Goals

I had the coolest experience two nights ago as hubby and I sat in the heat of the night, with no electricity, and shared our goals with each other. The odd thing about this experience was that I am sure we have done something of this nature before, but the difference with this one, was that I wrote down everything that came to mind (his and mine).

The heat was short-lived (thank God) and to some extent, so was the conversation but it is amazing what a 1/2 hour conversation that is free of distractions can produce. Some of the goals that were shared was a surprise to both of us and that was exciting...learning a bit more of each other. The other good part of this process was that although some of the goals, well lets be real, most of my goals were far-fetched and really "out there"...there was no negativity, it was a very supportive atmosphere.

We will continue the discussion in the next couple days, expanding from personal goals to couple goals, an exercise that we have done together before but once again, I do not recall recording our objectives.

You may be wondering (or not) what prompted this conversation; it was based on my reading of the Platform book that I mentioned here. Once again, upon reading another chapter, I found new meat to chew on...something to say "hmmm".  Being the application kinda gal that I am, I immediately wanted to jump in and actually do what was being talked about/suggested.

What about you...do you have your goals written someplace? or are you like how I was, and they are just swimming around in your head? As long as I can remember, I always knew that there was some importance to writing down your goals but for whatever reason I guess I just never did it. In the book, five reasons are provided as support for why one should write down your goals:

• because it will force you to clarify what you want
• because it will motivate you to take action
• because it will provide a filter for other opportunities
• because it will help you overcome resistance
• because it will enable you to see and celebrate your progress.

Note: you can read a bit more about each of these on his blog here or buy the book!

With this in mind, if you do not have your goals written down, I think you have five very good reasons to do so. While I do not have a story (yet) about how I wrote out a goal and it was achieved (at least I don't think so...), what I can say is that the minute I began writing down the goals, my next step was to add detail. It was second nature, without me even realizing it. Some of the ideas/goals that I had loosely formulated at various points in the past couple years just simply now required more detail.

For example, one of my goals was to spend at least 1 year beginning with birth with my child(ren). Granted, I've said this out loud before I hadn't really developed the idea (never written it down). By simply recording it, I realized that the statement was too broad, too vague. What am I thinking when I say spend a year with my child(ren)? Do I not want to work at all, i.e. be a full time stay at home mom? or do I want to work part-time? A short 3 minutes later, this is what the statement then looked like:

"Spend a year at home with each child from birth to his/her first birthday. This allows me to work from home, although not in excess of 20 hours per week and while I am off, I want to still make money. Specifically no less than $50k for that year."

I can almost see your response! :D But I did warn you that my goals were pretty "out there" but as I've said before, and I am now committed to this philosophy, I refuse to dream within any confines anymore. The world is mine because the world is God's and I belong to him. I will fight doubt, rational thinking, fear and "reality" (I've never made that amount with a full time job) and choose to believe that God is able to do so much more than my imagination can think up. On that note, I choose to believe the truth in a situation rather than dwelling on facts (thanks Deanie!). The truth being what God has said about me or the situation; the facts are what we call "reality".  hmmm, I think that is another blog post. ;)

Anyhoo, even now as I am reflecting on this, I have more questions to refine this goal...what kind of work do I want to work on? Writing? Research? Because the idea is to spend time at home with the child(ren), does this mean no outside-of-the-house work? As you can see, writing the goals down really opens up the creative process. I would suggest your details include answers to the basic questions:

• who (is anyone else involved?)
• what (more details about the object of the goal)
• when (time lines for goal achievement)
• where (is the goal tied to a particular place?)
• why (the rationale or meaning behind the goal)

I personally think the why is really important because as life unfolds and the goal seems impossible, you will need to think on the reasons behind the goal to help keep you focused. Anyway, today's challenge...write those goals down and for those that need more development, start adding details!

Grace peace and love,
Gia

Dreaming in color –Part 2

I do believe dreaming (see part 1 here) is facilitated by me; specifically the people who I am around (other visionaries), the books and media that I put in and how I nurture the idea(s) that I have been given. One recent effort is a book: Platform: Get noticed in a noisy world by Michael Hyatt (former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers). This book was referred to me by another one of those awesome female friends that I have (if you live in South Florida and are looking for a child/family therapist or life coach, she is your lady!). I have only gotten through about ¼ of the book (had it for less than a week) but I can already see that this is a great resource for all of us with a dream.

The idea behind the book is really how to market oneself to stand out amongst all of the competition and “noise” that we call life now. Seriously, who can compete with the multi-tasking, fast-paced, social-networking based society that we currently live in? So yea, this book takes you from step one through the end. One part that resonated with me, was the idea of the “Wow” effect that Michael (yes, we are now on 1^st name basis) talks about. Everyone knows that wow effect..you walk into an office, a building, a hotel, a shop…you receive a service or product, and you are like “wow”…blown away, impressed. You can easily remember the details of that wow experience and will most likely talk about it to anyone who will listen. I should mention that my latest idea is the result of having a wow experience while visiting April in Palm Beach. He points out that this is one of the keys to establishing your platform to be noticed. Michael does caution that clearly not every aspect of everything can be “wow”, obviously, but he encourages the readers to find the aspect of their dream which should hold the bang. 

Now to the title of this two part series, "Dreaming in color"- Michael encourages the readers to regularly close their eyes, envision their product/service/business and “become present to what it is you are trying to create”, i.e. to strive to get the reality as close to that vision. This will save us from the “drift”. I've coined this as dreaming in color. Think Regina Belle hit:

Tired of living life in black and white

There’s so much in between

Like a rainbow in the sky

Crying to be seen

When I open my eyes to find inspiration

I search for the best I can see

If I settle for less

I won’ t be the best I can be

So one morning, as I was having some quiet time, my exciting new idea began to develop some more and I remember thinking “Oooh! I love this!...wouldn’t that be FABulous!” and it was that moment that caught my attention. I hold myself accountable (and you can hold me accountable) to ensure that as this dream becomes a reality…hopefully in the next six months (tentative official launch date- January 2013), that I remain connected with the original vision, as it currently unfolds. That I listen to my heart and take a stand for greatness, to ensure that the customers who receive the products and services truly have a wow experience. That the expression “Oh! I love this..this is FABulous!” be a living, breathing tag-line that is perpetuated not through some expensive marketing scheme but from the mouths of those who have already experienced it.

Do you already have a dream?

Is it in color?

Do you remember the details…?

What is the WoW component?

My challenge I leave for you: let your dreams take on the detail, color and life as Alice’s (Alice in Wonderland).

If you don’t yet have a dream OR you have a dream and it doesn’t have this life and vibrancy OR  you have a dream that had color and life but is now in sepia or black and white…take Michael’s advice:

Close your eyes, envision your product/service/business and “become present to what it is you are trying to create”!

Grace peace and love,

Gia