Important Note.

1. What is the exact goal of your life? Can you answer this question in 30 seconds? If you can, then you are on the right path. We need to check on a daily basis whether we are clear about what exactly we are going to do all our lives, and whether we are headed in that direction. Decide on the exact goal of your life.

2. Do we have such a goal which has given our dreams a concrete plan? Is there an intense will power which shall help us achieve this goal? No? That’s ok. It is not too late. Set your goals and awaken your will power.

3. Have you ever written down your goal? Have you put on paper, what you wholeheartedly want to do, that which shall add glow to your life? No? Then c’mon, it’s not at all late, because it’s never too late to do the right thing. Write down the goal that you have set, that shall be important for you throughout your life and revise it daily and if possible, read it aloud.

4. Why haven’t you set your goals till date? The fear, ‘What if I don’t achieve them?’ is tormenting you, isn’t it? At least now you need to be conscious, that by holding on to this fear, you are only walking on the barren roads towards failure. If you get on to the train of fear, it only takes you towards the roads of failure, towards a meaningless life. But if you have faith in yourself, it leads you towards the achievement of your goals, and you a meaningful journey.

5. Have you ever weighed yourself in the balance? Not on the weighing scale, but on a balance which weighs your strengths and abilities on one side, and your limitations on the other? Try to weigh these in your mind. Your qualities and abilities are going to shape your life. You have to maximize your abilities and get over your shortcomings. Begin at once to weigh yourself in this manner.

6. Have you ever thought, ‘As a person, as a as a responsible citizen, I have decided on ‘abc’? If you haven’t even decided on ‘abc’, how will you achieve it? C’mon, get a paper. Write down your long-term goals as a person (regarding your family and your relatives), as a professional (regarding your professional growth), and as a component of society (your long term goals).

7. Once you determine your goals, you are clear about them. That has made you stress-free, hasn’t it? Obviously, because now you are in control of your life! And how can fear have a place in a controlled mind? Only’positive efforts’ will have a place here. Because you have set your goals, your fear has started running away, and your mind has started becoming stress-free and positive.

8. What is it are you saying? Your fear is leaving you, but your mind is still in the dark? That’s right. You have just made up your mind, isn’t it? You haven’t started work as yet.

So that’s fine. Now think of it this way. ‘Where am I standing today? I have to reach ‘x’ place. You can see a huge gap here, can’t you? Then that’s correct, because we haven’t yet made a plan for it.
Divide your goal into small portions. If your goal is for life, plan what you are going to do to achieve it in the next 25 years, next 10 years, 3 years, and 3 months from now.

9. Very good! Now your plan is ready. Now what’s the problem? Your PAST???? Absolutely no need to worry. The past doesn’t have only bad memories. It carries designs of both, good and bad events. My dear, just because something went wrong in the past, why should it go wrong again today? Were you as mature then as you are today? Do not carry a guilty feeling about your mistakes, because the only thing you can do with your mistakes, is to ‘improve’ them. Place a board in your house saying, ‘Let bygones be bygones. Now, a bright future awaits me; actually, it is in my hands right now. Read this statement daily.

10. Our mind is a storehouse of thoughts and emotions. It is absolutely natural for negative thoughts to pass through our minds. But if we yearn to achieve our goals, first we have to empty our mind; else, how will thoughts about our goals go into it? This will have to be done continuously. It is similar to how we daily make conscious efforts for a religious or spiritual practice. Because, only if our mind becomes calm, positive and optimistic thoughts will get activated in it, and we shall be passionate about our goals.

11. problem 11: You agree with everything, don’t you? Then where is the problem? Are you stuck in your’comfort zone’? Just check if it is so. As far as possible, we avoid change because we want stability. We unknowingly get adjusted to this situation, and then begin the journey towards decline. At times, the surrounding environment may also be negative. But in spite of this, we do not want change, because it takes efforts and courage, and along with it comes responsibility, and we feel like turning our thoughts back to square one. But in the journey towards the achievement of our goals, on many occasions, we have to come out of our comfort zones, because change is inevitable. ‘Change’ is the only constant in the world.

12. Being responsible for yourself? What in heaven’s name is that? Whenever we decide on anything, we must take up the responsibility of its completion, isn’t it? That is why most people in the world are dependent on others, because in case something negative happens, they can say, “I did ‘x’ because I was told to”. If the job gets done, they praise themselves, and if it doesn’t, they blame it on others. Once you hold someone beyond yourself responsible, how is it possible to achieve your goals? Put it into your head that you are totally responsible for your thoughts, the decisions you make, and most importantly, for the completion of your goals.

13. One more big issue in the journey towards goal-achievement is…continuously giving excuses. If you ask students how many marks they aim to get in the exam, most of them will tell you that they aim to pass with good marks. But what do they mean by good marks? 70, 80, 90%? In case they get less marks, they readily exclaim, “What to do? I was ill the day before the exams.” Actually speaking, what I have studied is what I will remember, and what I will remember is what I will write in the exams. I will get marks according to what I write. This means that the success or failure of all this lies in the hands of just one person, i.e., 1. This means that ‘I’ am responsible for all this. I have to mould myself in a positive manner.

14. Have you introduced yourself to your own self? Or do you claim that you know yourself completely? If so, the answer is incorrect, because we are changing constantly, whether positively or negatively. To note this change, it is very important to look at ourselves with an extremely neutral or unemotional point of view. ‘I am always right’ or ‘I am always wrong, are both extreme points of view, and are absolutely incorrect. ‘I maybe wrong, should be the correct emotion in our mind. If this is the emotion in our mind, we can think about, ‘Where exactly am I going wrong?’

15. Have you examined the company you keep? The people we are with, whom we work with, those who are close to us, and those who come in contact with us. What are their thoughts about their goals? The environment around has a direct impact on us. So if we have around us people who don’t take heir goals seriously, then it is difficult to achieve our goals. Because, what we give a lot of thought to and put into action seriously, may be a joke for them. We should continuously examine whether they shall put a stop to our progress. Our goal should be nourished in our environment and in the company of our friends, relatives and colleagues. It should definitely not face a setback from them.

16. Now examine your speech! By speech is meant the words you say out loud. The words you say to yourself. How do you speak to yourself? Now you must be wondering, what is the connection between this and your goal? Your question is absolutely correct. Our speech is directly linked to our thoughts; our thoughts are directly linked to our actions. This technique is called the Power of Spoken Words. If we say, ‘I am afraid’, our brain accepts this information, and more and more scary thoughts come into our minds. If we say, ‘I am not alone, your brain will take the right action, and the feeling of loneliness will go away. So, to achieve the right goals, say the right things!

17. Many a times, it becomes difficult to take care of ourselves on a continuous basis. If we begin to make efforts and face failure, we feel like giving it up! That is something we cannot afford to do! We must persist and keep on trying. Failure is the first step towards success. We need to understand this and make efforts accordingly. How can we just give up? Had Edison given up, we would never have been able to see the light bulb’. It is very easy to give up, but what is important is to persistently face the situation and triumph over it.

18. Becoming one with your goal is the pre-condition to success. Continuously yearning for your goal and focusing your mind on it, is of supreme importance. There are many components which distract us. What should we do about them? Should we change according to the situation? Will our goals change? Absolutely not. If our mind is focused on our goal, only then can we expect something to happen. For the achievement of goals, it is very important for the mind to concentrate on positive things.

19. Another obstacle in the achievement of our goals, is created when the goals are impossible to achieve. While planning our goal, we must be aware of whether it is achievable or not. In the movie ‘Tare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan tells us to use our best quality to decide on our goal, and make efforts to fulfill it. If one becomes giddy on seeing blood, what is the use of becoming a doctor? One who has no interest in Mathematics, should not take up Engineering. Our goal must be realistic. It can definitely be difficult, but it shouldn’t be unachievable; rather, it should be such that it can be achieved after putting in one’s best efforts.

20. A goal should be measureable. Someone might say that his goal is that this year’s turnover should be high. What is meant by high? How much? For one, that number may be 10 lacs, and for another, it could be 10 crores. But ‘This year’s turnover should be ‘X + the last year’s turnover’, is a measurable target which is a goal. Once we decide on the measure of the goal, we can increase or reduce our efforts accordingly. That is why a goal should be measurable.

21. It is true that most of us have never quite understood ‘time. Many people undertake many things, with very bad time management. But once a goal is fixed, it comes with a time limit. It should. Because if we achieve something after its time elapses, it is of no use. Goals are of two types, short-term and long-term. Those which come to fruit in a short time are short-term, and those which give us fruits in the long run are long-term. While setting our goals, we must keep an account of time and divide our goals into long-term and short-term ones.

22. What is it you are saying? Is it too much of an effort? You don’t want to work, have a goal etc.? But why are you getting stressed out? Stress can only destroy your life! Instead of that, go ahead and face the realities. Look at life in a very positive and happy way. You don’t have to compete with others to decide on your goal. Decide to break your own earlier record. Why must you get stressed out for this? Brighten each and every moment of this journey with happiness. Life is very beautiful. Due to stress, the same life becomes dreadful, and by achieving your goals, the same life becomes more meaningful.

23. have decided what is to be done, why do you fear? Once you ha And why delay doing a good thing? Divide your long-term goals. On a paper, make a time plan. If you want to achieve something after 5 years, what will you have to do for it this year? Make a plan as to what you will have to do this month, today and actually right now. Get set to achieve your goals. Pick up a pen right now and write down your plan. It is not enough to just remember your goals or be aware of them, it needs action, and good action needs good planning!

24. Have you finished writing the plan? Well done! But just putting it on paper isn’t enough, dear! How will you discipline your body and mind? Whatever has been decided must be rigorously accomplished on the same day itself, no matter what happens! If we don’t act this way, how can we proceed? If we need to pass the tenth standard, it is important to keep studying right from the first standard, isn’t it? Similarly, you have to pass the exam of the first standard in the first standard itself. How can you directly go to the fourth standard, bypassing the second and third standard? Wouldn’t it be difficult to study? Tell someone at work or at home about your plan. Share it with someone you trust. Find someone who shall help you stick to this discipline! Being disciplined means accomplishing the task! Maintaining discipline is an important step towards success! Without discipline, there is nothing!

25. Fine, now let us try something different! An important technique for goal achievement is Visualisation! We have to assume that we have achieved success, and remain in that mental image! Funny, is it? But it’s true! This is an effective technique which has been accepted worldwide. You just need to put aside 5 minutes for this in the entire day. Close your eyes, sit calmly and imagine that you have achieved the goal that you have decided on! Then, ‘make up your mind’ that you are going to remain in that feeling for some time!

This is similar to daydreaming. But it is not necessary that we will achieve something by daydreaming; it is only a good pastime. However, this technique is not like that. With this technique, you are unknowingly giving your subconscious mind very positive instructions. This affects your actions. Power of Visualisation means, that you are conditioning your subconscious mind for the important task of achieving your goals!

26. You must be thinking, ‘These goals are fine! But my nature is very fickle. How can I achieve my goals? My life is fine as it is! But it’s not like that. Once a person decides consciously, he can change his own nature. You can also change many physical things. You can get over physical disabilities, your nature, your mental habits, and everything else. The only condition is that you must decide to do so! Even though your nature is inherent, it is decided by your mental habits. Getting over your anger, laziness, and winning over your mind, is all possible. There is definitely a cure for our nature!

27. Deciding on your goals, doesn’t mean doing just anything. And not at all by putting yourself in danger. By nature, man is not ready to take risks because he loves his comfort zone, and he doesn’t want to go beyond it. But, on the other hand, deciding on a goal doesn’t mean taking dangerous risks. It takes time for things to happen. For that, the most difficult thing that we have to do is, turning our mind towards it. Now, if we want to do this continuously, the risk should be calculated and justifiable. It should not be unrealistic. A justifiable risk not only takes us towards goal achievement, but gives us the courage to fight the despair and failure on this journey. The amount of risk we take, should be as much as can justify the question, ‘What is the worst that could happen?’

28. A goal does not mean only the dream close to your heart. Castles in the air need steps of efforts to firmly connect dreams to reality. Is it too poetic? Okay, let’s make it simple. There is a huge difference between ‘dreams’ and ‘goals. Not all dreams come true. But since goals are based on efforts, they definitely turn into reality. A dream is an idea, and a goal is a reality. So there must not be confusion between the two. A dream can be turned into a goal, but if a goal only remains a dream, nothing can be achieved.

29. Friends, when you feel that you have chosen a goal which is based on your values, there is no alternative to success. The values based on which we live our lives, are the ones that mould us. They are in our nature. Goal-achievement based on good values, is long-lasting. The success achieved by cheating others is hollow, because it doesn’t last. This is the law of the world. If we are trying to achieve our goal by forgetting our values, we shall definitely fail.

30. Friends, we have spoken about a lot of things. Now last but not the least. We get just one life and it is very beautiful. We should examine whether, as we run after our professional goals, are we leaving our relations far behind? Are we in good health? We aren’t ignoring our families, are we? We aren’t forgetting our duties, are we? While doing all these things if our relationships are destroyed, who will we show the achieved success to? With whom will we share our happiness? If we hoist the flag of success by hurting others, it will make nobody happy. The relations in our life are priceless. In order to achieve success, if man loses his relationships, for whom will he live?