By: Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Sr. Associate Editor-ICN Group
(In the past article, we knew about how to identify the skills & help required to achieve your goals and what are the benefits of sharing your goals. Today, we will know about the importance of taking persistent actions towards achieving your goals.)
Take ‘ACTIONS’ – ‘Do’ it and keep on doing with persistence
Some people are good at goal setting, but they are not good goal achievers, as they miss this third limb of GOPTA i.e. ACTION, which is the biggest difference between achievers and non-achievers.
The most important aspect of goal setting is actually ‘doing’ and keep on doing persistently, until you succeed. Successful persons are work oriented. On the other hand, unsuccessful persons just daydream and don’t want to start doing work towards achievement of their goals. Sometimes, they even make planning but do not execute the planning for reasons better known to them. They forget that if they want to shoot their success rocket for the moon, persistent daily actions are required as fuel to launch that rocket and to keep it in the air.
Remember, to do something new, it is always difficult to take the first step. But it is only YOU, who have to work for your dream. Your dream has been given to you, not to anybody else. It is your responsibility to nurture your dream and work upon it. Once you start, the gates of success will mystically start opening for you, one after another. When I was thinking to leave my job for doing this work of writing books and taking workshops, there was a huge risk, as I was in a secure Government job. Though, once I decided to work upon my dream project, I listened to my inner voice that if I don’t work for my dream, who else will work upon it. Somebody else can do even better than me, but my dream is my dream and only I can do it for the larger benefit of society. I decided that I will take this calculated risk and not quit working on my dream until I succeed. Result is before you.
Brian Tracy says, “All of the best advice in the world will only help you if you can motivate yourself to take persistent, continuous action in the direction of your goals until you succeed.”
Some people don’t start due to fear of failure. But remember, if you start, there are chances of success; but if you don’t start, there is 100% failure.
Renowned motivational speaker, Jim Rohn used to say that only 10% of the people do and 90% don’t do; numbers will never change, only faces will change. If you look around, you will find truth in the above assertion by Jim Rohn.
You have to do persistent efforts in the direction of achieving your goals; come what may. You have to decide that you will not quit. It is more than certain that you will face challenges and setbacks on the road to success, but these are just speed breakers. Just like you do not lose sight of your destination due to speed breakers on the road, you should not lose sight of your goals when you face obstacles or temporary setback. Learn to take these in your stride and move ahead until you succeed. Remember that now you are better prepared to face these temporary setbacks. Remember, when you were a child and were learning to walk and were failing time and again; your mother did not stop you from learning, even after you fell repeatedly; and gradually, you learnt from your own mistakes and learnt to walk. Imagine what would have happened, had your mother stopped you from learning, saying that you have done enough efforts and now there is no chance of learning to walk. Similarly, you learnt from your mistakes, while you were practising bicycle riding or car driving. Same theory applies in real life. It is a well-known phenomenon that initially at least 80% of the ventures don’t give you profit, but if you don’t quit, you start minting money. Often people ask me, how long I should work to make my dreams come true; and my usual reply is ‘TILL YOU SUCCEED’.
Winston Churchill said, “Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
All of you must have heard the name of Madam Curie. She was the first woman to win Nobel Prize. In 1906, when her researches were in full swing, her husband died of a road accident. At that time, her younger daughter was only 16 months old. She was devastated but she did not stop her researches. Her good work resulted in honouring her a second time with the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element.” Imagine, she had lost her husband 5 years ago and had to recover from grief and had to manage two children; still she continued to touch new heights with her persistent determined research, winning her the top honour in the world once again. Her strength does not lie in her winning two Nobel Prizes, but it is really her character, which enabled her to overcome personal loss and move ahead in life.
Winston Churchill aptly put it as, “I can summarize the lessons of my life in seven words: never give in; never, never give in.”
The most important point is that all the talks about goal setting are virtually useless, if you don’t take appropriate actions. The main difference between the highly successful people and less successful people is that highly successful people know that a good plan, not worked upon, is of no use, in comparison to an ordinary plan, which is worked upon persistently. Successful people are ‘Doers’; they understand the power of GOPTA. They know that if this last limb of GOPTA i.e. ‘Action’ is left, nothing is going to happen. Develop the habit to work daily towards your goals.
You have to come out of your comfort zone. It is not a time for just wishing. It is the time to take action to design your future. Don’t wait for a perfect time to start; it will never come. Don’t wait for circumstances to change; it will never change. Accept yourself, as you are and try your best from today itself, as today is the best day to start.
Remember, “if today you do, what is required to be done, whether you like it or not, the day will come, when you will have all the time and resources to do, whatever you want to do and whenever you like to do. But if today you don’t do, what is necessary to do; you will be compelled to do, what life throws upon you.” [- A quote from my book, ‘How to Add 50000 Productive Hours to Your Life’]
(By now, we were talking in detail about goal setting process. In the next article, we will know about how to identify your life purpose among various goals. I believe that you are enjoying the journey towards the future of your dreams with me. If yes, please stay tuned every Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday. Happy G.O.P.T.A.)
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Creator & copyright holder of the concept G.O.P.T.A.© is an Author, Certified NLP Lifestyle Master Practitioner, Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker and recipient of Honorary Doctorate of Excellence (Management) by prestigious Young Scientist University, California, USA. He is Founder of ‘Read, Learn & Earn Movement’ and is popularly known among his fans & followers across the globe as ‘Time and Goal Guru’.
