What are Smart Goals???

It took one year for you to get here. Your back aches, your legs feel like jello, and your left hand is clenched to a rock holding on for dear life.

“Only 15 more feet”, you say to yourself. However, you don't know how you're going to continue on. Your muscles hurt so bad you question whether or not you can trust them. There is no help. All the screaming in the world would do nothing but shake you off this rock.

As you're dangling there, trying to conjure up 5 more minutes of energy, your thoughts drift back to that warm, sunny day of you sitting under a 200 year old weeping willow tree.

You're writing in your journal thinking about the life goals you want to accomplish. You remember how passionate, excited, and fulfilled you became when you thought about climbing this mountain. It was a thrill to think and write about the danger, excitement, and peace all at once.

Then, the decision came so quickly to climb this mountain that nothing was going to hold you back.

You remember all of the hard physical and mental training you had to do. You also remember all of the people who said it was impossible to successfully climb this mountain. “You can't do it! It's impossible! You're too old”--what most folks said.

Then, out of nowhere, the feeling and image of you standing on top of the mountain and screaming out of joy runs through your head. You remember how prosperous, abundant, and fulfilled you had felt being on top. All the press and recognition you would receive for accomplishing this goal would be yours.

“You can do this! You can do this!” You say out loud. Then, as if the hand of God was pulling you up, you swung your right hand up to grip the next rock. Then the left hand. Your feet seem to easily find cracks and crevices as they follow your hands. Right hand, left hand, right hand, left hand as you muscle your way to the top ledge.

You're hanging on the top ledge and you do one final pull up to lean your waist over the top. You swing your right leg up onto the plateau and then your left leg. You're finally on flat ground!

You get to all fours, breathing heavily as your own saliva spews out of your mouth. You lift your head up, get to your knees, and scream, “I DID ITTTTTTT!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

The excitement and joy rush in and through you. You hurt so bad, but you don't care. Every ounce of pain was worth it. You grab your canteen and dump it on top of your head. Then, you get to your feet and suck in the clean, crisp, and clear air.

Peace and stillness comes over you. You've accomplished your goal. It took you one year to get to this point, but your life has changed for ever.

How do we make the impossible, possible? How are we able to take a thought, a pure fantasy, and turn it into reality?

Part of my life's mission is to understand the potentiality and possibilities of life. It seems like when someone accomplishes something we name impossible that soon enough someone else comes along and tops that.

I want to show you how you can stop living average and begin turning your fantasies into realities.

The Power of Understanding

The more you understand this vast universe the easier life will be for you. Instead of being a victim, you'll be a creator and everything that seems to be fantasy can actually be a reality.

The key is understanding how to access and apply your marvelous mind. This entire website, with it's 75 plus articles, relates and shows you how to tap into your “Gold Mind.”

So, to live up to this website's purpose, a critical tool to understand are smart goals.

The term “smart goals” has been around for years, maybe even decades. It's not new.

However, I believe there is madness to the method of smart goals. I want to clear the air once and for all and help you rise above the “madness”. I intend to create a new breakthrough for you, so you can create your own reality effortlessly and easily.

I was once a victim to the “madness.” The way I was taught to set goals never really worked for me. I constantly felt like I was being restricted with too many rules.

One day, I was so fed up with not getting any results I totally ditched the goal setting structure. I said forget this and went in the opposite direction.

What I use to do is what I call the traditional method of Smart Goals. These methods were comprised of:

• Being specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely (s.m.a.r.t.).
• Visualizing a goal's end result as some future vision model that I've built.

If I had to sum up my experiences and results it would be this:

• The traditional method most people use is just flat out pointless and restricting. It doesn't work!

S.M.A.R.T Goals: The Traditional Method

The traditional method of smart goals has too many restrictions on it. As I said before, I use to be a big believer on smart goals and in the end they've never worked, let alone being accurate.

Once I started to understand the Universe more, I understood that there are not any restrictions in this world except for the restrictions our minds set up.

The only thing I agree upon in the traditional smart goals method is the “S--Specific”, everything else--measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely are all restrictions. I've found that these restrictions cause anxiety and worry, therefore the goal never manifests.

For example, I want to paint a picture here and tell you a story so you completely understand how this “smart goal” creates anxiety and worry.

You are earning about $3,000 per month from your current job as an account executive for Comcast TV. What you do is sell advertising spots to different local businesses.




So, your daily tasks involve visiting and building customer relationships, showing your customers different advertising packages, and making cold calls for new customers.

A friend of yours calls you on the cell phone during lunch break and says to you, “I found a great way to boost your sales. It's called Smart Goals. Go to this link and check it out!”

So, out of curiosity, you check out the web-page and become so engaged by what the product has to offer that you've decided to purchase it. If it doesn't work, you can always return it using its 30-day money back guaranteed.

You go through the smart goals program and do exactly what it says. You set a specific goal, you makes sure it can be measured, you think it's achievable, seems realistic, and it has a specific date attached to be completed.

Here is the goal you set: I earn $5,000 dollars per month in the next 30 days by Sept 30, 2009.

So, you set this goal and just wait for its manifestation.

About half way through your goal period, you notice that progress is not being made. You start to worry. You begin thinking to yourself, “Does this stuff really work? Is it going to happen? When?”

September 30th rolls around and you've made----$3,000 dollars. “What the hell?” You think to yourself. “This doesn't work, I'm going to return it.” But, it's too late. You've bought the product 32 days ago. The refund period is up.

So, you try the goal again. This time you really worry if your goal is going to manifest. You start thinking thoughts like, “Maybe this goal isn't happening because I don't deserve it. It's a stupid goal anyway. I can't earn that much more in 30 days.”

So what happens? Nothing. You're not earning more money. “What the hell is the problem?” You think to yourself. The program you've bought now collects dust on your book case.

This result is so common and happens all the time. You set a goal with a specific date attached, you “anal-lyze” to make sure the goal is achievable, you set up check points to measure its results, and you ask yourself if it's realistic. Then, when it comes down to the due date nothing has changed. What gives?

The problem is that you're placing a restriction on universal time, therefore it's causing inner anxiety and worry due to your time constraints and other restrictions in place.

That's the main problem with s.m.a.r.t goals because of their misconception of how time works. Answer this question for me:

• Do you know when a goal you set is going to actually manifest?

If you do, it's not a goal, it's a physical reality already.

How can you attach a time limit to your goals? For me, a time limit either demotivates me or motivates me out of desperation. Either way, both of those feelings are dis-empowering and yields poor results. In this case, you receive more anxiety and worry at the end of 30 days.

The Universe's Time Table

Everything in your life just is until you attach meaning to it. Nothing is bad or good until you attach that meaning to an experience.

For example, A person who lives in the very Northern tips of Russia may think it's hot outside and wear shorts and short sleeves when the temperature is 50 degrees out. “Get the lemonade out hunny! It's a hot one today!” The highest temperature this little town in Northern Russia experiences all year is about 55 degrees. So, when it's 50 degrees out, it's summer to them.

However, if you live in sunny California right on the coast, the highest temperatures you may experience are in the high 90's. You hear about these people wearing shorts and short sleeves in fifty degree weather up in Russia and think they're freak'n nuts because that's cold!

In all reality, the 90 degree weather compared to the 50 degree weather just is. The person living in California attached the meaning of “coldness” to their experience, while the person in Northern Russia attached the meaning of “how hot” when it was only 50 degrees out. The point--it's all relative to one's experience and just is until meaning is attached.

The Universe doesn't know the difference between good, bad, summer, fall, Christmas, and September 15. We gave those labels to define certain experiences for our existence. All the Universe knows is “Now.”

The Universe runs on “Now” time. There is no past or future, there is only now. Our anxiety and worry comes from defining ourselves as “this is how we should be” and “this is how we were”. Then, we take those definitions and determine “this is who I am now”.

For example, in the past you made some bad business deals and lost a lot of money for your clients and yourself. This scenario happened five years ago and to this date you still have the tendency to lose your money when investing. Why? Because you're defining yourself as a person who loses money. The illusion of time is getting in the way.

Or, you think it would be nice to become a millionaire and retire at the age of 45. You build this wonderful picture of what this situation would look like, but then you notice how broke you are and how much you hate the rusted car you're driving. As a result, you never earn much money and work till you're 75. Why? Because you're defining yourself as what you don't have compared to what you want in the future. The illusion of time is getting in the way.

To put it another way, our current results are the residual of our past thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Seriously Now, What are Smart Goals?

Smart goals are setting and achieving goals to enhance your present circumstances. Think of your goals as how it would improve your present circumstances verses a future time period.

Eliminate the want to control your future with goal setting. It's pointless and that's how anxiety, worry, and fear creep in. Do you really want to be fearful and worried all the time right now? That's what happens when you have a mis-conception of time in relation to goal setting.

The reason why I dumped the traditional method of smart goals was because I was tired of worrying and controlling my future. It really is exhausting! All these years I've been working to control and setup some future life that may never come and I've ended up missing the wonderful experience of life as it is.

This “future” based mindset is always trying to be in control, approved, secured, and separated. When, in all actuality, we do not have any control over anything. All we have is the ability to choose and participate. Life is still going to unfold whether you like it or not.

What if you knew the world was going to end exactly 365 days from now? Would you be constantly working to control your future? To be approved? To be secure? And to be separate from everyone? I don't think so. You would be concerned on being inspired, happy, and loved right now, in this moment. You would do things to improve your current circumstances, right now.

Money would be a motive and a tool for you to experience more joy and happiness in your life right now. Having friends, loved ones, and a significant other would serve the purpose of having friendship, love, happiness, peace, and more joy right now. Having a healthy and fit body would allow you to do more, experience more, and have more self esteem, right now.

You would live for the experience and journey of having a goal. Whether you achieved the goal or not, it doesn't matter. What matters is the experience you have during the journey--that's a smart goal.

If you knew the world was going to end you wouldn't think of your goal then notice the stress, obstacles, and time it would take to achieve that goal. Time wouldn't matter anymore. Only “now” would matter.

The reason why goals are so difficult for people to achieve is because they're focusing on the obstacles of what they have to do in order to achieve that goal. That's future based thinking, it's not motivating, therefore the discipline to achieve that goal is non-existent.

Most new year resolutions never stick or become achieved because most people see the obstacles, hard work, and long and enduring trials to get there.

For example, You set a goal to lose 70 pounds this year, so you become more fit and energized. You think that will be an awesome goal because you'll look good, feel good, you'll attract a sexier mate, and you'll have better self esteem.

However, you then see all the obstacles and hard work it's going to take for you to reach that point. The long workouts, healthy eating, and disciplining your unhealthy food cravings. Now, you feel very unmotivated to take any action because of the obstacles you have to go through for your ideal weight loss. Soon enough the goal is lost.

If you use the new mindset of smart goals, you now develop this nice image of your life being 70 pounds less in weight. You imagine moving more freely, people respond to you better, you're more energized, and your self esteem is ten times better. Then, you see this goal as how it would impact the quality of your life right now. Does it make you happier, confident, inspired to take action? What does the thought of being more fit and losing 70 pounds do for you right now?

When you keep your focus and goals in the present moment, right now, the necessary action and inspirations will come to you. Self discipline to achieve your goal will not be necessary. Why do you need self discipline when you're not thinking about some future life that you want?

A few years ago I set a goal to become a world-wide writer that would inspire and give hope to people, so they can create the life that they choose. Honestly, when I thought of this goal, I didn't know where to start. I had this vision of helping people, building a successful business, and being well-known. But how was I going to do it? Then a thought came to me: What can I do right now to begin living this vision?

So, I wrote an inspiring message for my Mother to read. She loved it! Then, I began a journal and wrote inspiring personal growth messages, observations, and what I've learned from my experiences and studies. Finally, an opportunity came my way saying, “How would you like to turn your passions, hobbies, interests, or career into a profitable online business.”

I immediately thought, “I have a passion (writing inspiring and motivating messages), I have interests, and yes! it would be awesome to earn money from it.” So, I listened to the inspired action given to me and I jumped on the opportunity.

Today, my vision is unfolding every day because I'm thinking and acting in the present moment. I'm envisioning my goals as how I want my life to be, but I'm putting my focus and attention on how this goal is improving my current reality. Then, I start acting as if I am this goal. I always ask the question: “What is this goal doing for me right now?”

Here are some smart goals examples:

• If you want a new car, what can you do today as if you already had a new car? How would you act if you had this new car? I bet you would keep it clean, washed, and keep up with the maintenance. Well, go do that now to your old car. I also bet you would be thankful for your new car. So, be thankful now for your current car.
• Let's say you have this grand image of living in a 3,000 square foot home right on the coast of San Diego. However, you currently rent a 2 bedroom apartment 10 stories up. It's obvious your “new home goal” is not your physical reality yet. So, how can you act right now and have your focus on how this goal is improving your current reality?

  Well, when you have this grand home of yours, what type of thoughts are you thinking? How do you feel? What are you doing? Then, start right now and find ways to think, feel, and act as if you already have your goal.

  If you're going to feel happy and prosperous when you have this home, start feeling prosperous and happy right now with what you got. If you would keep your home spotless and clean and entertain guest, begin cleaning and entertaining guests with your current home.

Instead of waiting for your future outcome to happen, you are experiencing it right now. As a result, you'll become so engaged to how you feel right now in the journey that the actual end result will manifest with ease.

Life is a journey and it's the experience that brings joy, happiness, and love, isn't it? Think about this---when you achieve your goal, you're going to want something bigger and better; it's a never ending process. The ultimate purpose of goal setting is to have and enjoy the experience---that's a smart goal.

You don't tell people this was my goal and I got it. “That's right George, I wrote a goal for a new Lexus IS 350 and I got it.” No, I don't think so.

What you do is tell a story about how you got the new car. “Well, I always wanted a Lexus IS 350. I test drove the car about 30 times and I loved how the air conditioned leather seats felt, the new car smell, and the crystal clear Bose system was mind blowing. I was driving down ocean blvd and popped open the sun roof and the cool ocean breeze was overwhelming the interior space.”

The more you understand the concept of putting your goals into a present context, the easier and more enjoyable the goal manifestation process will be. In all actuality, the present moment is all you have. When you think a thought, you're thinking about something in the present moment.

We just tend to describe time in a linear fashion (past, present, and future on a continuous horizontal line) where time really exist in a vertical fashion (now, now, now). Whether the thought is something past or future based is irrelevant.

Here is where people go wrong. They think a thought of something they wish to have. Then they either mentally or verbally describe it as “this is my future”; they see it as a destination or a place they have to get to. Then, they see what it will take to get to that point in time--obstacles, effort, money, etc. As a result, this person becomes uninspired and unmotivated to act.

Here is where people go right when setting goals. They think a thought of something they wish to have. Then, they see and feel how this goal improves their current reality. They focus on feeling, right now, the way they would feel as if they already had this goal. Next, they begin to act as if the goal is physically already theirs. Finally, inspired action comes to them and they begin the journey. The journey is fun, exciting, and the actual result of the goal manifest.

There is a lot to digest in this article. I highly recommend that you read and re-read to get the most out of it. If I could leave you one point to sum up this entire lesson, it would be Build a vision and goals of how you want your life to be, then keep your focus in the present moment on how your goals will improve the quality of your life right now.

What are smart goals? Smart goals are “being” the goal right here and right now.

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