What is your WHAT?

In continuing with my last two blogs, perhaps some of you aren’t even at the point that you know WHAT it is that you want to do or achieve. When we don’t quite know WHAT it is that we want, it can be quite hard to get it! Think of your life as a journey, and you have a GPS (or as Herman Cain calls it, Guiding Principles of Success). WHAT do you need to know? Well, the first WHAT is your current coordinates!

We all want to go somewhere, but if you don’t know where to start, how can you take the first step? I always tell people who join my Simply Lose It™ bootcamp to weigh in before beginning to get a starting point! Otherwise, you could be making progress towards your goal and not even know it! We need small victories to continue to motivate us toward our goal! Otherwise, we just might quit when we feel defeated. We also may even be sabotaging our success and moving backwards! How would you even know if you never acquired your current coordinates?

Second, you need to know your destination. If you use your GPS without placing your ending coordinates as the destination, you simply have something that shows you where you currently are; not where you are going. To make progress in your Journey, you must have your WHAT, or a specific goal in mind. How you get there may go left, right, even a few steps back at times, but you should be continually making progress. The speed isn’t always important, and sometimes you have to stop to smell the roses, but making some sort of progress is important! So the second WHAT you need is your goal.

The third WHAT you need is a plan. It may be a complex plan, or just a simple plan! But there must be a plan. I see many people that want something, but they have no idea how to get there, and that’s okay, but you need to figure that out before you embark on your journey. Otherwise, you may be going in the wrong direction, or even creating things you’ll need to fix or change later. Once, my dad asked me to dig the grass out of an area in the yard and level it for our new above ground pool. There was a trailer I was going to put the dirt in, so I just began to dig. I threw the dirt towards the trailer, and when I was finished, about a third of the dirt actually made it in the trailer. Then I had to do twice the work to finish the job! Why didn’t I take the time and devise the plan to get the dirt in the trailer the first time?  This is what you may be doing by not pausing to devise a plan – a business, weight-loss, marriage, or savings plan. Find help if you need it, get the information you need, and devise a plan!

The fourth WHAT you need is the courage and motivation you’ll need to stay the course. It may look like you aren’t making progress at times, but if you know where you began, know where you are going, have a plan, and take periodic spot checks to assure you are on course, you’ll find the faith that every step you are taking is making a difference! Some days you’ll find it harder than others to get moving, but always remember that WHY we talked about a few weeks ago and that should keep you motivated. Sometimes the next step you need to take will be a little scary, but again, remember that WHY and also call on your WHOs to keep you motivated, accountable, and to help you continue along the journey!

So WHAT are your starting coordinates, WHAT are your ending coordinates, WHAT is your plan, and WHAT will keep you motivated and give you courage to make it happen? With these, you’ll soon be closer than you ever dreamed to WHAT you really want!

In The Journey Training, we believe that goal setting is important. In each class we help people set goals and find action steps to take to begin. If you’ve been having trouble moving forward, join the next Threshold class and begin your Journey now!