“Following the path of least resistance is what makes rivers and men crooked.”

A few days ago, we discussed the The Importance of Goal Setting. If you haven’t read that discussion, I’d urge you to read it now and come back here before continuing on below.


I doubt there are many who would dispute the importance of having goals. But the fact remains that few seem to have any specific goals. Instead, they confuse dreams with goals and in doing so, have no plan to achieve anything. They merely hope things will work out for them and maybe, they will be able to do one or two things in life that they dream of. And of course, the majority end up dying doing none of the things they dreamed of, and the excusing it with some kind of illogical proverb about life and chance and to hide their regrets.

So how does a person go about identifying and setting goals?

There are probably many methods - and the one that suits you best is the right one for you. However, I’d caution you to think upon this subject in more detail. It is one thing to set a goal that you’re going to earn 30% more in the next year, but quite another to say that you are going to earn 30% more this year according to your own moral and ethical values.

This idea becomes even more important (read the first post on goal setting) when realizing that your goals must not conflict with each other yet you should have goals in all the different areas of your life. How can you set goals that don’t conflict?

I have to say right from the start that my method was learned years ago through the ideas and thoughts of two different men. First, Brian Tracy with his Maximum Achievement Program, and Hyrum Smith’s “Time Management” courses with what is now known as Franklin Covey.

I took the philosophy of both Tracy and Smith and put them together in order to come up with my own effective system - but the basis of both are on discovering personal values. At the time, I knew I wanted to do more with my life, and I knew I was capable of doing more with it. I also knew that some of my dreams seemed to be conflicting with each other, and my life was not in harmony. The disharmony was a major impact on me in that I was constantly using short term thinking to solve crises that would come up in both in my personal life as well as affecting my bank account which was constantly overdrawn.

Sound familiar? How can you get ahead in life if you’re constantly putting out fires and trying to solve crises? How does one get the time to actually put begin to realize their goals and dreams? Which goals and dreams should have the most importance in the pursuit of true happiness?

That’s where “value based” goal setting comes in. And it is a terrific tool for anyone who wishes to seek true harmony in their life as well as becoming wealthier and independent.

In a nutshell, schedule an hour with yourself, and consider the following questions:

1. What are your five most important values in life?

What is really important to you? How do you envision what people will say about you at your funeral? What do you value in others that you’d like to ensure that you could also know others speak of you the same way?

Is it integrity? Is it courage? Is it creativity? Is it being rich? Is it about how you love your children?

I can’t tell you what your top five values should be. Only you know that, and this is a completely non-judgemental question. My top values are probably different from yours in the order they are in, even if we both have the same top five. And that is a very important exercise - to priortise those values for yourself, and knowing which is most important to you.

2. What are your three most important goals RIGHT NOW?

Answer this question in less than a minute. The answers that come to your mind immediately will quickly sort the wheat from the chafe.

3. How would you choose to spend your time if you found out you only had six months to live?

“Ah, but that is such a manipulative question!” I’ve been told when coaching others. Sure it is! That’s because you probably believe you have more than six months to live, and that you’ve got “the rest of your life to do things.” Except, you don’t really know how long the rest of your life really is, do you?

I’ve known a few people who have been told, “You only have ‘x’ number of months to live…” and they can be a huge inspiration to realizing what is really important. For them, the question was not manipulative at all - when faced with it, and in good health at the time, they quickly realized what they wanted and needed to do with the time left to them.

All we have in our lives is time. How we spend that time determines our legacy.

4. If you won a million dollars tonight, what would you do?

I despise government lotteries and their advertising - they take advantage of hopes and dreams of people in order to have them spend their good money on a “chance” that is practically non-existent. You have a better chance of being in a car accident tomorrow than yo do of winning the local government lottery.

On the other hand, thinking about what you would do with a million dollars if you won it, is a good method of figuring out what your true goals should be. How would you change your life?

Think about that for a moment: How would you change your life?

5. What do you want to do, but are afraid to do?

Be brutally honest with yourself. Our fears can be and are a hugely tremendous reason for doing nothing. Some of the most intelligent people with enormous potential are so afraid of making mistakes, that they do nothing. Many who procrastinate are not really “lazy,” but are actually fearful. And the majority of our fears are completely illogical. Finding out what you’d love to do, and the recognizing and acknowledging the fears you have about that can be a tremendous step towards achieving your full potential.

Speaking of potential, I find it interesting to talk with others - especially parents of children - parents who recognize potential in their children and hope their children realize that potential - yet they themselves don’t bother much at all with their own potential. What a great example that is, huh?

6. What activities give you the most personal satisfaction?

This has been a question I often struggle with myself. Again, it’s an area you have to be brutally honest with yourself. You can’t be thinking of what you do that give others’ satisfaction but what gives YOU satisfaction. Answering this question will give a very good idea of your most important values. No matter what life brings to you - how you react to what life brings to you and what you do with the time you have - what of your “doings” provide you with the most satisfaction?

7. What would you dream if you knew you could not fail?

The Wealthy Blogger is your genie and will grant you one wish. Just one. What wish will you ask of The Wealthy Blogger? Answer the question in 30 seconds or less. What’s your biggest dream for yourself?

8. What Relationships Do You Value The Most And Why?

No one is an island unto themselves. Do you know why you value the relationships you have? Are they relationships that are helping you to achieve what you want to achieve, or are they relationships that are negative for both parties? Who would you be wanting to spend time with if you knew you only had six months to live? Do they know how much you value that relationship?

This might seem like an odd question from “The Wealthy Blogger,” but wealth comes in many forms. And you cannot create monetary or financial wealth without relationships that you treasure and value, and that also is congruent with all of your values.

As mentioned above, I have to give credit to Hyrum Smith of what used to be known as “Franklin Quest,” now “Franklin Covey” but even more importantly, to the principles of goal setting outlined in “Maximum Achievement.”

In the next couple of days, I’ll post about how to turn our goal setting sessions into something that we do regularly, how to determine goals that are realistic and achievable, and overcoming intertia into realizing our own personal potential.

I’ll also share some methods that I’ve used, specifically, to earn a variety of income streams, using the Internet. But don’t let that fool you - it’s not the Internet - it’s you, as an individual and the potential you have and what you are willing to do with that potential that will have any realization towards your goals.

I would urge you to get a pad of paper and answer the above questions for yourself, too. Just do it.

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