Ready. Aim. Fire.

If I had to sum up what I think about goals, I'd use these three words. 

"Goals" has become a buzz term in recent years. As a result, I believe the concept has become over complicated. Let's keep it simple. The fact is - goals are critical to success. No sane person would just hold a gun into the air and shoot randomly. Neither should you be so careless with the firepower of talent, ability, ingenuity and raw creativity God has gifted you with. This haphazard approach is not only unproductive and wasteful, it can be downright dangerous. Goals force you to direct your resources toward a target – both personally and professionally. So let's break them down. 

1.)   Ready

What do you want? Specifically. Define what “SUCCESS” means to you. “I want a better life for my family” is not success. “I want to make more money” is not success. Your challenge is to specifically, quantitatively outline what “SUCCESS” means to you. We aren’t to the part where you actually set a goal – this is bigger than that. What do you want your life to look like? Don’t be too detailed – but don’t be vague. Example: I want to send my kids to private school. I want to earn passive income through rental properties. I want to take a 2-week vacation each summer. I want to visit ten countries. I want to pay cash for all of my vehicles. 

2.)   Aim

This is the goal-setting part. Now that you have defined what success means to you, break that down into incremental steps you can take to get there. Make them S.M.A.R.T. (google it if you aren’t familiar) and make them visible. Revisit them each week, each month, each year. Evaluate yourself and recalibrate. Make goals for your personal life, your family life, your work life, your recreational life. The more clearly you have done step 1, the simpler this step will be. Your goals need to excite you, inspire you, strengthen you. If they don’t, the daily steps you need to take to accomplish them may wear you out before you get there. 

3.)   Fire

Go. Hard. Every day. Articulating your goals and putting them down on paper brings focus to your day. Don’t be obsessive but be diligent. Our culture screams at us that we should have what we want now...YESTERDAY actually. Daily disciplines are a thing of the past, it would seem. The truth is, they aren’t a thing of the past. They are the only means that allows us to accomplish big things. I once heard someone say that skyscrapers are held together by millions of bolts. I love this picture. The bolts are the every day, seemingly mundane tasks that are required to construct a life of impact and success. Wake up each day and remember your definition of success. Then remember your goals. Then fire. 

Lean Forward, 

Bekka