"If you don't know where you are going, any path will take you there" - a quote that stuck through, and still lives in my head!
This post is made for 2 reasons only.
We're all fascinating and peculiar species! Wanting more and more, better and better. I believe this drive towards innovation and improvement is one of the fundamental pillars of human nature. Evolution? Growth?
Those that don't follow this rule are simply left behind - forgotten BUT most importantly, they themselves as individuals are left feeling unhappy and unsatisfied.
One thing we (people of this forum) share in common is this desire to escape this. More power, more money, more value, more health, more growth, more connections, more knowledge, more insert whatever you want!
What contributed to me writing about this topic is a great convo with a dear person to me a few days ago. The topic was our 'goals and dreams'. I was asked a question which got me really thinking and actioning! That question was: "Why can't you do it?" or translated in my head: "What are you missing to achieving this goal of yours today?".
I thought in my head - "wow, I still have some 'goals and dreams' which have not been fully sketched out yet, I do not have 100% clarity", and I should really get to work and sketch them out better.
It's a really difficult question without a straightforward answer - 'technically' I can achieve this 'event' (one of my goals and dreams I shared with them) RIGHT NOW, but SOMETHING is stopping me.
Answers that came to my mind:
I think there's some levels of YESs for each question if I answer honestly. But then the real question becomes - What do I do about it?
Because the outcome is binary I either REACH my goal and dream or I DON'T, same for you.
Here's the framework on what to do about it so you can make your goal and dreams REAL:
Beforehand, I’ll share quick definitions to help you understand the following text better:
A WANT is your goal and dream.
And a NEED is the stepping stones that get you there.
An EXCUSE is the lack of action.
You outline straight away in the here and now on what the FINAL NEED is, in order to do what you WANT, leaving NO room for EXCUSES. The second you get your LAST NEED, you act on what you WANT straightaway - NO EXCUSES. There will be mostlikely multiple NEEDs for larger goals and dreams, but ONE will be THAT ONE. THAT FINAL NEED!
If you don't, that means you failed to define what you NEED or what you WANT. Learn from that, and do better. Or MAYBE? You have what that final NEED? So do it!!
If SOMETHING is stopping you, however. And I will repeat myself: Learn from that, and try again, do better!
There's 2 pieces of advice that follow -
Advice One - You are required to calculate with EXACT CLARITY your NEED and WANT which you are lacking. 'More money', 'More knowledge' is not good enough, you need EXACTNESS, you need CLARITY. The process of getting these answers is SIMPLE - you ask yourself necessary questions.
For example:
Me: I am lacking knowledge
You: How much? In what? Are you really?
Me: No... I am lacking confidence in owning this _INSERT_THE_WANT_, what if it breaks? Or something something…?
You: What would give you the necessary confidence?
Me: Maybe… if I can fix something smaller all by myself, like this locking mechanism in the shelf door which magically broke down a few days ago. Which I have NO idea how to fix... This would boost my confidence and give me this clarity?
You: Okay, so if you fix this broken shelf lock all by yourself, this will be your FINAL NEED met and you’ll go ahead and proceed with this WANT, NO EXCUSES?
Me: Yes.
BINGO! You have now reached an agreement, a commitment, now you have NO MORE EXCUSES, it's clear!
Without this clear commitment, you WILL NOT achieve this ‘goal and dream’ of yours with 100% clarity.
Advice Two - You can't control TIME. Only ESTIMATE time. You are REQUIRED to ESTIMATE how much TIME it will take you for the NEEDs not your WANTs, with what you CURRENTLY HAVE and KNOW.
Two examples:
First Example: I will arrive home in 30 minutes. This is an example of CONTROLLING the time and you’re after a WANT not a NEED. It does NOT have a 100% clarity rate.
Second Example: It takes me 15 min to send 50 emails SO I will send 1000 emails in 300 min. This is an example of ESTIMATING TIME and an example of a NEED - which, if you did the maths right, HAS 100% clarity rate.
The moment you CLEARLY DEFINE your needs and ESTIMATE the TIME. IS the moment YOU ACHIEVE THEM. The rest you leave to the process. Your job only becomes to monitor/measure the process/progress aka TIME and SPEED it is taking. Not happy with the numbers? Focus on IMPROVING them - by following the same framework I described above? Or, there could be better ways! I’m sharing whats been working for me.
I don't care what the F your ‘goals and dreams’ are right now.
What I care about is that you CLEARLY DEFINE WHY you are NOT there RIGHT NOW and HOW LONG EXACTLY it will take you to be there RIGHT NOW with what you already have.
This is the FOUNDATION that you build off of. This is what makes 'dreams and goals' REAL.
I revisited this post 3 times before posting, oh and all of this is written by ChatGPT! jk
This post is made for 2 reasons only.
- I want to practise my writing skills - because a good writer is also a good reader.
- The topic is ‘Goals and Dreams’, something I believe we all share. I will give you a framework which makes these dreams and goals of yours REAL in the first place (it makes mine… sometimes… all the time…). We don't care about the SPEED at the moment, we care about making these goals and dreams of yours REAL, only afterwards do we manage the SPEED.
We're all fascinating and peculiar species! Wanting more and more, better and better. I believe this drive towards innovation and improvement is one of the fundamental pillars of human nature. Evolution? Growth?
Those that don't follow this rule are simply left behind - forgotten BUT most importantly, they themselves as individuals are left feeling unhappy and unsatisfied.
One thing we (people of this forum) share in common is this desire to escape this. More power, more money, more value, more health, more growth, more connections, more knowledge, more insert whatever you want!
What contributed to me writing about this topic is a great convo with a dear person to me a few days ago. The topic was our 'goals and dreams'. I was asked a question which got me really thinking and actioning! That question was: "Why can't you do it?" or translated in my head: "What are you missing to achieving this goal of yours today?".
I thought in my head - "wow, I still have some 'goals and dreams' which have not been fully sketched out yet, I do not have 100% clarity", and I should really get to work and sketch them out better.
It's a really difficult question without a straightforward answer - 'technically' I can achieve this 'event' (one of my goals and dreams I shared with them) RIGHT NOW, but SOMETHING is stopping me.
Answers that came to my mind:
- Not having ___ amount in savings?
- Not having practical/theoretical experience in this subject? (What If You Already Know Enough?)
- Fear of the unknown? or Fear of making a MISTAKE? (The Elephant In My Mind: Fear Of Failure.)
- Laziness of going through the necessary process of reaching this ‘event’? (How Bad Do You Want It? Enough To Go "All In?")
I think there's some levels of YESs for each question if I answer honestly. But then the real question becomes - What do I do about it?
Because the outcome is binary I either REACH my goal and dream or I DON'T, same for you.
Here's the framework on what to do about it so you can make your goal and dreams REAL:
Beforehand, I’ll share quick definitions to help you understand the following text better:
A WANT is your goal and dream.
And a NEED is the stepping stones that get you there.
An EXCUSE is the lack of action.
You outline straight away in the here and now on what the FINAL NEED is, in order to do what you WANT, leaving NO room for EXCUSES. The second you get your LAST NEED, you act on what you WANT straightaway - NO EXCUSES. There will be mostlikely multiple NEEDs for larger goals and dreams, but ONE will be THAT ONE. THAT FINAL NEED!
If you don't, that means you failed to define what you NEED or what you WANT. Learn from that, and do better. Or MAYBE? You have what that final NEED? So do it!!
If SOMETHING is stopping you, however. And I will repeat myself: Learn from that, and try again, do better!
There's 2 pieces of advice that follow -
Advice One - You are required to calculate with EXACT CLARITY your NEED and WANT which you are lacking. 'More money', 'More knowledge' is not good enough, you need EXACTNESS, you need CLARITY. The process of getting these answers is SIMPLE - you ask yourself necessary questions.
For example:
Me: I am lacking knowledge
You: How much? In what? Are you really?
Me: No... I am lacking confidence in owning this _INSERT_THE_WANT_, what if it breaks? Or something something…?
You: What would give you the necessary confidence?
Me: Maybe… if I can fix something smaller all by myself, like this locking mechanism in the shelf door which magically broke down a few days ago. Which I have NO idea how to fix... This would boost my confidence and give me this clarity?
You: Okay, so if you fix this broken shelf lock all by yourself, this will be your FINAL NEED met and you’ll go ahead and proceed with this WANT, NO EXCUSES?
Me: Yes.
BINGO! You have now reached an agreement, a commitment, now you have NO MORE EXCUSES, it's clear!
Without this clear commitment, you WILL NOT achieve this ‘goal and dream’ of yours with 100% clarity.
Advice Two - You can't control TIME. Only ESTIMATE time. You are REQUIRED to ESTIMATE how much TIME it will take you for the NEEDs not your WANTs, with what you CURRENTLY HAVE and KNOW.
Two examples:
First Example: I will arrive home in 30 minutes. This is an example of CONTROLLING the time and you’re after a WANT not a NEED. It does NOT have a 100% clarity rate.
Second Example: It takes me 15 min to send 50 emails SO I will send 1000 emails in 300 min. This is an example of ESTIMATING TIME and an example of a NEED - which, if you did the maths right, HAS 100% clarity rate.
The moment you CLEARLY DEFINE your needs and ESTIMATE the TIME. IS the moment YOU ACHIEVE THEM. The rest you leave to the process. Your job only becomes to monitor/measure the process/progress aka TIME and SPEED it is taking. Not happy with the numbers? Focus on IMPROVING them - by following the same framework I described above? Or, there could be better ways! I’m sharing whats been working for me.
I don't care what the F your ‘goals and dreams’ are right now.
What I care about is that you CLEARLY DEFINE WHY you are NOT there RIGHT NOW and HOW LONG EXACTLY it will take you to be there RIGHT NOW with what you already have.
This is the FOUNDATION that you build off of. This is what makes 'dreams and goals' REAL.
I revisited this post 3 times before posting, oh and all of this is written by ChatGPT! jk
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