When we don’t build our field of dreams, it’s often because we don’t want to invest time and energy in naming and detailing our most cherished goals unless we can be sure they’ll happen.  Yet it’s odd that we’re willing to waste so much time walking around and surveying the wrong fields and putting our energy into less rewarding projects.    

It’s as if our goal is to create the perfect field itself. We keep planting fresh sod and raccoons come and turn it over looking for grubs, and the sod doesn’t take root.  But at this point most of you give up.  In fact, and I speak from my own grass-growing and goal setting experiences, you will win this competition if you keep on replanting.  Here’s your step-by-step guide for laying out that perfect field of dreams: 

1. Write Goals Down —  To make your ideas concrete, write them down.  A popular 1979 Harvard study of students and other similar studies have demonstrated that those who write down goals far more often achieve them, than those who don’t write them down.  So this should strengthen the importance of this step for you.   There has been some research done on the kinesthetic relation between your ideas being handwritten to your brain’s receptivity of the writing, plus you can’t always carry your computer around to input fresh ideas.  Even so, typing your ideas is faster and you may be less concerned with neatness.  But however you get your ideas down, brain dump all your ideas first, then write down the eventual details of your chosen goal.  

2.  Choose Your  Goal — You can’t have what you want until you know what it is. Imagine, Choose, Create in this order.  You may want several goals that all seem beneficial, but to get started, choose one.  You will manifest it more quickly and be on to the next, rather than continuing to rethink or reconstruct your one idea over and over if you give this phase a fixed time incubation period.  Yes, knock it down and criticize it, question it with varying perspectives, but then move on to implementation.  Let “simplicity and speed” be your motto so you don’t drag out getting the result you want and you accomplish it with less effort.  You’re now putting out your clear intention to the universe, rather than just imagining it, and the universe will listen and begin to reflect results back to you. 

3. Vision + Visualize — You must be able to have a  clear mental vision of your accomplished dream, since goals must always flow from vision.   The brain doesn’t see a difference between an imagined goal and a real one, providing that you are able to visualize things with clarity and intensity, according to mental training and visualization experts.  Daily, practice seeing each step along the way completed, as if you’re working backwards in time from accomplishment to now, making the climb up the hill far more effortless.  ”Writing or reviewing a mission statement changes you because it forces you to think through your priorities deeply, carefully, and to align your behavior with your beliefs,” Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

4. Actions in Time — Plan each necessary step from the main ones to the secondary steps, much like the outline format for how to diagram a sentence .  If this format for chunking down your goals isn’t clear or seems too complex, find a format that works so you can see each step in their relative importance to one another.  A mind map template may also be useful.  Add the time element to your outline.  Factor in the time needed for your action steps by factoring in when you’ll start, benchmark and complete each step.
  
5. Focus for Power — Strong laser-like thoughts help your primary goal stick out in your own mind, let alone in the minds of others who can help you achieve your goal.  And when your dream does begin to take root, your focus will need to be on both a finished field and how you’ll handle the details of it’s daily maintenance.  Request help in advance from your teammates or tap your network to find those who can  handle certain aspects of your project and help you tend your field.

6. Continual Steps — Continue to ask yourself, “What do I need to do next?  When do I need to do it by?”  Consult your action plan and tweak your timeline as necessary.  Remember, if you waited till you had every piece of this laid out in advance, you would have lost a lot of ground and your competitors may have your idea already to market.  Even so, advance with expert advice and a plan that has room to factor in new variables and make adjustments.

7. Give Thanks — As you lay out your field of dreams, be grateful and show your appreciation to yourself and others who are helping you achieve your dream.  Seek a confidential, outside consulting expert as a safe sounding board when things are in tenuous stages.  This allows you to be an optimistic cheerleader to your team throughout the process, discussing critical points as needed with well-reasoned, non-emotional input.  

Remember there are never any failures—just delays in getting results. If you don’t give up, you win, regardless of whether you arrive with the carrot in your mouth or not. “Perseverance is the magic of spiritual success,” said Paramahansa Yogonanda, and that is also applicable to laying out your field of dream. 

As was quoted in the trailer for the 1989 movie, Field of Dreams, “If you believe the impossible, the incredible can come true.”

Tags: career planning, dreams and goals, manifesting goals, not delaying results, planning for goal achievement

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 8:26 pm and is filed under Career Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.