Dreams, Wishes, Goals, and Resolutions

Well, we are on Jan. 2nd, 2011.

So for the New Year - did you make "Wishes" , "Goals", or "Resolutions" ? Or just Dream? There is a difference. And it's possible to make Dreams really happen !

It all starts with a dream, a desire.
A Wish is more powerful than a dream.
A Goal is more powerful than a Wish.
A Resolution is more Powerful than a Goal !


A lot of time, people will think they are making a "New Year's Resolution", and really they are just making a wish. You've probably heard that "a goal without a plan is really just a dream waiting for the dreamer to move beyond the dream and make it real." ? If you haven't, remember you heard it here first.

So this post is about how to transform a dream into reality. Or how to make a wish come true by changing it to a resolution, in a way that adds power to it, so it has a very real chance of moving outside the land of could-be to inside the land of what-is.

I have read and studied many books on goals, but the best ones I've seen come out of NLP Training classes. I've created one for this blog entry that should work for anyone, trained or not (it's actually quite close to several goal checklists I've seen, and summarizes the guts of some books on the topic).

This will take you from picking out your wishes from your dreams, and picking out your goals from your wishes.

GOAL CHECKLIST
1. Make a huge wishlist of what you want. Everything you can think of. What's happening is you are going through your random dreams, and picking out your Wishes. When you are finished, read through this list.


2. Pick several things on your Wish list you really want. You're going to find, when reading your wish list, that some of the wishes are just re-worded versions of each other. Others may be parts of other wishes. And some others - "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but...". Pick several from the list that resonate with you most - but No more than nine. Re-write them if you'd like while putting them on your "Goal list". Doesn't mean you are giving up on the other wishes, once you get some of your goals, you can always do this exercise again, right ? But No More Than Nine (there is a reason - but that'll be in another post someday. For now, just stick to Nine or less. Typically, most people end up with Five.).

3. Re-write the Goals so they are positively stated. They also have to be "self-fullfillable". That is, something that is within your control. Winning the lottery isn't in your control. But a goal that relies on skills you can develop (and are able to achieve those learnings) works.


4. "How will you know when you've reached your goal ?". For those items you've picked, you have to be able to "see, hear, feel" it. What will you see around you, or see yourself doing ? What will you hear around you, or from others ? Or your internal dialog ? What will you feel, both inside (feelings) and outside (environment) ? The more you can imagine all this, the greater the chance of the goal happening.

Just for reference, Step 4 is actually the point where you're "installing a new program into your unconscious mind", one that it will see as a direction to set you in. It is worth mentioning- people that visualize bad things happening to them, and wonder why it always comes real, well, they are setting up "bad programs" for themselves.... . Dwelling on the negative, and our fears, is actually doing exactly what we are doing here - but done negatively, and unfortunately that will generate results as well. But here we are setting up good things to happen to us, and will get positive results.


5. Weigh the impact on your life. How much will you gain ? How much will you risk ? What about those around you ? Reaching for a goal will change you, your lifestyle, and relationships. Every goal has a price. But the price can be a good thing - a goal of happiness will mean you will give up sadness as part of the journey, that's a good price worth paying.


6. How badly do you want it ? Will this be an all consuming passion, or just a nice to have ? This will determine timeframe, effort, price, many things. Some goals are worth having but the importance is light enough that only minimal effort goes into them... in which case they may take much longer to manifest. Some are so beautiful and wonderful and desired, they light a fire of passion in the dreamer, and every part of their life bends toward that goal. Somewhere in between is nice (I'm a person of passion, I usually have at least one passionate goal running that I put much free time into. Sometimes two.).

Steps 5 and 6 together are "ecology checks". Some goals - the price is too high, and we discover that the present is better. In which case - we know there's more (or we wouldn't have had a need to set goals), we just need some more insight to find what it is that we already know inside that we want or need.


For non-NLP/Hypnosis people - the above checklist works, trust me. Go ahead, use it to reach some small goals, get a feel for how it works. Once you're happy with that, you can move on to reach beyond into the profound life-changing dreams you may have....

The reason for setting the goals, writing them out, is simple: The unconscious mind picks it up, and will then start finding ways for it to happen. It's like installation of a program in your computer - once you do the above exercise, the program will start running automatically. The act of following the above will actually "activate" an intention. Your unconscious mind will follow through with it, because that's what it is designed to do - follow the instructions you give it. We miss opportunities all the time, simply because other "programs" are in the way, or we haven't "programmed" outselves to see opportunities. Or other people have convinced us they aren't there. Whatever the cause - just by writing out your goals, you'll start a change process in your own mind that will open the door for them to become real.

Luck is something you make yourself. For the most part - it's an unconscious process, and involves seeing what's already there, instead of overlooking it.


Now, that's the first step. There is still one more: The Plan of Action. This is how we change a Goal into a Resolution.

This part I'm only going to explain simply. Because once you have your goals defined, your unconscious mind is going to help you out with the Plan of Action. First, I suggest that you put aside the "Goal List", and sleep on it for a night or two. Seriously. Then review it one last time, see if there is anything there you feel differently about - this is an "ecology check". Tweak anything that "feels" like it needs tweaking.

The action plan is easy. For each of the goals, pick one thing that will take you closer. If you see more than one, go ahead, write that down. But you need to write down one step. Something you can do to get one step closer.

For example, some of my goals are rather complex (I've achieved all the simplier ones many years ago). So for some goals, I have just one step, the next step needed. For other goals, I have a couple of steps... but those steps are just about creating opportunities. I may not need all of those steps, or all of those steps may not be enough. It's a list of what I can do to generate the opporunities to actually get closer to what I really want. Each step will also give it's own learnings, and that's never a bad thing.

Timeframe is a factor as well. When do you want the goal to manifest ? When can you do the steps ? Does timeframe matter ? Mark all of this down, and remember to follow your action plan.

Finally - fun. You have to make it fun. Either the goal is something you need, and makes all the steps worth it, or it can be something desired and each step on the way is fun in itself. The more opportunity to learn, grow, be more, and have fun, the better it will be. It is far better to have a goal take a little longer to reach but be fun in the process than it is to fast-track the goal at the cost of making it "all work no play".

And that's it.


A Wish is more powerful than a dream, because a dream is just a thought.

A Goal is more powerful than a Wish, because to make a goal you plant the seed of change within yourself.

And a Resolution is more powerful than a Goal, because you've started nuturing the seed, and committed to making it grow into something new that will bear fruit someday.
Choose wisely the seeds you plant and nurture, for someday they will bear fruit.


A closing note: All of this can be applied to the corporate world as well. Without spoiling a future post (or workshop), it involves "Vision", something called "Shared Reality", "Engaging all your people", and "Empowerment". And I'll leave the specifics to your imagination for the time being :).