Tony Williamson - Dollar for your thoughts

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice."

Last week, I pointed out that there were definite keys to success. Success is not a chance encounter. Rather, it is a process, a journey with visible mileposts. The five master keys are:

1. Desire

2. Vision

3. Goals

4. Work

5. Persistence

We considered the first two last week. Today, we shall review two more master keys.

GOALS

Someone rightly said, "A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder." If you do not have goals, you drift aimlessly like flotsam and jetsam upon life's turbulent seas.

"Goals serve as a stimulus in life," states an anonymous quotation. "They tend to tap the deeper resources and draw out life at its best. Where there are no goals, neither will there be any significant accomplishments. There will only be existence."

John F. Kennedy put it succinctly, "Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

What are your goals in life? What do you want to be, to do, to have? You can take a giant step in achieving your goals if you observe the following:

1. Write down your goals on paper - There is a chemistry that positively affects people when they marshal their thoughts and take the time to write them down. In outlining your goals, set deadlines for their fulfilment. Be specific. Do not say, "I want my own home." Instead, write down the type of house, the location, the size and the specific date by which you intend to have it.

2. Indicate the price you will pay to achieve your goals - There is no free lunch. There are things you will have to do, people you will have to meet, obstacles you will have to overcome in order to achieve your goals. Write these all down.

3. Break down your large goals into smaller proportions - This concept is understood by the well-known question and answer, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."

Focus on your daily requirements. If you are a salesperson with a company quota for the year, break your quota down into what is required monthly, weekly and daily and concentrate on the daily requirement. Focusing on the immediate will eventually bring you to your larger goal.

Stay focussed

Let me illustrate. A group of soldiers was commanded to walk across a vast section of Siberia in order to reach a certain destination. The group marched looking out at the expanse of white snow, became disoriented, and got lost.

The second group of soldiers was told to do the same march. This time, however, the commander told them, "Do not look out at the vastness of the snow, look at each step you take. Take one step at a time and focus on it." The second group made it across by focusing on one step at a time.

The one-step-at-a-time, one-day-at-a-time principle can help you, too. No matter how thorny the problem, how difficult the challenge, start where you are and take one step at a time. If you wish to unravel a knot, start with the single end that's visible and work your way from there until the knot is untangled.

4. Reduce your goals to writing on 4x5 cards, read them aloud, daily, especially just before bedtime - Repetition programmes your subconscious and it is the subconscious that will drive you to achieve your goals. Paul Myer of Success Motivation Institute says, "What you ardently desire, sincerely believe in, vividly imagine, enthusiastically act on, must inevitably come to pass."

WORK

The single most important element of the fulfilment of any dream, the achievement of any goal, is work. True success is achieved not by the wishbone but by the backbone. Dreams and goals simply envisioned without the corresponding work on your part are an exercise in futility - useless daydreaming.

Many great plans end up on the scrap heap of failure because the necessary work was not applied to these plans. History is full of the cluttered wreckage of lives of people who wished, and failed to work, who planned and failed to execute. More about work next week.

Tony Williamson is an international motivational speaker, sales trainer, author and lifestyle consultant.Email tony williamson_57@yahoo.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.