The first pillar of goal-setting is to understand what you are used to right now. What naturally makes you “feel normal”. Keep in mind that this does not mean being happy. Sometimes being in a toxic relationship is normal. Understand that. 

The second pillar of goal-setting is setting a dream or goal that is outside your comfort zone. Unleash that magnificent imagination of yours. identify a want, need, desire, or dissatisfaction. Some people call it God's plan, a definite major purpose, or simply dissatisfaction, but it's in your imagination, and it's something you don't possess right now.

The third pillar of goal-setting is recognizing the noise in your life. When you set a goal, your environment will quickly rise up to resist it. This is noise and is very natural and necessary in the goal-setting process. Noise is how you find out what skills you need to mature and grow as a person. Once you have these skills, it is just a matter of time. 

The fourth pillar of goal-setting is applied faith. Once you know your comfort zone and your environmental noise, you have to convince yourself that this goal is very achievable. It is your God-given right to have this goal. If it wasn't, why would you be imagining it? You have to bombard yourself with this realization as you learn to be the person who can achieve that goal.

The process of goal-setting involves realizing where you want to go, knowing where you're at, and having faith that you can bring those two together. 

A “long-term” goal has been described as pursuing a magnificent obsession, God’s plan, or a definite major purpose. People will imagine, “I will be a profitable business owner” “I will be a stay-at-home mom from a nine-to-five job”, or “I will get straight A's in school and become a debt-free architect”. Those are some of the bigger projects in life. 

In pursuit of that big goal, you will have to come up with smaller, short-term goals. Stepping stones, if you will. Those stepping stones are discovered in the faith process. For example, I want to be a straight-A graduate, so I should focus on getting A’s on my midterms. I want to be a business owner, so I should work on my good character in my network or develop a sales call habit. Soon your character will dictate to yourself and others the bigger goal as the short- and mid-term goals are accomplished. 

It is so much more effective if we write down our goals manually. Noise and distractions bombard us constantly. Our “big breaks” are hiding in that sea of noise. We will easily miss the next big idea or contact unless we program our filter to bring those people and ideas to our attention. Messages come to us in many, many ways, but that simple process of writing something down and, more importantly, putting a date on it tells your unconscious and your subconscious that you're open for business. When you handwrite your objectives down, you'll have a better chance of your subconscious and unconscious recognizing elements in your environment that will help you achieve that goal. It is not uncommon for a real-estate agent to make a big sale in the line because something in the background told them this person was looking for a house. 

Goals are individualistic. There is no one size fits all. That’s what makes them awesome. If you ask a teen what they want to be when they grow up, they may answer game programmer, school teacher, or doctor, but many times these are goals given to them by other authorities. A real goal is very personal. For example, someone might want to be a stay-at-home mom, while someone else wants to be a stay-at-home dad. You might want to be a straight-A student. I might want to start a business. All goals are different, all disciplines will be different, and all processes to make them happen will be different. Because goals are so personal, a one-size-fits-all plan is not possible. There are good, better, and best plans for each person. We here at Sunlit Motivation have created a scheduling system simply called the Goal-Getter Scheduling Sheet. 

If you are new to scheduling, our system is a great place to start. It’s a weekly scheduling system that opens with Why am I setting up a goal? Why is this goal important to me? Who will be served by this goal? 

The next section contains the “whats” that need to be done in life. These "whats" will be categorized by what happens in your life. As you fill out the form, bend your action towards your goal. Include self-improvement in these activities.

It is easy to see what areas of your life are distractions and what areas are blessings. 

Going with the flow is what we here at Sunlit Motivation refer to as accepting “average”. Average is the best of the worst; the worst of the best Being average means knowing enough to be in the game but not enough to make a difference. Being average means doing what culture dictates. This is how much money a person will make; this is how many kids you will have; this is where your house will be, what kind of car you will drive. All these decisions will be shaped by cultural norms. This is what makes us average. If going-with the ; and this isflow is what you want, then average is what you'll get, with or without my permission. 

When you set a goal, you are already breaking that pattern of average. When you set a goal, you will be putting your imagination into something that does not exist. There's no pattern to it. You must create that pattern for yourself. Let’s say a student wants straight A’s in math. Once that person successfully imagines himself as a straight-A student, a plan of action will begin. He will shape himself to develop a pattern that will achieve that math grade. 

A good start for anyone is to head off to SunlitmoBvaBon.com, where you will find a lot of free tools. We have videos, simple lessons, and book lists. We have some real good stuff that will definitely help the average person get to the next level.

Next, get your imagination going. Dream, imagine, and explore. Your brain will automatically reverse engineer any strong thought you give it. Have fun and think of some really scary dreams. 

Evaluate who is in your association. It was hypothesized that you would become the average of your five closest friends. Maybe it’s time to upgrade your closest friends to people who are eager for your success and are skilled at helping. When we pursue a big goal, our best friends will come out of the woodwork. Can you believe that many of us haven’t even met our best friends yet? 

Read. The wealth of the world is stored in books. If you are too outgoing, read about being reserved. If you are flippant, read books on how to organize yourself. If you are rigid, read books on serendipity. If you know everything, maybe you need to read to unlearn some bad habits. Everything you need to know is not locked in a college under a professor's mattress. It is free and available somewhere in a book. If you can read, you can learn literally anything. 

Watch what you are listening to. Music is nothing but thought to a beat. Some music is giving you thoughts that completely contradict your goal. Other music will give you a good foundation of thoughts to build upon. If you need skills to reach a goal, take advantage of free classes. YouTube is just one of many places that have free lessons. You can freely learn anything from video editing to Microsoft Office to changing spark plugs to teaching public speaking. 

If you can dream it, you can achieve it. We here at Sunlit Motivation are here to celebrate your dream.