How To Get Your Goals

Copyright (c) 2011 Willie Horton

Have you ever wondered why so much has been written on the subject of goal setting and so little written about how to actually achieve your goals? There are mountains of literature of visualization and there must be thousands of courses and workshops where, for a couple of days, you're held by the hand as you set your goals using whatever super system you're being taught. But six months later, when you're finding the day-to-day tough, where's your workshop on goal getting?! A client once told me that he realized at an early age that, when he constantly pushed himself using goal setting, he was constantly unhappy ' looking forward to something that hadn't yet happened. The world is full of such people ' read the surveys that tell us that most people are not happy. Perhaps if they knew how to get their goals, rather than set their goals, that might change.

The happiest people in the world are those who are constantly achieving - look through what the University of Chicago or the University of Milan or 'Flow' by Csikszentmihalyi. The vast majority of the research focuses on participants who are in 'flow'. As a result of this altered state of mind, they have tangible results to show for their efforts. However, those tangible results are not the flashy cars, Caribbean villas or ocean-going yachts that are peddled as being the essence of happiness by self-styled self improvement experts. Satisfaction of a job well done - these are the results that truly successful people experience. And, you know, that job could be anything at all - from twisting a bolt on the production line, to tending the sheep on the hills.

Success, happiness and goal setting have been hijacked by personal development and self improvement 'gurus'. Search 'Personal Development' online and you'll see what I'm talking about - sparklingly white-toothed, deeply tanned gurus peddling financial freedom and material wealth. As I observe, from my little perch in the French Alps, the havoc that has been wreaked by an obsession with financial gain and material wealth in my native Ireland, perhaps I could be forgiven for thinking that even so-called normal people would, by now, have become just a little wary of the pitfalls of seeking happiness in a headlong rush for material wealth.

All that glitters is not gold. The secret to happiness and success lies in the personal satisfaction that comes from actually achieving your goals. This is in marked contrast to conventional goal-setting 'wisdom' which suggests that you're not going to be satisfied until you achieve your objective - the implication being that, you're not happy at present. You must bear in mind the obvious - you can only experience happiness in the here and now. Consider this - at what other place or time did you think you would be happy? The bizarre thing is that, when you've discovered how to experience happiness in the present moment, goal achievement comes to you with effortless ease. Why? You see, if you're completley engrossed in what you're doing at this present moment, you will do whatever that happens to be the very best you can. Compare this focus with the normal 'all-over-the-place' mind - one part is trying to do what has to be done now, another part is looking forward to the future (even if it's only a pint with the lads on Friday night), whilst another bit is constantly droning on about how miserable life is at present. That normal state of mind - one with which we're all afflicted to a greater or lesser extent - is the recipe for the disaster that most people call everyday life.

Compare a fully focused mind with the normal all-over-the-place state of mind - a mind that is singular - not fractured - one which is completely engrossed in what's happening right now and, as a consequence, has real results to show for it. So, what I'm saying is that you best achieve your objectives by being properly focused - not on some future goal but, instead, on the very thing that you're doing in just this present moment. To be sure, you must have some relevant understanding of the things that you want out of life - but the more general the better because, when our goals are too specific, we blinker ourselves to all the potentially better opportunities that are all around us. But beyond having that general idea of what you want out of life, what you've got to realize is that that life you're talking about can actually only be lived in the here and now. You'd better start living it!

In short, happiness and success are achieved by being properly focused in the present moment. Proper focus ensure that you will never waste your time - an ongoing frustration to people who are trying to get more out of life. Proper focus will ensure that, right now, you're doing the most appropriate thing that you could be doing. Proper focus will ensure that you're doing that appropriate thing to the best of your ability. As a result, you'll have concrete results to show for it and an inner satisfaction that's foreign to the normal forward-looking mind. However, more than anything else, proper focus exposes you to the real reality of the present moment - with its infinite possibilities and opportunties. Proper focus opens your eyes and mind to following new avenues for opportunity - opportunities that may well be far more rewarding than the normal-perspective goals that you might otherwise have set.


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Willie Horton launched his now acclaimed Personal Development Seminars in 1996. His clients include Pfizer, Deloitte, Nestle, KPMG, G4S & Allergan. His Personal Development Workshops are now online, together with hundreds or 'quick tip' articles and videos, at Gurdy.Net, Willie's Personal Development Website.