I had always thought of goal setting as a discipline that made you work for what you wanted. Until I attended a business seminar on goal setting a few years ago, I never set goals. It was too much TROUBLE! Besides that, it made me feel guilty and pressured.
As I participated in this seminar, I did a list of the things that I wanted to see happen in the next year and even 5 years down the road. I did not work consciously towards the goals, but I had written them down 2 or 3 times. Imagine my surprise when I looked at my list 6 months later and had several of those goals!
What I began to realize was that I had planted a seed and it grew to fruition! The seed sprung up and I didn’t know how it happened. My spirit received the desire that I set to achieve and sought the means of fulfillment. The goals that I wrote down set the course.
My previous experience with setting goals felt like work…write it down and work like crazy to make it happen. Not only that, but make it happen in a certain period of time! Imagine if we planted a garden that way. Plant the seed and stay with it constantly, watering, checking, digging it up to see how it is doing every day. More often than not, this is how we think it works.
HJ Whitley followed a different philosophy. From him I learned something new that seemed to work better. I now realized that if a person planted a seed and basically forgot about it or at least goes about business and doesn’t worry about it something miraculous happens. The seed has the power to spring forth after being planted in the warmth of the soil. It doesn’t matter if the seed planter knows how this all works or not. Likewise, when you write down a desire you have, you do not need to know how it will happen. Just like the seed, the desire when planted on paper or spoken with your mouth into your heart, will grow up and manifest in your life. That is how HJ Whitley was able to start over 140 towns – a feat most men would never accomplish.
When I say “define your desires” you probably would go to a want list. I like to offer you a better option and one HJ Whitley used. Redefine your want list into principle ideas. Rather than “I want a job at _______, state I have a vocation that is fulfilling. Or I want support from my family and friends, is better stated, I feel supported emotionally. What is the difference? If you “want” something, you live in “want.” I encourage you to write down your desires, redefining them in a positive already accomplished manner.
Once you have made you list, redefined it into principles, ask yourself, “As I walk and live in these principles, where do I see myself in 1 year, then 5 years. Jot it down quickly without analyzing it. Do it again a week or two later without looking at the old list. Include business, family, spiritual, financial, personal (health and fitness) and fun for me goals. By doing so, you are setting your intent.
Having a love of animals, I once studied a course on dog training. This theory of training turned out to be more of a “people training”. It turns out there wasn’t much wrong with the dogs, they were only doing what their owners were subconsciously telling them to do. As the owners we were actually setting goals for them.
This is what goal setting can do for you. By writing your intent on paper, you are turning where you look and setting a place to go. Your spirit brings it to pass and you don’t know how. I hope you will write me and let me know the many goals you have now learn how to accomplish.