Set Your Destination First

” Pramod, we need to be at our friend’s place for dinner by 7.30 pm. Let’s start.”

“Do you have the address? I don’t know how to get to their place.”

“What, I thought you had the address.”

“I know in which area their house is, but I don’t have the address. Can you pls quickly message them and get the exact address so that we can plug it into Google Maps.”

This was the first time we were going to our friend’s house, and without the exact address, we would not have been able to get the place.

This conversation with my wife struck a chord in me. For something as simple as getting to my friend’s place, I needed to provide the exact location details for the GPS to lead me to my friend’s house.

There is a parallel in our life too. Where do we want to go in life? What do we want to do, and what are our goals? What do we want to achieve in our life, and by when?

Like the GPS software on our mobiles, there is an internal GPS in our minds to guide us to our goals optimally and efficiently.

However, just like in a real GPS application, fulfilling your life goals is impossible if you are vague about them. You need to be as specific about your goals as you need to be about your destination when using a GPS.

The more specific your goal, the more accurate and efficient your internal GPS will guide you to your destination.

You want to establish Financial goals- A vague desire like “I want to be a millionaire” won’t do. Be specific about what you want to achieve and by when.

You have career goals- Be specific about what you want to do. Suppose you struggle with setting long term career goals, no problem. Go ahead and set up short term goals. Next three months, six months, what do you want to do, by when.

You have health and fitness goals-Unclear and hazy intention will not work. Be precise about what you want to do. “I want to get to my ideal weight in 90 days,” Or “I want to run my first marathon in 6 months, practicing 1 hour daily.”

When you are specific in your goal setting, your internal GPS trawls through your subconscious and brings to your conscious mind ideas and strategies to execute your goals. Your mind primes you to look for opportunities and alert you to possible problems that you may encounter in the pursuit of your goals.

A typical illustration of this principle, which I am sure many of us have encountered. You are planning to buy a specific brand/model of a car. Suddenly, you start observing the same brand and model wherever you go. This is essentially the power of the mind. It brings to the surface whatever you have primed it with, as a goal.

Similarly, there have been many occasions where I was pursuing a specific goal, and out of nowhere, there was a chance encounter with someone that helped me move positively towards my goal.

Your ability to reach your goals starts with defining your dreams in as much detail as possible so that your internal guidance system can help you get to them.

Every journey starts with defining the destination first !!