Unleash the Power of Goal Setting, Day 3

Jack Canfield's Success Principle #3

Joe and I spent the last two days taking a trip to Michigan. We talked for nearly eight hours during our journey about this lesson. The trip was a lot of fun, and we hashed over lots of great ideas. We arrived home late, worn out from the brainstorming, but satisfied with the results.

As I suspected when this principle was introduced on Sunday, it was far too much information to digest in a short time span. I tried to come up with my 101 goals, and I began to feel completely overwhelmed. I would need to live to be about 500 years old to finish everything on my list.

Two problems became apparent. First, I set too many goals that were extremely difficult. Whenever I do something, I want to master it. I'm not satisfied to just try out a new interest and then move on. So, the more goals I set, the more burdened I felt. One of my goals is to be less perfectionistic.

Second, I don't think that anyone can work on 101 goals at one time. Interestingly, we were listening to Jack Canfield's book, Self-Esteem and Peak Performance on the way home. He suggested focusing on no more than 10 goals at a time. Ideally, he felt that 3 goals would be manageable for most people.

So why did Jack tell us to write 101 goals in this lesson? I think the method behind this madness was to force us to think bigger and to think long-term. All too often, we can't see the forest for the trees. We're focused on goals, such as getting all the laundry done or paying off a car loan. Jack wants to push us to think of bigger dreams, such as visiting the Eiffel Tower or publishing a book.

I didn't get my goals onto 3 x 5 cards, because I was so confused by my 101-item list. However, the process did spawn some really great conversations for both Joe and me about our goals. I narrowed down my top three pursuits for 2011, and I'll be writing them on my cards tomorrow.

I already had my Goals Book finished from working on this last year, but in many places, I found that it is missing measurable outcomes and deadlines. I'm going to add those and continue to use the book to keep myself focused on my purpose.

Today's Challenge
I would recommend writing out 3 x 5 cards for your most pressing 10 goals. Then, I would focus on one to three of those goals at a time. Keep your list of 101 goals in your Goals Book, and alter it as you have time. As life moves on, you may find that some goals need to be altered, and others become less important to you.