Earlier this year, I talked about goals. If you haven't already read that post, I encourage you to do so as you can call this "the sequel".
If you don't have clear, written goals for your life at this point, you're missing out on a great opportunity to excel. I was never a huge believer in written goals until I started making them. After that, I realized the value of keeping something in front of me at all times.
I'm willing to bet you are looking forward to a great year in some area. Maybe you're planning to take that dream vacation. Maybe you want to get a new job. Maybe you just want something different but positive happening in your life. Whatever it is, it's something beyond where you are right now.
A goal should stretch you. Saying, "My goal is to have a Big Mac for dinner" is not a stretch goal. Saying "I want to get out of debt this year" is indeed a stretch goal. Those are the types of things I'm talking about.
Whatever stretch goals you have, take that first step toward making them happen. If you want to take a vacation to Paris but can't afford to right now, put a jar in your kitchen and set $10 in there every week. Then add a little extra as you go along. You may not go to Paris today, but after a while of that simple step, you'd have enough to make it happen. But if you never take that first step, it will remain nothing more than a dream.
That's where so many people settle in. They talk a big talk of "Someday I'm going to do (fill in your own lofty aspiration here)", but they never do anything toward making it happen. It remains a dream as ethereal as the air that will never have any substance in reality unless they get lucky and win the lottery.
Fortune favors the bold though, as they say. Today, set at least one major goal for your life and then figure out what the first step is toward making that happen. If you want to get out of debt but can't save $100 today, save $5. If you want to learn a new language and travel, buy a book teaching you that language or even just download a free app on your phone. If you want to write a book, create a document file on your computer and write the first few sentences, and then just write a paragraph a day if that's all you can do.
Whatever it is, do something! Take that first step toward making it happen today, no matter how small that first step may seem to you. Small progress is still progress, and it's a thousand times better than living on intentions.
At this point, the year is literally a third over! If you haven't started something by now, it's not too late, but it's getting there. Settle in and put up one serious goal for this year. Write it down and put it in front of you somewhere (on the bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator, on your office wall) so you'll see it often and keep track of how you're coming along on it.
You can do more than you imagine if you do what you can with purpose!
