Favorite Inspirational Quotes

Concentrate on finding your goal, then concentrate on reaching it.

Col. Michael Friedsam

This quote says that basically goal setting is a two step process. First, you need to figure out what your goal is. What do you want? When do you want it? How do you want it? Why do you want it? Where do you want it? Who will be involved? There’s Kipling’s six serving men from an earlier quote.

Sometimes, if you can’t figure out what you do want, but know what you don’t want, you just turn the don’t-want around to become a want. Work backwards from the don’t-want until you reach the want. Preferably you state the goal in more positive terms.

Now once you have defined your goal, answering all the questions so it is a specific goal, you set out to reach it. Do you know all you need to know to reach it? If not, learn. Learn from a mentor. Learn from books. Books contain a lot of information and knowledge.

One figure Bresica quoted in his essay came from Jack Canfield. He said that only 1 in 7 people in the U.S. ever goes into a book store and buys a book. Ever!

Actually I’m surprised it’s that high as I learned, as preparation for a speech earlier, that the functional illiteracy rate in this country is almost 25%. Don’t be one of those people who are not readers. I expect though, if you are reading this, that you are not.

But use whatever you need, a mentor, books or the Internet, to learn what you need to know in order to reach your goal. Set aside 30 minutes, or better yet a whole hour, to read and learn every day. Then take small steps toward your goal. Remember, Earl Nightingale said that success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.

And be prepared to make mistakes and have failures. That’s just results and part of the learning process that helps you progress toward your goal and focus in on it. It’s part of life to make mistakes.

Tags: journal