Goal setting is the single most important element in personal development.
By its very nature, goal setting, undertaking and achieving is fundamentally masculine.
It is the mythical quest to achieve a goal at any cost.
It is the path to your inner masculine core.
‘Goals are dreams with a deadline.’ – Tony Robbins
Our mission to set a target and hit it is as old as time.
In fact, the word ‘sin’ actually stems from pre-Christian Greek archery and means to ‘miss the mark’.
Despite its modern connotation of evil acts, the history of sinning is setting our targets and missing them.
Suffice to say, the notion of hitting our targets is an ancient discipline.
The spiritual writer David Deida believes sexual attraction and a man’s sense of spiritual contentment is contained within the commitment to a goal.
He outlines the vital masculine traits as:
A sense of mission (that leads to freedom)
Competitiveness
Living on the edge
Analytically minded
Growth mindset around challenges
Definitive and decisive
All these qualities are required when we pursue a meaningful goal.
This piece articulates the benefits of having goals in your life, as well as gives you an action plan to help you navigate your way through life’s pitfalls.
By setting goals, you can ensure you don’t fall into chaos.
Goals Reduce Fear
Goal setting actually reduces your anxiety.
Firstly, this is because we have something to aim for.
For when we aim at a goal, we become the hunter.
We act with still, unbreakable focus, free from self-consciousness.
But don’t just take my word for it, here’s an extract written by Professor Jordan B. Peterson, et al, in a paper on the importance and effects of goal setting:
“The establishment of clear goals… appears to increase enthusiasm, with more important goals leading to the production of greater energy than less important goals.
“Goal clarity increases persistence, making individuals less susceptible to the undermining effects of anxiety, disappointment, and frustration.
“Finally, well-defined goals appear to help individuals discover and use ever more efficient strategies and modes of thought and perception.”
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It has been my experience in my growth free from addiction that direction, purpose, and unwavering commitment to a cause are key masculine traits on physical, emotional and divine plains that optimize life itself.
By acting in accordance with this mode of being, you can tap into the power of our forefathers as such traits are built into our very DNA.
Goal Setting is Built into Your History
It’s crazy when you think that humans (in our current evolved form) have been on planet earth for about 200,000 years.
That means that you are the result of generation after generation of successful procreation!
This is an unbelievably powerful legacy of successful men behind you.
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Every one of your forefathers built a life and successfully procreated.
You are now the one gifted freedom to maximize your life to its optimum benefit.
We are dangerously unaware of our genealogy and our immense potential to source the power of our forefathers today via the embodying of our masculine spirit.
The drive that led our forefathers to build homes, head families, hunt for food, fight predators (and win) and achieve knowledge and wisdom is at our feet in the here and now.
We can harness that power by becoming the link in that chain and deeply commit to goals that better our conditions and those of our family, friends, and society.
The way you harness that power is through actionable goals.
Key Goal Setting Domains
A great way to begin maximizing your life’s potential is to separate your goals into the below key areas.
I have given each a short description so you can ascertain what each should entail:
Personal
The personal includes that which is fundamental to your internal life and includes things such as family, hobbies, arts and general well-being
Professional
The professional is your working life, your job, your level of commitment and your marketable abilities
Spiritual
The spiritual needn’t necessarily be religious if you do not have a faith, yet it should include practices such as self-reflection, meditation, connecting with nature and being present in the world
Sexual
The sexual includes your sex-life, dating-life, relationship, marriage and relationship to the feminine – as well as how balanced you are with these matters
Social
Social includes friendship circles, sports teams, leisure groups and includes figures you can help and figures you look up to
Health
Health includes your physical condition, mental state and any injuries or illnesses you may suffer from and should look at how you’re dealing with those
Financial
It’s important to keep a track of your finances and make financial goals, as discipline in this area provides you with a safety net against future uncertainty.
Goal Time Structure
Now we have the sections of your life that we want to begin mastering via goal setting, it’s important you structure each segment as follows.
End Goal
5 Year Aim
1 Year Aim
6 Month Aim
3 Month Aim
1 Month Aim
2 Week Aim
Plan for each day this week
This plan may look like a lot of work for each section, but it should take no longer than an hour for each section, even if you have multiple goals for each segment.
Further, as this is your life we’re working on, why not put in the effort now – you will sooner reap the rewards if you do!
Goal Maintenance
Once you have implemented this once at the head of a diary or journal, it is very simple to recreate the next week (I do my goal reviews and planning every Sunday) as most weeks you only need change your goals for that week.
Essentially, as you work closer to your End Goal and have all the other goals implemented, all you need do is alter the aims for every day of the week moving forward.
To give you a clearer idea, here’s an example of mine:
End Goal: To run my own online business
5 Year Aim: To be earning a solid profit and able to support family
1 Year Aim: To have 250,000 visitors to website, 5,000 Facebook followers, and to have launched online development programmes
6 Month Aim: To have 10 video blogs completed and kept to content plan
3 Month Aim: To have 10,000 visitors to website, to interview 2 big industry names
1 Month Aim: To have completed Social Media, SEO, Web Content and Coding short courses
Weekly Plan
Naturally, you can change the dates relative to the End Goal as you wish.
For instance, my health goals include lifting certain weights in the gym, and it’d be a bit ridiculous if I was looking at five years to reach my goal.
Therefore, my gym aims are based on a 1-year time limit.
If I achieve them, I set a new goal, if I fail, I keep the goal in place with a new time deadline.
Conclusion
It is through setting goals, achievable in incremental stages, that we enter the realm of purpose in life.
They are the structure through which we are freed from existential chaos – a punishing catalyst for addictive behaviour.
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