Let's start by Building Goals! Follow last years conversation as we read Goals! by Brian Tracy. It is also available via Kindle through the Amazon Link.

(This is an affiliate link that helps LON also!) 

As part of the 2023 Resolution, we will be setting GOALS to strive to hit by encouraging each other. To help us do that our reading crew has picked up Goals! by Brian Tracy. 

I scanned Chapter 6 for you...

Chapter 6 Goals

Cutting to the main topic as outlined in Chapter 6, there are 

7 Keys to Goal Setting

“Fifty successful business owners were asked for their best time management tool. 49 out of the 50 held up a yellow writing pad,” Tracy says. “Their business tool was simple: simply making a list. Most businesses fail because they’re not clear. They don’t think on paper.”

Tracy emphasized the importance of pen and paper. It’s the physical process of writing — not the words — that activates all three major areas of the brain and makes our ideas and goals stick longer term. The following 7 keys (and writing them down!) can help you achieve more clarity and the subsequent boost in self-confidence that will follow.

Key 1: Decide exactly what you want. Most people in the world don’t know what they want and when they want to accomplish it by. Make sure what you want is so simple that a 6-year old can both understand it and explain it to another 6-year old.

Key 2:  Write it down. If your goals aren’t written down, they’re just a fantasy. If you write down one important goal today, things will start to happen for you.

Key 3: Set a deadline. Whatever you do, don’t set open-ended goals. Every goal should come with a “use-by” date. This simple action adds an extra level of clarity that most choose to ignore.

Key 4: Make a list. Next, make a list of everything you need to do to accomplish your goal. This doesn’t have to be accomplished all in one sitting. Keep a pad of paper by your bed and add items as they come to mind.

Key 5: Organize your list. Once your goal is clearly defined and you’ve created a list of all the action items that need to happen in order to accomplish it, it’s time to organize your list. Prioritize it from most important to least important.

Key 6: Take action. Taking action sounds simple, but it’s hard. Get up and do something. It can be an easy next step like revising your paper, making a phone call, or ordering a book. The important thing is you’re up and moving towards your goal.

Key 7: Do something every day. Tracy recommends taking out a clean sheet of paper and writing down the next 10 goals you’d like to accomplish. Then pretend you have a magic wand and the ability to make any of these goals a reality in the next 24 hours. Which would you choose? Circle that goal, write it on a clean sheet of paper, and begin these seven keys again.

Then you apply the

12 Steps to Set and Achieve Any Goal

1. 1. Have a Desire: What Do You Really Want?
   2. Believe That Your Goal is Achievable
   3. Write Your Goal Down
   4. Determine Your Starting Point
   5. Determine Why You Want It
   6. Set a Deadline
   7. Identify the Obstacles in Your Way
   8. Determine the Additional Knowledge and Skills You Need
   9. Determine the People Whose Help You Will Need
   10. Make a Plan: Put It All Together
   11. Visualize Your Goal Continually
   12. Never Give Up

Never giving up means backing everything you do with persistence and determination.  It means resolving in advance that you will never give up, and making the decision, long before you face any obstacles or difficulties , that you will stick with it until you reach your goal.

Bringing It All Together

1. Make a list of at least 10 goals for the next 12 months.  Take out a clean sheet of paper and at the top of the page write the word “Goals” with today’s date.  Make a list of at least 10 goals that you want to accomplish within the next 10 months.  Write the goals in the present tense, such as, “I weigh X number of pounds,” or “I earn X number of dollars this year.”
2. Identify your Major Definite Purpose.  Read through your list of goals and select the one that answers this question: “What one goal on this list, if I accomplished it, would have the greatest possible impact on my life?”  This becomes the goal that you will use for the 12-part goal-setting process above.
3. Apply the 12-step goal-setting process.  Now that you have selected a goal that you really want and believe you can achieve it, write your goal on a separate sheet of paper, and set a deadlines.  Write out a list of reasons you want to achieve this goal.  Identify the obstacles that stand between you and the attainment of this goal.  Identify the knowledge and the skills you will need to achieve the goal.  Identify the people whose cooperation and support you’ll need.  Make a plan to accomplish this goal.  Take action on your plan and do something every day that moves you toward your goal.  Visualize your goal continually as if you had already achieved it, and resolve that you will never give up until you are successful.