Setting Objectives On The Road To Success

In planning to reach your goals, setting objectives can play an important part. If, however, those objectives are set in a timescale that is unachievable, you will be heading for disappointment and the sense of failure. Setting your objectives in conjunction with a realistic plan can make your objective achievement not only more achievable, but more enjoyable too.

Be Realistic In Setting Objectives On Your Road To Success

Over the past week my wife and I have been making our small front garden more attractive, with some beautiful rocks and tropical plants. Before it was just rubble, not at all enticing from our front window or door. It is a rented property, where we will stay until we can build our dream home in good sized grounds. A side effect, though, has been to get me to start visualising the eventual garden when we build a house.

What I see is a garden that slopes away from the house, and divided probably into four sections. There will be paths and stepping stones that lead into the next section, with archways and views that entice. Each section will have a different theme, and include a place to rest and ponder, to absorb and enjoy, before being enticed into the next section.

I may have a vision of the whole, but each section will be built to completion before moving on to the next, until the whole garden is ready.

It was in having these plans evolve in my mind that I thought of stepping stones and stages in setting objectives. I am realistic about how this garden will be achieved, and the same should apply to setting objectives on the path to success.

All of us want success in one form or another, but many resort to luck and chance to achieve their objectives. The National Lottery and football pools are a big attraction to people in England, especially those with lower salaries than average. Of course, there are chances of becoming rich over night, but how likely is it that this will actually happen? Money itself is not really an objective any way. It is what you may wish to do with that money that is the objective

Creating a realistic plan in order to achieve the desired results is vital in any case, no matter how high or low your hopes are. This is where stepping stones and stages come in.

The safest, surest, and most enjoyable way to reaching objectives is by taking successive steps, and gradually increasing your chances of reaching your ideal. Try to think of a metaphor and compare your aims, for example, with a garden exhibition, or flower show such as the famous Chelsea Flower Show in London. You may have decided you want to exhibit at Chelsea one day. Not only to enter, but to win a prize.

As a gardening novice, the first thing you need to do is to learn as much as you can about gardening in general. Your plan will extend over years; you cannot start gardening today and win a prize at Chelsea Flower Show next year.

Your first stage may well be to create your own garden that delights not only you, but other people. In the hours of darkness you can learn from books, and join local gardening clubs. During this stage you may develop fondness for a particular type of plant, that brings you great joy and that you start to specialise in. For example, I used to collect and grow many variety of Fuschia, and always loved attending gardening shows where they were exhibited.

Once you are getting compliments and encouragement about your garden, you may move onto stage two, exhibiting in a small local flower show, or a local garden contest if you have one; or both even. You will get used to the public gaze then, and learn from other exhibitors.

Stage three may be your own small nursery, and once that is established, quickly on to stage four, and that is exhibiting at a large regional flower show. Then having attended and entered the regional flower shows with some success, it is time to plan for your ultimate objective: exhibiting at Chelsea Flower Show.

Taking steps one at a time, and keeping your plan realistic, gives you two important benefits. Firstly, the order and precision of a plan brings confidence. You achieve one step successfully, then your are confident for the next. Organizing your strategy reduces the chances of making wrong moves or taking less efficient decisions.

Secondly, having a sound plan has many psychological benefits, and your subconscious mind worries less, giving you more energy to concentrate on what is important to the achievemnt of your objective. You are creating a pattern in your awareness that accepts success and integrates it in your plan. When both your conscious and your subconscious mind believe in your chances of reaching a goal, you benefit from a power of concentration and focus that eliminate outside interference. This will let you follow the shortest path to success, without the avoidable setbacks due to premature and unrealistic ambition.

Even though chance may still play an important role in your quest to reach your ideal, having a realistic plan allows you change the “unlikely” into “possible”. 

One more thing. When I am planning my garden, I am looking for each section to be a place to rest, relax and enjoy for it's own benefit, not just for the garden as a whole. When setting stages to reach an objective, why not enjoy each one as much as you can? The journey is just as important as the destination; make it an integral part of your fulfilment.