When your goals are crystal clear, when you know EXACTLY what you want to accomplish with your life, you've taken a big step toward emotional effectiveness. And the first step in developing clear goals is to
create a dream list of EVERYTHING you ever want to accomplish with your life.
Remember, this is called a DREAM list, not a "reasonable goals" list. The important point here is to let yourself dream without rules or limitations. Don't ask yourself what's practical, realistic, pragmatic, or actually doable. Instead, let yourself imagine, with NO LIMITS, and write down everything you can think of emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually - what you would like to learn, what you would like to see, what you would like to do, what you would like to give.
What Do You Believe is Possible?
Your BELIEFS about what's possible - what level of success is attainable, what your income potential is, how long it takes to develop a new skill, how other people will react to change, etc. - can have a profound
impact on your emotional effectiveness.
"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt."
- William Shakespeare
Our beliefs, like our values, don't simply spring up from nowhere. Our beliefs are based on our experiences and observations. This doesn't necessarily mean that our beliefs are objectively correct, or that those beliefs serve us well and help us accomplish our goals. But it's important to always acknowledge that our beliefs DO spring from a source, usually our experiences and observations.
It's also important to acknowledge that sometimes, our beliefs can get in the way. They can prevent us from achieving our goals. Or they can prevent us from setting the goals in the first place - because we believe they aren't attainable. Or even if we do set a goal, our beliefs can dampen our motivation level if we don't really believe it's attainable. Or when we run into obstacles, we can tend to give up too easily.
What about you? Do you have any limiting beliefs? After you complete your initial dream list, read through it again and notice your emotional reactions. Are there some items that instinctively feel undoable or unlikely? Ask yourself why you feel that way and explore your thinking fully. Are your doubts based on beliefs that may be holding you back? Sometimes just RECOGNIZING that a limiting belief is holding you back can be enough to unleash your imagination and help you come up with creative ways to accomplish your goals.
The important point to remember here is that as you develop your DREAM list,
don't let limiting beliefs cause you to aim too low. And also remember that the best way to overcome a limiting belief is to come up with NEW experiences or observations that help you develop a NEW, more empowering belief.
