Goal Setting & Execution

Kelly Bako LPC

People have a natural tendency at this time of year to use the fall months to reflect on the positive and challenging life events from the past year to create meaningful ideas and goals for the future year.  At ONE EVO, one our core beliefs of human functioning is the deep seeded presence of an innate desire to evolve. Fight over Flight - no freeze!!In the book “Psycho-Cybernetics”, Doctor Maxwell Maltz calls this instinctual drive and natural tendency of humans our “servo-mechanism”. We literally have within us a success mechanism that thrives off of having a dream, a goal directed activity to chase after and conquer! Thus, in capturing the essence of goa setting, or any unique focal point of our lives, we invite you to identify new goals, revisit tucked away dreams, and re-ignite stifled passions. This is one of our team’s most enjoyable ventures (individually and collectively) and we welcome you along for the adventure!

Dreamstorming

But first, you must choose to dream. Dreams remain dreams unless you take action.Specific action! Dreams become goals when you give them deadlines. However, without a plan, an estimated timeline and specific tasks you must check off along the way (and in my opinion, some accountability to someone or something else), many people drift through life not ever really experiencing the tremendous joy and overwhelming feeling of accomplishment of a Dream or a Goal realized. People fall victim to some of the most common distractions and derailing moments, steering them away from some of their heart’s deepest desires. Life happens quickly and it doesn’t take long until any one of us are going through the motions. Yet every year, this magical celebration of ringing in a New Year beckons us to connect with what we want most in our lives: health, happiness, love, fulfillment, value, purpose, and achievement-whatever it may be.

 No Dream or Goal is too small, too trivial, or too big; but it must live within you with conviction. 

Take Action!

Over the next few days, I encourage you to try this exercise. Find a piece of paper or go get a $1 notebook. I want you to find some time to quiet your mind and your body. Spend some time with yourself. No distractions. Think back to what you dreamed of doing and being as a kid.  What did you want to accomplish in your lifetime? Write it down.

Visualization & Manifestation

Think of your life now as an adult.  Consider the domains of a person’s life: personal, health/fitness, professional, education, home, family, financial, spiritual. Jot down notes of what you want to accomplish or how you envision those areas of life to be, or what you wanted it to look like from your heart’s deepest dreaming place. Feel free to write down adjectives of how it might look, smell, taste or feel to have whatever vision it is you have of yourself in those areas of your life.

What is the vision for your life? ​

​Who are you with? Where do you live? What do you drive? How are you dressed? What do you do for fun? How do you enjoy life on earth if you could spend your day any way that you wish? How would you design your life, if you could have it exactly as you desire?
This is the start of the process, the process of turning dreams into reality. The process starts with Visualization. Visualization is a form of Guided Imagery that allows you to dreamstorm the reality you wish to manifest. The overall Goal is to continue to create and expand that vision, writing it down on paper, being able to name it and describe it as you move along in your life.

It has been said that there is something powerful that happens when you see your dreams or goals written on paper in your own writing. Judge it for yourself. But don’t forget to check in with that special notebook at any point in the year- it doesn’t have to be at just the New Year. In fact, I recommend you revisit your notes throughout the year so that you don’t lose sight of what it is that you are after!

Make your Dreams & Goals Known

The next step in Goal Setting & Execution is share! Share your goals, dreams, and vision. You must make them known to people. By sharing your vision with others, you not only own your dreams and goals to yourself, but you own it to the Universe. The Law of Attraction would say in doing this, you harness the idea of what you think about you bring about. If this sounds too crazy or simple, it is. Yet, it works! In addition, sharing your dreams and goals enlists support, and you may be surprised how many people who want to see you accomplish your goal and will find ways in seeing your become successful. You will also meet those who are the naysayers. For the most part, in order to be successful, you’re going to have to remove most of these people from your life. There isn’t much room for that kind of negative energy on the “Energy Bus” traveling toward success.

A Note about your Naysayers 

Naysayers are going to offer you 2 powerful benefits along your journey: they will identify obstacles that lie ahead where many other travelers have been derailed, but on the other hand, they will (hopefully) reinforce the conviction that lives inside you about the dream that you are after. The difference, in my opinion, between the people who move past these people versus those who allow themselves to get paralyzed by a naysayer’s negativity, is one’s ability to harness and focus the vision you have nurtured for your life.

Create a Timeline

Once you have made your vision known, you should identify an estimated timeline for accomplishment. Dreams and Goals are personal to each individual, and each will have their own time frame, circumstances, and tasks to take care of. Some goals have similar time frames though, and it’s important to be aware of them. For example, to say you dream of a college education and you set yourself a goal of obtaining a College Degree, this isn’t going to set yourself up for success over night. Most of us know that it typically takes 4 years to accomplish a traditional college degree. Throughout the course of those 4 years, you’ll have milestones and markers to reach along with the inevitable setbacks that are bound to come. However, just the sheer awareness of this process using the vision of a timeline puts a person at an advantage over those individuals who just tend to “wing it” in their approach of trying to reach goals.

Therefore, awareness of the process of goal setting and execution is an advantage itself, and if you’re reading this you are already doing your part, or revisiting a well-known truth, that helps a person stay on track.

As I mentioned before, Dreamstorming and self-actualization is a process, just like learning. It’s also designed to be a lifelong process…So hopefully you will fall in love with the process over and over again; Visualization, bringing things to life on paper, creating a timeline, sharing it with others, and taking action daily toward your goals.

I’m going to leave you with a thought from Paul Coelho’s book, “The Alchemist” in which it’s touted that the Universe conspires with you not against you. Whatever it is that has lead you to even reading this article on Goal Setting and Execution is working with you in actualizing whatever it is that you’re after.

Follow up

Look for the follow up to this article Goal Setting & Execution Pt.2 for additional practical strategies and exercises for: dreamstorming, organizing your goals and environment in a conscious effort toward goal achievement, breaking down broad goals into smaller achievable goals, identifying areas of self-sabotage, and encouraging you to take a look at the concept of willingness and sacrifice. There will be examples and added resources!

*Concepts/Resources mentioned throughout this article:
-Psycho Cybernetics; Dr. Maxwell Maltz
-The Alchemist; Paulo Coelho
-The Energy Bus; Jon Gordon
-The Law of Attraction
-Dreamstorming
-Guided Imagery
-Self Actualization

Kelly Bako is a Clinical Counselor and also a High Performance Coach for Entrepreneurs. She specializes in Children and Family needs and also goal setting and planning! For more information on Kelly Bako, follow the links below!