Achieve your goals

27 May, 2016 - 00:05 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Motivation For Success Arthur Marara
“Success is measured in terms of reaching your goals, dreams, and expectations. Your success is determined by hard work, persistence, and determination. If you are going to be a success in life, it is up to you . . . it is your responsibility.” [Will Horton].

The attainment of your goals is your personal responsibility. If you do to take your goals seriously, no one will. In the previous article, we started exploring some keys which you can use in order to attain your goals. We discussed about the importance of DECIDING and DESIRING to achieve your goals. This week we shall continue.

3. Be DETERMINED to achieve your goals

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” [Tommy Lasorda].

The fact that you have awesome goals does not necessarily mean that the pathway to achieving them is going to be awesome as well. Challenges will always be there, but it’s how you deal with them that will make the difference between your failure and success.

The challenges that you go through in life enable you to have a better appreciation of the process and the value. If you do not have an understanding of the process, you will not have an appreciation of the value of the proceeds.

A lot of people, who are reckless with money or property, do not have an appreciation of the process that led to the acquisition of the same. Challenges are actually good for you. You are not going to make it in life if you are ready to give up.

With the necessary determination, you will always find your way through challenges and turn them as stepping stones to your greatness. Have the dedication to accomplish you goals. Never give up until you are through.

“The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.” [Cecil de Mille]

The story of Colonel Harland Sanders

The name Colonel Harland Sanders might not be common to many people but his legacy is, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Harland Sanders started KFC when he was sixty five (65) years of age, an age when most people would have abandoned any thought of new goals and projects. KFC did not just start from nowhere. It was birthed from a gas business that he operated in Kentucky.

He then discovered that there was an opportunity for food among the travellers who were passing through his gas station. He started frying chicken using some of his recipes which had been rejected by several companies in the United States. Sooner than later, his fried chicken became very famous such that there was an increase in the business. He had to extend his dining room so that he could accommodate more people.

His challenge lay in the fact that it took about 30 minutes to prepare the chicken an amount of time travellers did not have. This prompted him to look around, and managed to get hold a company that was selling pressure cooks. In those days the pressure cookers were used for boiling vegetables and other items. Instead he filled the cookers with oil and used it for frying chicken. He thus managed to cut the cooking time from thirty minutes to merely eight minutes.

The rest is history; Harland sold his KFC business for over US$2 million and he died a very rich person in 1980. What this teaches us is that we need to always open our minds in the midst of challenges. There is an awesome lesson wrapped in every challenge. Every challenge carries with it a solution. Tune your mind to be solution-oriented rather than problem-oriented.

4. Divide the task into small pieces

“The man who moved a mountain was the one who began carrying away small stones.” – [Chinese Proverb]. Powerful thought that the Chinese gave us. Who could have thought that the Great Zimbabwe ruins could be built and even outlive the people who built them.

The Great Zimbabwe was not built in a day, it was built daily. At some point in time the thought of having a structure in the form of Great Zimbabwe could have inspired shock and awe. The trick was realised, you can break the assignment into small pieces. This is what was precisely done in the building of the structure.

The way we view our goals and approach them can be either a source of inspiration and discouragement. The task might seem overwhelming if you want to do it all at once. Why not break the task into small pieces? Do not wait for a task to be huge.

Identify your goal and find ways in which you can divide into manageable parts. If you are a student for whatever subject, you cannot afford to wait until your examinations approach and start to prepare.

If you want to write a book, you cannot do that in a day unless you have all the material in place. Why not start researching in parts, and join the pieces in the long run.

A number of times people are afraid to start small. We all start from somewhere, never be afraid to start small. Every big business that we see today was at some point in time small, but developed to be forces to be reckoned with.

5. Develop synergies

You are not an island. You need people in your life that can help you achieve your goals. The solutions that you are always looking for in life are in people.

If you are not prepared to go out and network, do not think that the solutions will come to you in your home or office. You will not make any new business or money by staying in your room or office unless if that is where you network from. Make yourself visible. Establish partnerships that add value to you.

There is someone who knows exactly the formulae that you can use to go where you want to go. You are a product of the people you choose to interact with. Identify the leaders in areas that you have goals, and learn something from them.

A number of times people are afraid to network with people who have made it. The truth is actually that they are very approachable because many people are not approaching them due to unspecified fear.

You do not lose anything by attempting to secure an appointment with a certain guru. If it you fail to get it, there is no loss because you had never had it before, if it succeeds; it’s to your advantage. Think positively. If you are afraid to fail, you will never know what success means.

6. Exercise discipline

“In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves? Self-discipline with all of them came first.” [Harry S. Truman].

Discipline is the art of doing what you are supposed to do when you do not feel like doing it.

Discipline is the difference between dreams and accomplishments. Have the discipline to start, and the discipline to finish what you start. Discipline must come from within you. It is birthed from the knowledge that if I do not do something, there is no one who is going to it.

If you set a standard for yourself everyday, have the discipline to respect it.

If you are supposed to contact a certain number of clients per day, have the discipline to discharge that mandate. If you are supposed to read a certain number of chapters or texts per day, discipline yourself to do that.

With the requisite discipline, you will not struggle with what most people struggle with. Discipline brings a habit, in that a particular way of conduct becomes a part of you. Imagine if you have a habit to do things with excellence, the wonders you will accomplish.

7. Delve into action

Great ideas are never the equivalent of action. Your goals are not going to happen by just wishing. Dreams will always remain dreams if you remain in bed.

Great people see visions and get into action mode. Inspiration should promote action. Thomas Edison once noted that, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent inspiration”.

The excitement that you have about those goals should inspire you to taking action that will enable you to attain them.

Florence Mudonhi Chaurura once made an interesting remark that, “motivation without action is entertainment”.

Do not just be motivated, be motivated into action. There is nothing as disturbing people who have all the motivational materials but their lives are not motivated. Purposeful action changes everything.

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.”[Jim Rohn]

â—† Arthur Marara is an Attorney, Author and Speaker. He is also the author of the Personal Development Toolkit, Keys to Financial Freedom, The Power Within, and Keys to Effective Time Management. Send your feedback to [email protected] or Like his page on Facebook, or Whatsapp: +263 772 467 255 or visit www.arthurmarara.com .

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