Setting Goals

Isn’t it interesting that so many people talk about the power of setting goals, but so few people ever seem to actually set them?

I used to be one of those people. For years, I read every book on goal setting that I could get my hands on. I attended every workshop about goal setting that came to town. I knew everything there was to know about setting goals, but I just never set any. I knew that goals worked, but I was never willing to put them to work.

Then one night as I was trying to get to sleep, I was fantasizing about “the good life” I would have if only I could make my wishes come true - like in a fairy tale. It was a fabulous fantasy - but it was only a fantasy!! In a fairy tale you could always count on a fairy godmother or leprechaun for help. Unfortunately, it was real life, and all I could count on was myself.

That thought, however, really got my attention! What if I really could count on myself? That’s not so bad! What if I could determine exactly what I wanted from life and then make it happen? What if setting a goal was as easy as just making a wish?

Wishes are goals - but goals with some added pizzazz. Goals provide the course of action that can take you to wherever you want to go, but they lack the motivation to get you there. Wishes are a little different. They have more impact - like being struck by a semi-truck instead of by a Hotwheels car.

Wishes let you dream. They let you fly. Wishes help to unleash a source of limitless opportunities and mighty forces that gives you the power to accomplish what you might otherwise never even have imagined. If you really want to make good things happen in your life, think of setting goals as making wishes.

Wishing was the extra motivation I’d been looking for. I never felt much enthusiasm in getting out of bed in the morning and telling myself, “Yippee!! Today I’m going to work on my goals.” But saying to myself, “Today I’m going to make my wishes come true” was a completely different story. This way of thinking made me feel as though I could accomplish anything.

This new way of thinking suddenly and drastically changed my life. It catapulted me from the minor leagues of achievement to the major leagues of success. The very instant I changed my behavior and way of thinking, the world around me started to change. The things I wanted to happen began to happen. The kind of life I had always dreamed about started to come true - like in a fairytale.

The purpose of this book is to share with you the incredible power to make your wishes and goals come true. To help you get what you want out of life--regardless of your background, your age, or your present circumstances--we are going to give you a concrete strategy, not just a speech about how great success is.

Many people think that luck or good fortune is ultimately what determines our fate. That is only slightly true.

Luck contributes its part in what happens to you, but what you will learn here is how to do your part. Luck essentially deals the cards. The goal of this book is to teach you how to play them. While fate rules, it favors those who learn the tricks. And this book is about the most important trick of all - cause and effect.