you want to plan a much-needed family vacation? What do you want?
What are your most important health-related goals? Do you want to make a conscious effort to exercise more? To eat better? To lose some weight? To get in shape? What are the three most important personal and spiritual goals that you have? Write them down. It doesn’t matter what they are. Just make a note of them.
Take some time to really visualize what the achievement of these goals would mean to you. What does your future hold for you if you land that big client? What does your future look like if you get that promotion, if you spend more time with your family, if you plan more outings with your spouse? Really spend some time on this. It’s important. What does it all look like?
Ask yourself, “Is this really my goal? Is this what I truly want? Is it a positive goal? Is it important enough to me to become what it takes to reach this goal? Is it worth it?”
If your three goals on the career side and three goals on the personal side don’t stand up to this scrutiny, you need to take some time to carefully redefine a few things. Redefine your list. Figure out the origin of these goals, what actually is important to you, and how hard you’ll really work to achieve them.
When your goals are truly important and meaningful to you, you will not only eventually achieve them, you will also deserve all of the rewards that you reap in the process of doing so.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn