It’s a myth that everybody knows what they want. Not everyone just automatically knows what it is they want!
Many people already know how to go after what they want — the hard part is figuring out what they want in the first place.
In fact, ironically, sometimes the more creative, intelligent and passionate a person is, the harder it is to determine new life goals — because almost everything looks interesting!
If you already know what exactly what you want to achieve in your professional and personal life, then you can skip to the second half of this article, which outlines the criteria for crafting and achieving your goals in the smartest possible way.
But what if you don’t know what it is you want?
What if you sense that there’s something else you should be doing — but aren’t yet clear on what that is?
What Do I Want?
“What do I want?” seems like such a simple question to ask yourself. But answering that question can be one of life’s great challenges.
There is a simple method to help you determine what it is you really want in your life — and it works for the little stuff (like, where to go to dinner) and the big stuff (like, your life purpose)!
If you’re one of those folks who sometimes has a hard time figuring out what you want (you’re not alone), try these five techniques for figuring out what you truly want in life:
Technique #1: Cultivate Awareness
Everything begins with awareness. Start opening your eyes a little wider, and begin paying attention throughout the day to things you wouldn’t normally notice. How do you walk? How do you breathe? When do you laugh? You especially want to pay attention to how you feel when you do your everyday rituals.
Technique #2: Start Fantasizing
Turn off the television, turn off your smart phone, and go for a walk. Let your mind wander. What are dreaming about? In your daydreams, where are you? What are you wearing? Who’s with you? At this point in the process, you want to avoid critiquing your own thoughts, or evaluating what’s realistic or obtainable: let your imagination run wild!
Technique #3: Move Toward Authenticity
As you start to have ideas for what you can do, resist the temptation to imagine what other people will think about it. At this point, you want your creative-gates open widely! If you have a visual image of having fun as a trapeze artist in the circus… go with it!
Technique #4: Ask Yourself, “How Long Might It Take?”
This one’s important. There are some dreams that sound nice. But if it took 10 years to achieve them, you know you’d lose interest! By gauging the time a goal might take to accomplish, and then imagining yourself traveling through that process, you can get a much clearer picture of whether or not that goal is meant for you.
For instance, you might like the image of yourself as a concert pianist, but you realize that 8 years later — or 12,000 hours of practice into the process — you would become bored. Whatever length of time your idea would take, you also want to be able to mostly sustain the fire-of-passion in your belly throughout that period!
Technique #5: When All Else Fails, Figure Out What You Don’t Want
I don’t normally advocate focusing on the negative, for the simple reason that what you focus on, you get more of!
The law of attraction teaches us that’s it better to focus our time, energy and feelings on positive things — so that we magnetize more of that good stuff. But for some people, it’s helpful to first briefly imagine what they don’t want, in order to cross those items off their list.
So for clarification, get out a piece of paper and quickly write down the types of things you know you’re not interested in. Then put the list away for a day and when you return to it with fresh eyes, you’ll be able to see a pattern.
This works no what matter what decision you’re needing to make — choosing the ideal mate, the perfect vacation destination, or where to go to graduate school.
The Dane Technique:
How to Get Seriously Organized using Checklists ~ e-Workbook, $4.95
“…The Dane Technique provides concise, easy to understand, specific instructions
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Beginning with a simple, yet powerful, manifesto
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No specific forms or software are required
leaving the format up to each unique and, soon to be organized, happy person”~ Paul Puckett, Asset Portfolio Manager
This e-Workbook will help you to get better organized. In order to improve your self-care and increase your health protocols, you need a simple productivity system — a good system can help you to find extra time and energy and to create a new schedule and daily routine that works best for your life. Individually, The Dane Technique is $4.95, or you can enjoy the value and benefits of the entire Kit for $14.95.
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Quotidian list is my favorite! Don’t know what that is? Get the book and find out!
Trust me, it will change your life!”
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By utilizing principles of Success Psychology, the Longevity Lifestyle Kit ensures that your new, positive habits will “stick” (instead of having you start out with good intentions and then falling back into the same old habits). There are 5 key pieces to the Kit:
“Live with Intention. Create a happy, balanced life. We all want this, right? Dane’s tips and techniques in his checklist book are a great way to reduce stress and be more productive. I’m a list maker, and follow a daily plan. But, sometimes things get in the way of completing my daily list. I really like thinking of my daily list as organic and always improving. If you aren’t a list-maker — he provides simple principles that will make a positive difference”
~ Margie Arnett, University Professor
Criteria for Crafting New Goals
Most people know about the importance of carefully setting new goals, yet only 3% of professionals actually undergo this vital proces regularly! The reason you craft goals is because tracking and achieving goals helps to make you happier at work and improves your personal productivity and prosperity!
Each SMART goal has the following attributes:
Your Goal is Specific
Exactly what do you intend to accomplish?
Your Goal is Measurable
A good goal isn’t nebulous and is easily verifiable by others.
Your Goal is Attainable
You want to stretch yourself while still keeping your goal realistic.
Your Goal is Relevant
How does this goal increase revenue?
Your Goal is Timely
Figure out when you want to complete the big goal, then work backwards creating milestones (with accompanying dates) along the way.
Crafting goals using this SMART method will ensure that you challenge yourself, keep you interested in your career, and help you to enjoy personal growth as you develop your professional experience and skills.
I encourage you to pick up the Longevity Lifestyle Kit and experience the positive results it will have on your daily life. All five items in the kit are designed to work synchronistically.
Each items serve a specific purpose, and combined they become super powerful. Enjoy the value and savings of getting all 5 items together!
The kit includes a e-Book, an e-Guide, an e-Booklet, an e-List, and an e-Workbook. The anchor of the kit is The Numinous Journey, an eBook that utilizes principles of Success Psychology and is strategically crafted to facilitate an inner process, that will help make your exciting new lifestyle habits “stick!”
- ➊ How to Create a Strategy for Living a Fascinating Post-40 Life: The Numinous Journey
- ➋ A Unique Social Experiment: 28 Best Friends
- ➌ How to Get Seriously Organized Using Checklists: The Dane Technique
- ➍ Using Your Blender to Get Lean and Strong: 5 Best Smoothie Recipes
- ➎ Ingredients Guide for Freshly Made Green Smoothies: The Shopping List
Which of these techniques for goal-setting are you already using, and which haven’t you tried? Let me know in the comments section below!
I was just reading a book that said that fear comes from moving closer to your truth. Maybe that is why some of us have a hard time coming to terms with our life’s purpose–the longing and the fear mixed together can be confusing.
My sense is that, often it is the creative, intelligent people who sometimes have the most difficult time figuring out what their life-purpose is — because they find so much in life interesting!
I find your suggestion to think of what I don’t want and then re-frame it and focus my energy and attention into what I do want to be most helpful. My human nature sometimes goes quickly to what I don’t want, at which point I have the opportunity to then say, “OK, then, what DO I want.”