—By Rebecca Witherspoon, August 22, 2019
“Self-confidence is the key to transformation, and transformation begins with KEEPING THE PROMISES YOU MAKE TO YOURSELF!”
—Ed Mylett
“What you think about you bring about.”
—Bob Proctor
“A confused mind will always say no.”
—Russell Brunson
Dreams, Vision, Goals, Action, and Affirmations!
Okay, everyone who completed the action step I assigned you two episodes ago, it’s time to pull out what you wrote. If you haven’t already completed the exercise, or don’t know what I’m talking about, then go to episode 2 in this series and review it to get directions on what to do. Tonight is directly related to what you wrote about.
All too often I hear people use the terms Dreams, Vision, and Goals interchangeably as though they each meant one and the same thing. Confusion about these can lead to becoming paralyzed in determining your best course of action
So what’s the actual difference between these terms? And just how important is it that you understand this difference?
Dreams are WHAT you want and desire in your life, external to yourself. For example, a happy marriage, children, a nice home, nice vehicles, a great career, your own business, friends, wealth, travel, etc. All these things are external. They cannot be absorbed into your being. They are the trappings of life and what you want your life to look like.
Vision is completely internal in nature. Vision is WHO you want to become. Who you want to be known as. For example, a philanthropist, a community leader, a leader of leaders, etc. If you looked up and read The Dash poem that I recommended in the previous episode, vision is directly related to the dash in your life. In case you haven’t had a chance to look up The Dash poem, I attached an image of it at the beginning of this post.
Goals are the specific steps required to achieve your Dreams and Vision. They are the target at which you are shooting. The more specific and clear the steps, the better aim you will have to hit the bullseye. Goals should be identified at the daily, weekly, monthly, annual, 5 year, and 10 year levels. Goals should be clear, specific, and detailed. Specialized knowledge may be required in order to determine the steps and tools you will need to make your goals and vision a reality. But remember, specialized knowledge is acquired by learning what others did to achieve similar goals and vision to yours. In other words, find someone who has already successfully walked the path you are wanting to walk and find out what they did to become successful.
Examples: Want to lose weight? Find someone who has successful lost weight and kept it off. Want to start a business? Find someone who successfully started the type of business you want to start and find out what they did to succeed. Want to tone your muscles or body build? Find someone who has already achieved what you want and find out how they did it.
Action is simply the implementation of identified goals. However, to be 💯% clear in knowledge WITHOUT taking the sustained action to implement that knowledge is 💯% useless, a complete waste of time and money. Knowledge + Sustained Action = Success.
Without clear dreams and vision, it is impossible to identify appropriate Goals, because there is no firm foundation on which to identify the goals. Without clear, specific, and detailed goals, you’ll forever spin your wheels in the mud and your dreams and vision will remain elusive and unattainable.
So let me ask you this, have you had dreams that you have never been able to realize? Do you often feel like you’re just spinning your wheels, wasting your time drifting through life with no control over your life? Remember, in order to reach a destination you must first know where it is you are headed and then determine the best route to take. Without a specific destination, you cannot determine a route. You will zigzag your way to nowhere.
Affirmations help keep you focused on your end goal once you’ve established what it is you want to accomplish and what it will take to reach your goal. But affirmations aren’t going to be effective if you don’t even believe you are capable of achieving your goal. The most effective way to phrase your affirmations is with ‘I am committed to’ statements, and then follow them up with a specific, measurable action, your ideal result, and a time frame. So, according to the book Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod (one of the books I recommended in the previous episode) the best affirmation formula is “I am committed to doing ________ NO MATTER WHAT so that I can ________ by ________.”
Here’s an example—something that I am committing to:
“I am committed to drinking 2 healthy meal shakes and one colorful healthy meal every day, and committed to doing 30 minutes of exercise every day NO MATTER WHAT so that I can lose 20 pounds by December 31st.”
I will say this every day moving forward. As I say this, I am now programming my subconscious mind to do what I need to do to achieve the result I want, by the time I want to achieve it. I am reinforcing my level of NO MATTER WHAT commitment. With daily repetition, that is how affirmations can transform your mindset, thinking, and RESULTS.
QUESTION:
Do you want your life to once and forever change in a big way? Then, you must get laser focused on developing your Dreams, Vision, and Goals. But, most importantly, get ready to take MASSIVE Action to implement your goals! It’s time to fully realize your Dreams and your Vision! A made-up mind is powerful. Nothing can defeat a made-up mind!
ACTION STEP: Now that you have a better idea what dreams, vision, and goals are, I want you to pull out what you wrote about all the things you’ve wanted to do throughout your life. That was an exercise to start the juices flowing for this exercise. Look through your list. As you read through it, does something stand out as moving you? Something that causes you to feel light or excited? Something that to this day if you had the opportunity to do it, you’d do whatever it takes to achieve it. If nothing on your page is something you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life (given the opportunity), then you will need to dig even deeper to identify that one thing you would like to achieve. This exercise will help you.
In a notebook, or on several pieces of paper, I want you to write at the top of the page the heading “Long Range Goals”. Then I want you to answer the question “What do I want within the next one to ten years.” Set a timer for 10 to 15 minutes and start writing. Here’s some questions to help get you started:
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?
Once your timer goes off, the next thing to do will be to place beside each item on your list a timeframe for how long you believe it will take to achieve it. For example 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years.
Now, check to see if your 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 few long-term goals, perhaps you haven’t yet decided what kind of life you want to build over the long run.
Now choose what you believe are the top 2 or 3 that are most important to you out of each time category.
Lastly, for each, write a short paragraph which includes the following:
1. A detailed description of what you want. Be very detailed—remember the detail requires for building a house that I described 2 episodes ago?
2. The reason why you want to achieve or acquire the item described. Here you’ll find out if you really want it or if it’s just a passing fancy. If you can’t come up with a clear and convincing reason for why you want it, you should categorize this item as a whim, not as a true goal, and replace it with something else. Remember my description of why the single mom wanted to complete her education several episodes ago? She had an extremely powerful why that propelled her along her path and kept her focused on her end goal even when times got really tough.
You see, what you want is a powerful motivator only if there is a good reason behind it. You may find that some goals you once considered important no longer have appeal simply because you are unable to find a good enough reason for wanting them. That’s okay. Doing this assignment causes you to reflect, refine, and revise. And that’s the whole point behind it, to help you plan your future.
SUMMARY:
The last chapter of your life hasn’t been written yet. It doesn’t matter what you did yesterday, or how many times you’ve already failed, it only matters what you do next, and next, and next! The past got you where you are now, but what you do next is what will get you to where you’re going next. Decide where you want to go, then take the next step toward that destination. And remember, in order to not become discouraged when you feel your progress is slow, you will need to keep the end goal in mind. Don’t dwell on how far you still have to go. Instead celebrate how far you’ve already come! Progress is still progress even when it’s slow!
Thank you for being a part of my journey and allowing me to be a part of yours. If you’re open to learning more about this and other topics that could help move you more quickly toward your desired goals, please email me at rwitherspoon608@yahoo.com.
Musings By Rebecca 