Goal Setting & Vision

“No Great Thing is Created Suddenly.”

-Epictetus, Greek Philosopher

As a young entrepreneur I think my biggest challenge was patience.  If I am being honest it is still something I work on even today.  When I first set out on my journey of starting a business, I had all of these great ideas and wanted to get started immediately. The problem was not my lack of effort or excitement. It was the timing. I think the issue I truly had a problem with was that things didn’t happen on MY timing.

Over the course of many years, I have learned that the pursuit of your goals is a process.  It is the building of relationships, developing your brand, creating your identity as a business and professional.   It takes focus, grit and a lot of hard work. The growth comes from your successes and your failures along the way – and trust me, there were many failures. 

For years, I have taken the time to write out my goals. It has become a ritual that I look forward to each year. One of my dearest friends and I set the time each year to review our goals, discuss where we have been, what we have learned.. The good, the bad and the ugly. We set out on an intentional mission to accomplish our greatest desires and wishes for our lives. At first it seemed like the act of goal setting was my free ticket to create a wish list. I had fun adding material “things” to my list, creating fancy dream boards and “affirmations”. Even more exciting was that when we would meet the following year, I actually accomplished a lot of what I had written down. Some of my goals remained on my list year after year….As a much wiser and more experienced person (ahem, OLD) I have learned it’s not as important to add the “stuff”. My goals have shifted to making XX dollars in sales, to creating a balanced work / home life. It went from driving a fancy car, to being debt free. It’s more about the experience of my journey. The emotion. The feeling. No matter what the goal, I have learned that the only way to accomplish those goals is by “doing” and taking action.  The execution, taking one step and then another, is what takes you from where you are now to where you aspire to be.

Enjoy the process, accept your circumstances, let downs or disappointments.  Take time to reflect on this past year. What did you learn? How did you grow? What were your greatest challenges and set backs? If you like what you see, keep pushing forward. If you don’t like what you see, make a change. Take a new direction.

Take the time to write down your goals. Make sure that they impact all areas of your life…. Family, Finance, Health, Relationship, Contribution. Commit to them and then put them away. Get to work and come back the next year and see what you have manifested. 🙂