But now, let's make these notes on setting goals. The promise of the future is an awesome force. We look back for experience, but we have to look forward now for inspiration.
What gives us inspiration to get up in the morning and do our job, learn skills, and develop all that we can possibly be is the promise of the future. It can be so powerful that it can overwhelm any adversary you might have, any difficulties you might face. Here's a key phrase: reasons make the difference in how your life works out.
Reasons make the difference in your appetite and zest for taking on the challenge, doing the job, and becoming successful. Mr Schop said, "If you have enough reasons, you can do the most incredible things. You can get through the most difficult day, you can overcome the most unbelievable challenges.
" He said, "If you have enough reasons. " So, he said to me, "If you haven't got a list of your goals, Mr Ran, it's probably because you don't have enough reasons. " He said, "I'm sure since I've met you, you have enough intelligence.
You have enough good health. You have all of those things working for you. But here's what you must work on now: to have enough reasons looking into the future, developing reasons.
" Okay, now here's a note to make: it's important to make sure that the greatest pull on your life is the pull of the future. Some people let the past pull them back—pull them back. The past can be like gravity if you let it pull you back.
Some people live in the past; they live in the darkness of the past, the mistakes of the past, and the discouragement of the past. They didn't make it, you know, and that affects them for the rest of their life. Living in the past, we don't want the past to pull us back.
So, make this note: dreams and goals can become magnets. Drams and goals can become magnets, and the stronger the goal, the higher the purpose, the more powerful the objective, the stronger this magnet is that pulls you in that direction. Not only do your goals and objectives pull you in that direction, but here's what they also do: they pull you through.
They pull you through all kinds of down days; they pull you through difficult times. They'll pull you through some winter of your life. Some people get lost in the confusion of the day simply because their goal is not bright enough to pull them through.
Next, it's goals that drive us to take advantage of the spring. Why would the farmer put the plow in the ground in the spring if he couldn't see the vision of the harvest when summer is finished? Is it possible to see the finished harvest?
And the answer is yes, we do that simply by faith. Key phrase: faith is the ability to see things that don't yet exist. So, here's what we want to do in our goal-setting session: start looking into the future of what you would like to accomplish and where you would like to go, the person you would like to be, and see if you can't get a better picture of the finished objective.
See yourself there; see yourself in possession of it. There's nothing you can do about the past, but you can do a great deal about your future. You don't have to be the same person you were yesterday.
You can make changes in your life—absolutely startling changes—in a fairly short period of time. You can make changes you can't even conceive of now if you give yourself a chance. Your abilities will grow.
You have untapped talents and potential that you haven't even reached for yet, and as time goes on, you'll be able to reach deeper and deeper. The first thing you'll know is you'll be able to do things you never thought you could do. You'll be able to handle things you never thought you could handle.
You'll have ideas that you've never had before. All of this is sparked by the goal-setting process. When you know what you want and you want it badly enough, the answers will come to you.
I can't tell you why it works; all I know is it works. Give yourself a chance to become all you can become and to accomplish all you can accomplish. Let me give you a Bible philosophy that teaches how to get whatever you want.
Here's what it says: "Ask. " That's it: ask. Of all the important skills to learn in life, be sure to include the skill of asking.
What does "ask" mean? "Ask" means, "What do you want? " The complete formula is staggering.
It says, "Ask and you will receive. " Work on your list of "why. " One of the big thrusts for success is to come up with a strong enough "why.
" In leadership training, here's what we learn: if the "why" is powerful, the "how" is easy. But if the "why" isn't strong, if your goals aren't powerful, if the vision isn't clear, the old prophet said, "Without a vision, we die. Without a vision, we perish.
" Without a dream, we're nothing. We stayed because we were committed; we left because we were disillusioned. But we came back because we were lost.
Without a dream, we are nothing. When the "why" gets big and powerful and strong, the "how" seems to be so much easier. Without a strong enough "why," the "how" seems to be too difficult, almost impossible to accomplish.
Say, "How do you manage your time? " Hey, if you had strong and powerful enough goals, you'd figure out how to manage your time. You'd get a book on the subject.
You know you'd do something to manage your time if it was worth it. If it's not worth it, you know, why would you bother studying the art of managing your time if it really doesn't matter? But if it really mattered in the accomplishment of your goals and why you wish to accomplish them, see, you can do anything.
You can get up any hour, read any book, take any class, make any change, develop any skill, do any discipline. I mean, you can do it all! When the how and the why— or when the why starts to grow, the how gets simple.
Maybe one of your goals was to have a million-dollar home on the hill overlooking Snake River Valley. Okay, that'd be a good goal—a million-dollar home. Here's the next question: what for?
What for? I mean, a house is a house is a house with bricks and wood and walls and roof. The key: yes, a million-dollar home would be wonderful, but what for?
So now jot this down: purpose is stronger than object. The object would be the house, and that will pull; that's a worthy goal to go for, the object of the house. But here's a stronger goal: the purpose for the million-dollar home.
So if you got that line, it's one of my best for the whole day: purpose is stronger than object. It's okay to have plenty of objects to go for on your goal list, but always keep asking yourself the question, and sometimes it's good to just write it out: here's why I want this money, here's why I want this place, here's why. .
. and you start developing those reasons. And I'm telling you now, this starts to become incredibly powerful.
Okay, now here's the next exercise: I want you to look now at the whole list that you've written and the exercises we've done. Now I want you to answer this question: what kind of person must I become to achieve all I want? Now we've got two things working: what you become helps you to achieve, and what you achieve helps you to become.
The more you become, the more you can achieve; and the more you achieve, the more you can become. Who knows which affects the other the most? Your concept of the person you think you must become to achieve what you want.
This is time for a little truth here: maybe you need to become much wiser than you are at the moment. You need to become stronger. You need to have better health.
Maybe you need a little coaching to really become the person you want to become. I'm going to have to have some coaching—physical coaching, spiritual coaching, developing skills coaching. To be the influence you want to be, you've got to build an incredible reputation.
What kind of person must I be to attract all that I want in my life, and the people that I want, and the opportunities that I want? Don't set your goals too low. Don't join an easy crowd; you won't grow.
Go where the expectations are high; go where the demands are high; go where the pressure's on to perform—to grow, to change, to develop, to read, to study, to develop skills. I belong to a small group; we do business around the world. You cannot believe the expectations at that level—what we expect of each other in terms of excellence, far beyond average—so that we can receive from the group, we can contribute to the group something unprecedented.
It's called living at the summit. Go where the demands are high; go where the expectations are strong so that it'll provoke you, push you, and urgently insist that you not remain the same for the next couple of years, the next five years—that you'll grow and change. So don't set your goals too low.
But you've got to do better than work hard and be sincere all of your life; you'll wind up broke and embarrassed. You've got to be better than a good worker; you've got to be a good asker. Let me give you some key points on this asking and receiving: setting goals, asking of life.
Here's part of the philosophy that helped me to change. First, asking starts the receiving process. Asking is like pushing a button, and all this machinery starts working—mental and emotional machinery.
I don't even know how it works, but I do know it works. There are a lot of things you don't need to know how they work—just work them. Some people are always studying the roots; others are picking the fruit.
It all depends on what end of it you want in on. So asking is the beginning of receiving. Second, receiving is not the problem; you don't have to work on receiving; it's automatic.
So if receiving is not the problem, what is the problem? It's failing to ask. The man says, "I see it now!
I got up every day this year and hit it hard, but nowhere in my house is there a list of what I want from my life. " Can you see? Good worker, poor asker.
Third, receiving is like the ocean; there's plenty! Especially in this country, it's like an ocean here. Here, success is not in short supply; it isn't rationed so that when you step up to the window, it's all gone.
No, no! Well, if that's true, what is the problem? Well, the problem is some people go to the ocean with a teaspoon.
Have you got the picture? A teaspoon. What I suggest you do, in view of the size of the ocean, is trade your teaspoon for at least a bucket, and you will look better at the ocean with a bucket.
Kids won't make fun of you! Now here's something else to remember about asking: there are two. .
. Ways to ask: One is to ask with intelligence. It didn't say to ask intelligently, but I'm sure it meant that.
Don't mumble; you won't get anything by mumbling. Be clear, be specific. Intelligent asking means: how high, how long, how much, when, what size, what model, what color?
Describe what you want. Define it. Remember, well-defined goals are like magnets; the better you define them, the stronger they pull and give your goals purpose.
Answer both questions: What do I want? That's the object. And the second question: What for?
That's purpose. Purpose is stronger than object. What you want is powerful, and it will pull, but what you want it for is more powerful.
Here's the second way to ask: Ask with faith. Faith is the childish part; it means to believe you can get what you want like a child, not an adult. Many adults are too skeptical; they've lost that wonderful childlike faith and trust.
Don't let that happen to you. Believe in yourself and your goals, and get excited like a child. Childlike enthusiasm—nothing can beat it!
Kids think they can do anything. How exciting! They hate to go to bed at night and can't wait to get up in the morning.
Develop that kind of enthusiasm toward your life and your goals, and be curious like a child. Kids can ask a thousand questions; just when you think they're finished, they come up with a thousand more. They'll drive you to the brink, but it's really a virtue.
Have plenty of curiosity; ask questions—that's how you learn. Setting goals is a very important part of our life's process. Guess how many people have a constant plan for setting, rearranging, evaluating, and strengthening the purpose of their goals?
The answer is very few. In fact, if you will do this, you will become among the few who do. That will become the envy of all who watch.
In the leadership seminar, we came up with a whole 10-year plan of goal-setting: business goals, personal goals, family goals, economic goals, and financial independence. It's a basic fundamental. In fact, if you will work hard on setting goals, put together a plan for setting goals, re-evaluate them, rearrange them constantly, talk about them, and go over them again and again, I tell you what this process will do: In my personal opinion, it'll put you in what's known as the top 5%.
If you want to be successful, if you want your life to really change in major ways, this is one of the fundamentals: a constant plan for setting, rearranging, evaluating, and strengthening the purpose of your goals. We need to take a look into the future. We’ve got to have the future well-designed.
The future is called the promise, and here's what we teach in our leadership series: the promise of the future can be an awesome force for your own future. The promise of the future; designing the future—there are two ways to face the future. One is with apprehension, and the other is with anticipation.
I promise you, in my travels around the world, most people face the future with apprehension. Here's why: They don't have it well-designed. They've sort of left that up to someone else to fix.
But here's the best way to face the future—with anticipation. You can face the future with anticipation if the future is clear, if the future is well-designed. In setting goals, it's very simple: Number one, decide what you want.
You just take a little time; you sit down and say, "What do I want? What kind of skills do I want? What kind of income do I want for the future?
Where would I like to go? Places I'd like to visit? Habits I'd like to acquire?
Skills I'd like to have? " You just take a little time to think about what you want: economics, friendships, people you'd like to meet, places you'd like to go. You just take some time, and then I suggest, when you've thought about what you want for the future, make a list.
Just jot it all down. It's really a very simple process. Get together with your family—your wife, your husband, your children, your business colleagues—and make it one of the major fundamentals in your life: constantly setting, rearranging, evaluating, and strengthening the purpose of your goals.
That's the number one fundamental for success. Here's number two: A clear picture of what you intend to do with your present resources—that's fundamental. Figuring out a plan of what to do and how to manage your present resources.
Most everyone I talk to has already got something. The big question is, what are you doing with it? Most everyone has some time, they have some resources, they have some money, or they have a paycheck, or they have some kind of resources; they have some kind of net worth.
The big question is, what are you doing with it? Where are you investing it? Where are you putting it?
First of all, you've got to understand about society and about money. You've got to understand how to earn it, where to get it, where it comes from, and the importance of managing it. Kids ought to be taught from the time they're just small what to do with a dollar.
If a child has a dollar and goes and spends it right away, they've developed the wrong habits. And sure enough, if they continue those poor management habits over the first dollar, you can imagine they're probably going to do the same poor things with those same dollars when they get older. The plans we learn when we're small, sure enough, are most often the plans we follow the rest of our lives: what to do with your money and where to put it.
We teach in the care. . .
and feeding of the goose that lays the golden eggs. You've got to be a happy taxpayer. You've got to make sure some of your money goes into financial institutions so that successful people can borrow it and start other businesses that employ more people.
You've got to make sure that, uh, you give some of your money for charity. So, for charity, and for taxes, and for savings, and for the accumulation of capital, it's very important to have a management plan for your present resources so that at age 65 you don't wind up like most people do—broke. You wind up with substance; you wind up with plenty to share; you wind up with plenty to enjoy.
A plan for using all of your present resources wisely. What I'm saying is we all need a consistent plan for the gathering of knowledge, a consistent plan for going to the library, a consistent plan for attending the lectures, attending the seminars. Most people get ideas just spasmodically, or when someone happens to come by, or they just happen to hear someone, or they happen to read a book that might have some ideas that could help to benefit their life.
When you listen to a sermon, make sure you've got your journal to take notes. Wherever you go, gather knowledge, but gather it on purpose. Do it constantly, do it daily, and do it consistently.
We need a consistent plan for reading books. Most people just read books haphazardly, spasmodically, or most people just don't read at all, or they don't have a good plan for reading the right books. Sure enough, the man reads the comics instead of the classics, and he misses all the things that could really benefit his life because he doesn't have a plan.
Here's a good thought to consider: rarely does a good idea interrupt you. Good ideas must be pursued. You must go where they are; you must seek them out.
And there's an important Bible phrase that says, "If you seek, if you search, you will find. " Sure enough, a consistent plan for gathering knowledge, reading the books, attending the lectures, putting together ideas, and having a place to capture them—like a journal where you can repeat them and go over them—that's a fundamental that, if you'll follow it, will put you in the top 5%. Guess how many people have a consistent plan for the gathering of knowledge?
Answer: very few. And what you want to be is one of the very few. You need a plan, a detailed plan for the use of your work time.
We call it a game plan. Most people try to design tomorrow and next week and next month in their head. They try to just decide what they're going to do, and most people don't even think that far ahead.
They think, "I have to get up in the morning and go to work," and that's about the extent of it. But a game plan—a game plan for financial independence, a game plan for your work time, a game plan for your personal time. The family needs a game plan so that you won't miss some of the important things that are helpful to your life and to your success.
The kids need a game plan, mom needs a game plan, dad needs a game plan, you need a business game plan, you need a game plan for your office if you're in business—a game plan for your business, a detailed plan for the use of your work time. In the leadership seminar, we talk about how to put together this detailed plan for the day and for the week and for the month, how to stretch out a plan for six months and for a year. In doing business around the world, we found that you have to detail the plans in great detail; otherwise, sure enough, you're going to miss something.
And I can promise you that a detailed plan for the use of your work time will put you in the top 5% because most people don't have one. Mr Scha shared with me when I first met him, when I was 25 years old. He said, "Jim, to do better, you've got to get around the right people.
" If you have a constant association of people who can better your life and better your lifestyle, you can't believe the progress that you can make—an association of people of common interest in progress, success, ideas, and philosophy. I have a good phrase for you: never mistake the power of influence. The man says, "Well, I live here, but it doesn't really bother me.
" See, that's not true. He says, "I'm around these people, but they really don't bother me. " See, that's not true.
Whoever you're around, whoever you're with, is exerting some kind of influence on your life. And what you must do—and this would be the good year to do it, the first year you've heard about it—is make plans to get around the right people. People who talk positive ideas, people who talk philosophy, the refinement of philosophy.
See, just the joke won't help. You've got to get around people who read, people who are successful, and people who are growing and changing. Otherwise, your influence is going to be in the opposite direction.
And I know most of us, wherever you work, you have to be around some negative influences, but what you must do is counterbalance that.
