From wishes to goals to reality in 2012 - MWE

I'm taking a different approach to reaching my goals in 2012 based on my own successful experiences of using a book called "How to get what you want".

From writing and publishing your novel to getting that $500 pair of Manolo shoes - to learning how to pick up the pieces of your life - from creative goals to getting your financial life in order - from changes in your social life to enriching your spiritual life, it's really all the same principle. New house - new coat - new boyfriend ....

The premise of the book is that all goals are achievable, if you know how to focus and plan in detail, pore over every minute detail on a daily basis, act on your action plan, but don't reveal your plans and ambitions to the world, keep them to yourself for a while.   

That means this year there will be no long list of goals published by me for the entire world to see.

It requires you to review your action plans three times a day, re-write your goals once a day - by hand - no computer allowed, write neatly, smile while you re-write your list once a day. Keep adding more details and ideas as you go, be consumed with thoughts about reaching your goals. Keep looking for ways to improve upon your plans and ideas, but never procrastinate once you identified a new tool or action.

The repetition, attention and time you devote to your goals every day will pay off. Nothing is more important to success then daily focus!

Don't we often obsess daily about all the reasons why we can't do something or just don't have the time to do something - anything, towards our goals? Well, this is the anti-dote if you will.

It may be true that once you put your ideas, dreams and wishes out into the universe the entire world conspires to make it happen for you, miracles occur and you suddenly meet up with the right people and voila. If you believe in the teachings of the book called 'The Secret', then that is certainly how you might operate. Add a wish board and things start to go your way, according to that philosophy.

But let's face it, in order to succeed at anything you still need to aquire and hone the skills to do the job and of course it helps to connect with the right people to take it to the next level. Sometimes they find you, if you are lucky or believe in The Secret philosophy, but that can only happen if you are ready - being prepared is everything.

Personally, I have always been a believer in visualization, because I am a visual person. So having a journal dedicated to my goals or a board and doing silly things like cutting out an image of say the car I want and pasting it into my "wish book" definitely helps me to realize my dreams.

The key, based on my own experience is the daily obsession with your goals and the more detailed you are about say the color of the exterior car, interior, new-used, mileage, specific extras, etc. the better the chance to see it become reality. You become more aware of everything to do with cars from flyers you never noticed before to seeing the perfect car for sale on the roadside. Right there, on your way to visit a town you never visited before. That's how it happened for me the last time:) along with some other rather strange circumstances, like having someone I barely knew offer to loan me the difference so I could pay cash for the car. A little two seater, red convertible, just perfect for me. 

Sometimes we don't know what we want, there is a vague dissatisfaction and a feeling of disappointment, we feel like life is just passing us by and we've let ourselves down. Like that famous quote about most people just leading a life of quiet desperation. There have been times when I felt that was true for me.

In reality, we may have worked toward a goal for years, prepped for it in ways that even we didn't realize. We lose a job and end up in another field, yet years later that training comes in handy and we find ourselves ready for an opportunity we had no idea even existed.

I've also noticed that one must be careful what one wishes for, there seems to be a protocol we often disregard, like being quite specific about what we really want to create and have in our lives.

How many times have you found yourself thinking, gee I wish this had happened to me ten years ago when I really needed and wanted it. Since we weren't properly focused we ended up sending out a vague smoke signal into the cosmos. Then our wish finds us in 2012, when we are no longer interested, because our lives and our dreams have changed. 

If something is really important to us we make it happen or we suffer if we don't.

It's true, whether we focus on the good, the mediocre, decide to settle or reach for the stars, we create our own universe. That's the sad part, when we put a cap on our possibilities ourselves,

when we decide to settle way before we even really gave it our all, because it was expected of us or because we wrongly thought it was the right thing to do.

Maybe we no longer believe we can do it, we feel too old, too tired, too mired down in our circumstances, sickness or laziness get in the way. Maybe the reason we aren't truly motivated is that it isn't really our dream, but someone else's whom we are trying to please. Maybe our happiness lies elsewhere or is simply not that ambitious.

It may feel a little silly or unrealistic or narcicisstic to reach for the stars, but hey why not? Dream a little and suddenly ideas start flowing, because you gave yourself permission to dream.

When we are young we know everything is possible, but we forget or deny that as we get older.

The wonderful thing is that once you dreamed it - it can happen, there is a chance, there is hope and sometimes we find our way to the end of our rainbow. The one thing that I have come to realize is that there is abundant wealth and opportunity in the world, enough for everyone. So it's puzzling just why there is such an unequal distribution of wealth in the world.

Another great equalizer is time - we all get exactly 24 hours every day. It's up to us to make it count! What do the successful people do with their 24 hrs that makes them so much more effective?

There is this fabulous book called, "How to get what you want" by author Raymond Hull. I read it years ago and plan to re-read it and see what I can get out of it this time around. 

It's a guide and work book that challenges your beliefs, gets you out of your rut and helps you see your world, your goals and your actions from a different perspective.

It talks about improving all areas of your life and makes ten times more sense to me then the book "The Secret", which seems to rely on elusive, spiritual truths, while I am one who needs concrete instructions on how to go about it all.

I like to get down to brass tacks when it comes to formulating an action plan, this book will help you with that. It helps you identify in detail what you really want and helps you come up with a plan to achieve any goal. It starts out with one goal, but reminds you that in order to get somewhere we often need to change other aspects of our lives as well, from social life to finances.

Of course there is a list of ten different goals in there somewhere, but you can stick with one or three or five, it is recommended you start out with a couple small easy to obtain goals to build your confidence. I like that.

We all need a little help and motivation from time to time to reach our goals. I certainly do not like the results of the past two years, that is why I've decided to return to what has worked for me successfully in the past. Who knows, perhaps you found some motivation and inspiration in this article for yourself.

My favorite thing about this book is that it acknowleges and tells you how to deal with those goals where we just don't have any idea about how we could possibly ever make them reality.  

Focus, plan, revise and act upon it -

think about it and dream about it - dwell on it, obsess about it, 

until it becomes your own wonderful new reality!

I wish you luck and good fortune and success, most of all I wish you great new ideas, sound plans and great fortitude in reaching your goals in 2012!

From wishes to goals to reality in 2012 - a toast to your and mine, success!

Jan 3, 2012 © Rose Hill All Rights Reserved

Image © Rose Hill

Posted for Monday Writing Essential Prompt - Writing - Goals for 2012