Goal Setting: The Power of Purpose Meir Ezra

Do you ever have one of these attitudes regarding your goals?

"I have too many problems."

"I'm too old."

"I'd rather stay in bed."

"Whatever made me think I could do that?"

"I'm sick of the whole thing."

"I can't do it."

"I'll do it some other time."

"I don't have enough energy to do it."

"I didn't realize it would be this difficult."

"It seems too hard for me to do."

"I probably can't do it since most people can't."

Those who get into a "can't" mode are on the road to failure. "I can't do the project." "I can't pay my bills." "I can't succeed."

Almost all government regulations concentrate on things you cannot do. "You can't park there." "You can't keep that money." "Unless you follow these regulations, you can't . . . ." Pick up any law and notice how often the words "Prohibit," "Forbidden" and "Disallowed" occur while words like "Encouraged," "Allowed" and "Recommended" are absent.

Some employers like to act like governments and stop things. "You can't leave early." "You can't have more authority." "You can't do things your own way."

Businesses do it to customers. "We can't see you without an appointment." "I can't give you a discount if you pay in full." "Sorry, we cannot help you."

The real damage occurs when you stop yourself. "I can't handle more work." "I can't earn more money." "I can't delegate."

Have You Been Stopped?

When you feel like you have more barriers or stops to your success than opportunities, you are stopped. When all you see are problems, you are stopped. When you decide the forces in the universe are against you, you are stopped. Whenever you feel like giving up, you are stopped.

"STOPS ALL OCCUR BECAUSE OF FAILED PURPOSES.

"BEHIND EVERY STOP THERE IS A FAILED PURPOSE."

-- L. Ron Hubbard

The sequence goes like this:

You have a purpose to _________.

You then get the idea your purpose failed.

You invent or agree with stops or barriers to your purpose.

Examples:

1.       Remember some of your old purposes? Make $20 million. Raise a happy family. Tour . Get involved in the community. Make a major contribution to society. Help people.

2.      When you made some effort to achieve your purpose, you felt stopped.

3.      Maybe achieving the purpose turned out to be more difficult than you expected. Maybe you saw someone else fail. Perhaps you became afraid or lazy. Maybe someone got in your road.

You then agreed with the barriers. "It's too much work for me." "They don't want me to do this." "No one succeeds without lucky breaks." "It's better to settle for less."

Some people go one step further and begin to oppose solutions: "Don't try to help me as it is impossible." "I tried all the solutions and none of them work." "No one has the answers."

When you have a failed purpose, you stop looking for ways to achieve your purpose. You get tired. Fortunately, you can eliminate your loser, negative attitudes.