How to reach your goals?

It really is that simple. Easy? Not at all.

So - let's have a dream journal, or The List Journal.

Write a page in your Dream Binder for every dream you have, how ever big or small, how ever reasonable and rational, how ever possible.

Then you need to break down every dream into steps.

To do that, you need to define your dream.

"I want to be able to do the splits".
Good. But if you word it like that, all you'll have if your dream comes true, is that you WANT to be able to do the splits. You'll be WANTING forever.
"I can do the splits" is better.
"I do the splits every morning" is even better.
Form the sentence in a way that is active, without "want" or "wish".
Write the dream down as if you are describing the future you doing it.

Then you need to write down what you need to get from the current reality to that reality.

When it comes to splits, all you need to do is stretch. There are plenty of people out there who have already written down into steps how to become able to make the splits.
(Maybe there are already plans made for all your dreams. Good. But it would be better if you actually thought about it yourself... Because YOU know what you can do RIGHT NOW, YOU know what you must change, YOU know how much time and when you have to change those things, YOU know your potential and your resources.)

Keep your mind open for new ideas, and keep an eye on others who are working with the same goal.
Remember to write down all the ideas, good, bad and evil, in your Dream Binder. Those ideas might give birth to other, more realistic ideas, and for other goals.

After you have broken the dream down into manageable, realistic steps, steps that you can actually take, right now, with what you have and what you are, you need to schedule the steps. Put a date on the dream.

You might need to review the plan and the steps and the time schedule and make it more realistic for YOU. We are all individuals and unique, so what's good for the goose, might not work for the gander. Just remember that we all can't take the same road, but we all can get to the goal one way or another.

When you have a plan, start doing. Take at least 15 minutes every day to work on the plan, towards the goal, what ever it is. And when I say "15 minutes", I mean 15 minutes. Put on a timer, and start working, and don't stop before the timer peeps. What you can do in 15 minutes is a good form for one step.

Also, share your dreams. Don't mind if there are people who laugh at you, try to find the people who are dreaming of the same thing, and get together to help each other.

The next thing is to implement a system of consequences.

Reward yourself with something that really matters a lot to you. You could, for example, give yourself a token for every 15 minutes you take to work toward your plan. When you have 100 tokens, buy yourself a gift.

Punish yourself with something that really matters a lot to you. You could, for example, pay with a token for every daily 15 minutes you did NOT work, or not watch television until you have worked the 15 minutes.

These are "Muffins and Mocha"s weight loss token jars.
The weight loss community has a lot of ideas about how to reach your goals,

and you can adjust them to fit your purposes.

You could for example earn your travel money by studying languages and 

rewarding you with a dollar for every 15 minutes spent in studying the new language.

Let's say you need 500 dollars for the tickets.

You'd need to do 500 15 minutes passes in studying.

In the end that counts as 125 hours of study,

and if you study 5 hours a week, it will take you 25 weeks.

A school term.
You might not have learned the language perfectly,

but you will have learned enough to get you communicating during the trip. 

To do that, you would need 500 tokens in the "start" jar,

and when you have studied your 15 minutes, take out a token and put a dollar in the "goal" jar.

If you don't have a dollar, put the token in the "goal" jar,

and promise yourself to replace it with a dollar as soon as possible.

Keep that promise!

If you don't, you will be stealing from yourself!

You will be cheating yourself from the reward, and making it harder to reach the goal.

Frankly, if you don't have any extra money, go and earn that dollar. 

Sell something.

Do someone a job to get a couple of dollars.

Also, when ever you get some extra dollars, save them in the "start" jar to wait.

If paying the dollar is not a problem, put the extra dollars in the "goal" jar.

Also, get someone to whom you'll report weekly about your progress. Be accountable.

Now, if you are reading this blog, and want to do this, you can report to me. Just comment in the blog.

You can also have a blog to record your journey in. It's very much appreciated, as a lot of people are trying to make the same kind of dreams come true, and your journey will inspire them :-)