Going From Dreaming to Planning(Goal setting)

                     By Juan Rojas
I go much more in depth on this topic in the book I have written about Jon Andersen's life. It can be found at:
https://www.jonandersen.com/fuelthecycleofgreatness

Think about a dream destination that you would like to travel to but have never visited before. You embark on the next plane, boat, car, spaceship, zeppelin, submarine etc. of your choice and go out to this land that you have always dreamed of being in. Once you get to the closest airport or wherever else your mode of transportation is set to arrive, you are dropped off and left on your own. You do not know the language, you do not have access to a map or a GPS, and you do not even have a compass on you! You know that your desired final destination is only a few hours away, but you have no idea how to get there and didn’t plan properly prior to your trip. You might be able to get a few locals to understand you through hand gestures, drawings and playing charades. At this point you might feel like you are making progress! Only problem is, there was a misunderstanding between you and the locals and now you are in a place even further away from your destination. After many hours of walking in circles, you finally are able to reach your destination because you stumbled upon an internet café. Here, you were able to sit down and properly put in the research of how to exactly get to your destination. The important part is that you arrived, although, how much better would things have been if you could have saved yourself the hassle and stress of being lost for hours on end in an unknown potentially dangerous place?

This is similar to what happens with people and their dreams. They have a certain dream they want to achieve but never really take it further than the thought of: “It would be really nice to be there.” From time to time they will work slightly towards reaching this dream but they have no direction and are completely lost. The individual gets discouraged and ends up going back to their mediocre life where they live comfortably. A select few might one day reach it, but it may them a lot longer than needed if they did not maximize their resources. We want to turn our dream into a goal and that is done by setting a timeline for it! The first step towards achieving a goal, will be to research how long it realistically takes to get there. Once you do this, you must evaluate your personal life and commitment towards your goals in order to set a date of when exactly you want to achieve this goal by and what specifically you can measure your ability to reach this goal with. If your goal is simply “I want to be successful and rich”, it will be much harder to achieve as this is not clearly defined and has no timeline. Something like “I want to feel happy and spend more time with my kids, drop 20 lbs. of fat and make an extra 25% on my income by this time next year” is a much more clearly defined goal with measures and a timeline.

Picking an attainable clearly defined goal will be a key factor in your success. Clearly define your goal and write it down somewhere where you can see it daily. Doing this to even the minutest details will allow you to see it as a reality. Meditation can be a great tool as well in order to enhance this as it will show you clarity as success is approached. Visualize yourself in the place where you want to be, as this will help you get a preview of the positive feelings you will encounter when you get there; this can be a very powerful motivator.

Clearly defining your goal will also be the first step in reverse engineering. Once you have defined your ultimate goal, I want you to write it down at the bottom of a sheet of paper. Now, write down at the top of the sheet at what point you are currently in this journey. Begin from the bottom of the sheet and work your way up on the necessary steps you must take in order to get from where you want to be, to where you are at now. If you are unsure of the steps, researching the internet, reading books, and seeking out individuals who have done something similar to what you want to do will be of great value to your success. For example, if there is an individual wanting to become a commercial airline pilot, the steps might look something like this:

Obtain a bachelor’s degree--> Train and obtain private pilot’s license-->Log 250 flight hours under different weather conditions--> Pass Federal Aviation Administration tests-->Become a co-pilot for a well-respected company--> Obtain career as commercial airline pilot

Once you have reverse engineered your journey to success, make sure to constantly reevaluate where you are standing in your journey. Once you have all these steps written down, your goal turns even more realistic by becoming a plan. Now that you have steps that will show you exactly how to reach the end result, it makes it much more real. This plan can constantly be changing, but ultimately will lead you to the success you seek. Begin by setting a time frame that you will give yourself to get to each step in your journey and devise a plan on how you will get there!

Here is a step by step guide on how to turn a dream into a plan:
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Step 1 Find an appropriate gauge to measure your progress towards your goals. In this situation perhaps make it a routine to spend a minimum of 15 minutes every day without electronics or distractions and do some sort of activity that is getting you closer to your goals. Jot down on a calendar every day that you are successful with this new daily task.

Step 2 After some time has passed, gauge what your progress has been in the last one, three, six and twelve months as you strive towards your goal. Check for trends on where your progress was accelerated and determine what caused it. Perhaps the first 3 months you were able to do this specific action every day, but after this, it started becoming every other day and your quality time kept diminishing over time.
 
Step 3 Be honest and ask yourself, are you happy with the amount of progress you made? Could you be spending more time dedicated towards achieving or accelerating this plan? Maybe all the activities you have going on in your life can be cut down and a few extra hours a week can be dedicated to invest more time into your plan.
 
Step 4 If the answer to being able to progress at a faster rate is yes, then you must research and pinpoint what is holding you back. Determine what you must do in order to keep an accelerated rate of progress.
 
Step 5 Once you have compared the research, look for trends in your results about what makes sense to you most. Here you can determine how variable factors will affect your progress. If you can find what has worked for you best under certain circumstances, stick with it. Write down what seems to be the best scenarios in order for you to progress. For example, you find that when you go to the gym at night you tend to socialize more and feel tired. This means that you must make an effort to go to the gym early in the morning before work. From this you can gather what methods in your lifestyle are crucial for you to maximize your results.
 
Step 6 Execute the plan and periodically check your progress to ensure you are getting closer to the end result.
Having a dream can easily be turned into a goal by setting an end date. Having a goal can easily be turned into a plan by having appropriate steps to getting to the end result. There is no reason why you cannot live out your dreams with the proper research, resources, effort and work ethic. Make sure that you are giving 100% effort daily in everything you do in order to live a happy life full of rewards!
 


Tags: nutrition, fat loss, motivation, goal setting, fitness, success, bodybuilding, powerlifting, macros, goals, weightlifting, personal trainer.

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