GOALS

“If you’re bored with life - you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don’t have enough goals.”  - Lou Holtz

I am goal oriented. VERY much so.  I need a goal to clean my apartment, a goal to run a race (and I love to run), a goal for everything. I know it’s not the most peaceful way to live, but it's me and I make the best of it. Goals have taken me far in life.  

I started setting goals in college. Every year around September 1st, I would make a list of accomplishments for the year and forward looking goals. I personally think it is very important to have goals and to always be striving towards them.

I raise my kids with this in mind, and so far I have seen amazing things with a goal focus. In our house the accomplishments have been as simple as no sweets for 30 days and as over the top as no TV for an entire year (which was indeed accomplished!).  We have kept the apartment spotless to my wife's utter amazement and have made great strides on personal issues.  

“Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now.”  - Denis Waitley

Last month our youngest daughter Becca embarked on a huge challenge and made it happen. See, Becca is not a big reader and in 3rd grade reading is becoming very important. So our goal for her this month was to increase the amount of time spent reading by one additional minute every day for the entire month. So November 1st she read 31 minutes, and by the last day of the month she was reading 60 minutes. By any measure, this is a phenomenal improvement. We are very proud of her.

The technique she used of adding a minute a day was used by President Clinton during his initial campaign for President. His goal was to wake up 1 minute earlier each day of the campaign. Obviously it worked!

Please share some techniques you use to make your goals happen. Thanks.