Dr. Doug Fullington

William James, the noted early 20^th century philosopher, wrote, "Your belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that ensures the successful outcome of your venture." This makes me think of New Year's Resolutions. Many of us take time at the beginning of a new year to review our progress over the last year and to set new goals for the upcoming year. We set goals to go to the gym or to stop smoking or to hug our spouse at least once daily. By the end of January, most of these goals are already fading from practice if not altogether forgotten.

I would like for this year to be different for you. I hope you persevere in your most important goals and accomplish more than you ever have in the past. The key to accomplishing your goals is presented in James' statement above. "Your belief is the one thing that ensures the successful outcome of your venture." You must believe that you will accomplish the goal you set or you will never achieve it. This belief must be so strong and powerful that you cannot help but succeed. You must believe in your goal so much that achieving it is inevitable.

When you set a goal, you probably "believe" that you can achieve it. You believe that you can stop smoking or that you can walk three miles three times a week, but that is not the kind of belief that I mean. This kind of belief is wishy-washy and will succumb to the slightest inconvenience. As soon as it rains the first time and you cannot exercise or as soon as you go to a birthday party and have that first piece of cake, your resolve will crumble. It will crumble because you only "believe" that it is "possible" for you to accomplish your goal. This is quite different than believing that it is "inevitable" that you will achieve your goal.

When you believe that something is inevitable, you are certain it will happen. When an obstacle arises, you will conquer it and move closer to your goal. Achieving your goal will be as inevitable as the sun rising each morning. So, how do you make your goals inevitable? I have listed the key steps to make it easy for you to achieve your goals.

Set goals that are meaningful. Don't set goals unless you are serious about accomplishing them. Instead, set big, hairy, audacious goals that get you excited just thinking about the possibility of achieving them. Weighing 130 pounds may be a healthy goal, but is not particularly motivating, but looking and feeling great in your bathing suit for your beach trip this summer is much more exciting. Making a million dollars may sound good, but it is not enough to get you out of bed an hour earlier every day so that you can work on your new business idea. However, knowing that you will use the profits to pay for your children's college or to set up a charitable foundation to eradicate violence against children in your community will motivate you to make it inevitable that you will do whatever it takes to be successful.

Have a big enough Why. If you have a big enough "Why," the "How" is easy. You need to be clear about why the goal is important to you. If your goal requires commitment and time to accomplish, you need to have a good enough reason to overcome the challenges and obstacles that occur - the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles will be.

Commit to a schedule. Make a plan and then schedule specific times to work on your plan. What gets scheduled gets done. If the goal is worth accomplishing, it is worth making room for it in your schedule. This usually means that you stop doing things that are less important. Say no to the things which matter least so that you can say yes to the things which matter most.

Be accountable. Develop a system of accountability. You must have an external monitoring system or you will not keep going over the long haul. This can be as simple as putting stars on your calendar for each day that you exercise or having your best friend call you every week to check on you progress. What gets measured gets done.

Celebrate milestones. Most goals that are worth accomplishing can be broken down into several small goals that lead to the final goal. Reward yourself each time you reach a mini-goal.

You must truly believe that it is inevitable that you will accomplish your goal for it to become a reality. When you sit down to plan your goals for this year, review this list and make accomplishing your dreams inevitable.

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