by Jana Louise Smit

Created on: August 08, 2010

To have a goal is easy. To reach a goal can quickly become disparaging if reaching it takes too long or simply stays out of reach. There is a secret to goal reaching and that is the fact that it is a way of life, you are the practitioner of goals and that it is a skill.

Like any other skill, a novice needs to study and devote time to understanding the mechanics and pitfalls of the skill. Goal setting is no different and failing to understand this is why so many people fail to ever accomplish their dreams.

So, study. Search the internet on articles related to goals, goal setting, personal motivation, organizing skills, burn out prevention, and even success stories of entrepreneurs and like minded souls.

Acceptance is another powerful tool when it comes to goal achiever success. Many people buy into the hype that you only need to identify a goal, somehow easily breeze through it and at the end of a couple of easy tasks you find a golden egg and your goal hatches into a dream accomplished. Ok, maybe it’s not that bad, but it almost is. The end-result of others’ success is always widely publicized but rarely the sweat and dedication that went into achieving the success. This causes people to feel like failures when they are stuck in the depths of hard work and obstacles while they think ‘but that successful guy never had any problems like this.’

Get out of that mindset and practice acceptance. Accept that you are learning how to achieve a difficult goal. Accept that it takes time. Accept that you may not have the resources of other goal setters who seem to achieve things faster than you. Accept that you will have to learn patience, dedication and not to take failure personally. Accept that sometimes a goal have to be postponed or abandoned. If you cannot practice acceptance in the art of goal setting, you will either become burnt out, never achieve half of what you could because you are impatient and throw in the towel more often or never set more goals. The world needs people who are balanced and driven. You can become one of them if you are smart enough not to try and control everything that happens in the world.

Create a desk or other place for your goal planning and files. It’s not always possible to have it in beautiful and ideal surroundings, like at a window looking out over a cove with playing whales, but still. Make a space that is just for your goals. Treat it with cleanliness and order, and certainly respect because this

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