Goals

Importance of Goal

What is goal? The dictionary meaning of goal is:

1.       The result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

2.       The terminal point in a race.       

3.       An area, basket, cage, or other subject toward or into which players of various games attempt to throw, carry, kick, hit or drive a ball to score points.

In simple words, goal is the direction for our win in life’s game. Setting goals in life is the first step towards success. . Many of us agree that keeping goals in life is very important; however none of us (except a few) keep any goals in our life. We give plenty of excuses and reasons for not having any goals in our life, such as I don’t have time; I will start from next month; this month I am out of station; my spouse is not supportive; family problems etc. Do you know that, not having any goals for life is the main reason for most of the problems? Living this precious life without goal(s) is similar to playing soccer without goal concept. One can think it is difficult to believe, however, you will find detailed explanation in this chapter.

Assume you plan to travel in your car in the coming weekend. Your starting point is Bengaluru and destination point is New Delhi. What kind of preparations or arrangements you make before starting the journey and during the journey? You will collect all the information about highway roads, safety in these roads, you pack your luggage, you verify GPS functionality, and you get your car checked by an expert. During the journey you stay at safe place, in good roads you drive fast, when you are tired you take rest and have coffee breaks and the list goes on and on. Now think, if for a small journey (maximum 10-15 days), you take so many precautions, why would you not plan for life. Life is a journey and you are leading this life without any plans!! Isn’t it strange?

Now let us co-relate this journey with life. Have a look at the below questions and answers on life and journey example:

A - Gives the actual answers

A* - Answers are provided for journey related questions as you give it for life. This will help in realizing the importance of goals:

 Life

Q> what is your Goal in Life?

A> I don't have any goal in life

B> I want to stay happy

C> I want to make money

D> My family should be happy, I can do anything for them

Journey

Q> Where are you going?

A> New Delhi

A*> I don't know or I am just driving the car or I love driving and hence I am driving this car!!

Life

Q> what do you want achieve in 5 years from now?

A>Ha..Not sure, it depends on my growth in our company or are you kidding? I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, then how do I think for 5 years?

Journey

Q>what is your position after one day?

A>I take NH-7 to reach New Delhi from Bengaluru. My first halt will be in Hyderabad as Hyderabad is located 560KM away from Bengaluru. I will cover this distance in one day.

A*>I have no idea, I keep drivingon some roads. I will keep going as this road goes further!!

Life

Q>How much money do you want to earn in life?

A>More money, I want to buy a flat, one car and some fixed income every month

Journey

Q>How much distance you are covering in your journey?

A> Bengaluru to New Delhi distance is 2130 KMs in NH-7. So approximately 2200-2300 KMs.

A*>No clue, I will drive for some time every day. I will take some rest in between and I will see few places.

Now think, how do you feel if you get answers like A* from a person who is driving you to your destinations. Definitely, you think that person has no clue or is useless or is irresponsible. But most of us give similar answers to any questions about life!!When we are living our precious life (only one life) without any clarity, what moral rights do we have to judge that person as useless or irresponsible? Who is more irresponsible in this case? Now take some time to think about it and try to understand the importance in life.

A few questions

            Please take some time and go through below questions. I would recommend you to spend at least 1-2 mins before going to next question.

Ø  Assuming your current salary is Rs 1 Lakh (or $5000)/month, who is stopping you to earn Rs 10 Lakh(or $50000)/month?

Ø  If you are unhealthy like obsessed, constantly suffering from back pain or knee pain or any other health issues who is stopping you to stay fit and healthy?

Ø  If you are under graduate, what is preventing you to go for higher studies? If you are a graduate, what is preventing you, to complete a post-graduation course? If you are a post graduate, what is preventing you to take up further value added education?

Ø  If you are salaried employee, who ordered not to opt for financial freedom for yourself?

Ø  If you are poor, what is preventing you not to become rich?

Ø  If you are studying and getting average marks, what is preventing you to score more marks

One can ask 1000 similar questions to every person. However, we should realize that no one or none of the entities or no schools/colleges or none of the government is preventing us to achieve anything in our life. Then why are we not thinking to achieve any of these goals? Why do we daydream these concepts and lead a normal life? Simple answer for all these questions is in one sentence, “It’s our belief system!!”

Clarity on goals

One of the famous quote “We are always getting ready to live, but never LIVING!!”. This is very true in our life. We always try to find some reasons for every moment in life. Every person can give 100 reasons for not starting some good work today. At this moment, take a pledge that you will finalize your goal after completing this chapter. Be open-minded and read further.

Before having a goal (or goals) in your life, first think what is important in your life and what do you need in your life? If you want happiness in life, note down all the points, which makes you happy. Do you want to earn money? Note down how much money you want to earn and by when you want to earn that money. If your ambition is to become a cricketer, which level you want to reach (club, state or international) and at what age you desired to reach that level? If you want to succeed in business, what kind of business and at what level? (Small shop in your town, or chains of stores in the state or multinational level etc) If you are able to get clarity, this will be your BURNING DESIRE and you should develop some action plans to achieve this BURNING DESIRE.

Creating your BURNING DESIRE Plan

First, we need to understand the meaning, scope, and necessity of BURNING DESIRE for our life. It is not the one which you day dream, it is not the same as what you want; it is not the same as what you wish. However, Burning Desire is something that is must for you and you cannot live without about it.  Just imagine you are near swimming pool and you do not know how to swim. You suddenly fall in to the pool, the pool is deep, and you start drowning. At this moment, you will try everything to come out of water and you will try all possible methods to avoid drowning. At this moment, coming out of pool is your BURNING DESIRE. We all should think, create and have a BURNING DESIRE plan for our life to achieve great results in life.

Do not consider your current mindset, ability, or position to arrive at your BURNING DESIRE point, because you are choosing BURNING DESIRE for your future and to grow as an individual. Only then, you get the satisfaction and you will reach great heights in life. Let us consider “Making Money” as an example. This will show us how to arrive at our BURNING DESIRE plan by following the below steps:

1)      Note down How much money you want to make, be specific and write down in a piece of paper. Please avoid any generic thoughts.eg “I will make Rs. 1 crore (or $1 Million)” (please note I have not used the statements like, I want to make 1 crore rupees, because it will stay in your wish list and will not come to your action plan. So pick your words carefully)

2)      Decide How much time you need to make this money? Do not consider 2 years or 3 years as this remain as 2 years or 3 years on paper even after 10 years. Mention the specific date, you can use birth date or anniversary date to fix the date. eg “Before 13/05/2021”

3)      Write down Your contribution or dedication methods to achieve this task. Please remember nothing is free in this world. For ex, “I will provide most efficient service and best quality service in my job and I will dedicate minimum 2 hours for writing everyday”

4)      Note down your Action plans to achieve this task. It may be from your work, business, or combination of both. For ex I consider Job and Writing are the two professions I use to achieve this task, then my action plan will look as below:

Job

·         Complete day to day office work everyday

·         Set 3 small goals everyday early morning and complete these goals before stepping out from office

·         I will improve my skills today by 1% as compared to my skills yesterday.

·         Appreciate good work and thoughts

Writing

·         Write five books in one year

·         Read ten autobiographies of successful people in one year

·         Write positive messages or motivational thoughts on social sites every day

5)      Write down the complete BURNING DESIRE plan including all the above points. In the above ex, BURNING DESIRE plan looks as below:

                      

BURNING DESIRE Plan

I will make Rs. 1 Crore ($1 Million) by 13/05/2021 by providing the most efficient service and best quality service in my job and I will dedicate minimum 2 hours for writing every day. I use the below action plan to achieve my BURNING DESIRE: Job ·         Complete day to day office work everyday ·         Set 3 small goals everyday early morning and complete these goals before stepping out from office ·         I will improve my skills today by 1% as compared to my skills yesterday. ·         Appreciate good work and thoughts Writing ·         Write five  books in one year ·         Read ten autobiographies of successful people in one year ·         Write positive messages or motivational thoughts social sites every day

6)      Write this BURNING DESIRE plan in a few paper sheets. Keep one paper sheet in your wallet and paste some sheets in your desk and on bedroom wall etc. Every day read this plan aloud in the early morning and before you go to bed. If possible, read a few more times when you get some time during the day.

 Read this BURNING DESIRE plan with complete faith and imagine yourself that you have already achieved it. In the beginning, it might be difficult to believe what you do not have and over a period with little effort, anyone can develop this mindset. Because without this mindset you cannot succeed in life, many times in sports, we have seen a smaller or unknown team will reach the winning position against a champion team, only to lose in the end. That team did not have the mindset to win against the champions, in other words they did not have the necessary belief that they can win against the champions. Life provided them an opportunity; however, they did not capitalize it due to their belief.

I am giving a few more examples, as this is the most important step in your action plan. Many people think that they don’t have enough money (even after having all the basic luxury needs), and they always end up having no money, irrespective of their salary, wealth etc. because you will get what you think!!! Are you one among them? Time to change your beliefs!! Many students believe that some subject is difficult for them to understand and they have a fear that they cannot perform well in the exams. What happens in the exam hall, even after good preparation? Their fear dominates them and they are not able to recall anything in the exam hall and surprisingly they recall everything after the exam!! Are you one among them? It’s time to change your mindset!!

Remember if you have the strong necessary belief 50% of the battle is over!!

Division of Goals

            Once you know major goal of your life, divide this goal in to smaller goals for shorter duration. Shorter goals can have many formats,  eg exponential plans, simple plans, linear plans etc.  Let us take a simple plan and see how we can divide the major goal in to smaller goals.

  

 Eg, if the major goal is to generate 1 crore rupees of wealth in 5 years, then we can divide it to smaller goals as shown below:

 

                So now, the short-term goal is to create 5 Lakh of wealth every 3 months. If required we can divide again (1.6L/month). Now, one should develop action plans to generate this money every 3 months (or 1.6L/month). If we follow our BURNING DESIRE plan for the entire duration as per our plan, no one in this world stops us to get what we desired, because Sky is not the limit, our mindset is!!

Action Plans

-          Sit in calmer place for some time and note down all your passionate tasks. It may be silly or small.

-          Among all the tasks, finalize one task, which is close to your heart. You might need some time to pick one task, take your time, but not more than a day. If you are confused, imagine yourself doing that task for 24 hours continuously or imagine performing that task on weekends. If you are happy to do that task on weekend that might be the one!!

-          Follow the steps in BURNING DESIRE section and prepare your BURNING plan

-          Please complete your BURNING DESIRE plan and read it couple of times before reading second chapter.

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Fight or Diplomacy?

          Kumar is a Project Manager in a multinational software company which is located in Bangalore. He is a nice person and he has more than 15 years of industry experience. He has a salary account is with Citi Bank and few years back he opened an account with another Bank as he needed a locker to safeguard his gold ornaments and documents. One day he noticed that he utilized all the cheque leafs provided by another bank and hence he thought to visit the branch someday as new cheque book request facility was not available in online banking.

One Saturday he was relaxing at home and suddenly he remember to collect the new cheque book from the bank. So he gets ready, takes his bike and reaches the bank after 30 minutes’ drive in Bangalore traffic. Bank was crowded as it was Saturday and Bank staffs are taking their own time to complete the work as it was government PSU Bank. When enquired they informed him that their bank recently replaced their old core banking platform with a new core banking software and hence they are having tough time to deal with it.

He also wanted to withdraw Rs. 50,000 cash for some reason along with the new cheque book request. So he filled the withdrawal form and provided it along with the pass book in one counter. One charming lady is working in that counter and she requested him to wait for some time as she had many forms to process. After 15 minutes, she called him and handed over the new passbook along with the old passbook and also a big coin which had a number ‘30’ on top of it. She apologised, explained the reason for the delay and also informed him that she is issuing a new passbook as the old passbook is full. He felt happy for her response and started waiting for his turn as display was showing ‘14’ which means, another 15 customers work is pending before his turn.

Kumar was waiting more than 30 minutes now and display was showing still 18. He was thinking about his latest project in which his team successfully delivered the capability to process all types of loans within 24 hours in retail space and his client is one of the top 20 banks in the world. Earlier same process used to take minimum 1 week and because of this capability, this bank started attracting more customers in the retail space. He also thought about all the recognition and appreciation he received from the business. Now he started thinking why our Indian Government PSU banks are taking more than 1 hour to process a simple withdrawal transaction.

In this mind-set, Kumar started observing all the staff in the bank. Some of the staff were really busy and people were troubling them with continues questions. Few people didn’t have any respect for queue system and token system and they were trying to approach all the counters to finish their work. Few people who were sitting on the sofa were showing their anger towards the bank. Suddenly he noticed one staff who is sitting between cashier counter and another counter. He was quite old and he didn’t have any system in front of him. His responsibility was just to check the deposit and withdrawal forms passed from one counter and put a seal on top of it and pass the same to cashier counter. He was getting 1-2 such forms for every 15-20 minutes. Kumar felt as compared to any other staff, he is lucky to have this stress less and easy job.

Now display counter started showing 22 and Kumar thought he has all the time in this world for his turn. So he started observing the old guy. Initially he thought this old guy must be happy as he is having easy job with not much of responsibilities. However, after closure look it turned out be false as this old guy was shouting on everybody who approached him for some help or information. In fact, he was also shouting on some of the fellow staff members. Kumar also noticed that none staff members are happy for him.

After some time, Kumar shifted his focus to his mobile and he started reading the ebook which he started reading recently. Suddenly he realises that ‘30’ number is called in the speaker and display counter was also showing ’30. He immediately woke up and approached the cash counter. He was angry after so much wait, but also felt sad the cashier guy as he is old and had lot of forms in front of him. After collecting his money Kumar enquired with him how to get a new cheque book. He requested Kumar to approach counter-4 to place a new cheque book request.

Kumar is bit surprised when he approached counter-4 as the same old guy’s counter is named as 4. So he politely asked the old man to inform the procedure to apply for a new cheque book request. Looks like he didn’t hear Kumar’s words properly and he made a facial expression which resembles, ‘why are you standing here?’

Kumar didn’t lose his patience and he explained the old person that he is looking for a new cheque book as he utilized all the cheque leafs in the old book. Now this old person asked Kumar to give a ‘Cheque Request’, kumar puzzled for this statement and asked the old man that whether he need to provide an written application to get the same. Old person gave a strange look at Kumar and asked him to provide the old cheque book. Kumar is taken aback for his request as he is looking for a new cheque book as all the cheque leaf are over in the old cheque book. He explained the same thing to old guy. It looks like; he didn’t convince with Kumar’s explanation and gives more angry look at Kumar.

By this time, one person who is standing in the next cue, informed Kumar that in every cheque book last leaf is new cheque book request form and can be used to raise a new cheque book. Kumar recalled throwing the empty cheque book to dustbin. Now he was not sure what to do and informed the situation to the old person. Below is the conversation took place between Kumar and the old person:

Old person: How can you throw the empty cheque book to dustbin?

Kumar: Sorry sir, I didn’t know that there will be a cheque leaf in the cheque book which can be used to raise a new cheque book request.

Old Person: Then I can’t do anything; I need that leaf to raise a new cheque book request.

Kumar: Sorry sir, I can understand your concern. However, what is the alternative solution to raise this request?

Old Person: No alternatives, you have to give that leaf.

He gives angry look at Kumar and also looked at the documents which are present in the Kumar’s hand. He starts with one more question:

Old Person: Why are you having 2 passbooks? And for whom you are raising a new cheque book request? You can’t raise a new cheque book request on behalf of some body.

By this time, Kumar loses his temper and many questions arise in his mind. Couple of them are:

•         Why this old man is behaving like this?
•          There should be an alternative method to raise a new cheque book request as everyone will not use the same procedure and Banks must be user friendly to help customers
•         Why he asking about my passbooks? They only give the second pass book as my first pass book was full
•        Basically he is here to serve the customers like me; however, he is irritating all the customers with his non-sense questions. .

Now we will pause this story for some time and think how you would have reacted if you were in Kumar’s situation? For your convenience select any of the option below:

•      Scold the old person properly and ask him to speak with customer properly.
•      Tell him in a blunt tone that why does he requires 2 pass book info and ask him to what is the alternative procedure to get the new cheque book?
•      Answer in rude way that, their staff only provided the second pass book as his first pass book is filled with transactions and walk away without raising any new request for cheque book.
•       Tell him that Government banks are not making profit, because of you guys are working in these banks in this passion. Ask him to provide the alternative method to raise a request for new cheque book in high pitch tone.
•       Tell him that you have delivered many projects like this and all those projects are recognised from business. In addition ask him to provide polite response to customers
•       Approach the Bank Manager and complain on this person.

Selecting any one of the above option is mandatory. Suppose if you think your reaction is different, and then please write down your response. Basically Kumar wanted a new cheque book. What is the probability of getting a new cheque book without having much negative impact on his mind and with less time if he follows any of the above method? If you have different response than these, then think is it possible to get the new cheque book without any disturbance in your mind within less time?  

Above options will lead to heated arguments and definitely they will create anger and disturbance in your mind. In addition, they also demand more time. Option 6 looks logical, however, it also demands more time and there is no guaranty that we will get the cheque book. According to Kumar, any task should be accomplished with less time, with zero disturbance on his mind and if possible with very less cost. So he follows a different method to get the task done.

He approached the charming lady who served him earlier with an apology and explained the situation to her. She listened his query carefully and again she asked an apology for old man’s behaviour. She requested Kumar to give a written application for a new cheque book and she handover a paper sheet and a pen. Kumar wrote an application letter requesting a new cheque book and he gave it to the lady. She took his letter and asked him to wait for five minutes. After five minutes, she called Kumar and gives his new cheque book. He collected his cheque book and went back to his home happily.

Now some of you may be thinking that Kumar did a wrong thing and he should have fought for his rights with the old man. Some may think that it is always better to teach a lesson such arrogant people. For few, it’s their ego at stake and they think it’s good to have a heated argument with the old man. Very few people are ready to agree with Kumar, however, they will not be able to forget old man’s behaviour and it haunts them for some time. If you belong to any of the above category, please read the below questions:

•           What is the probability of old man changing his behavior if you fought with him? If you complain to branch manager?
•          What are the chances of getting a new cheque book?
•          How much time, you would have spent to get the cheque book? Also how much time you need to come out of anger?

•          Every fight, heated argument will have a negative impact on our mind-set. Even in the above case, you might need some time to come out of this disturbed mind-set.

After considering all these things, it looks that Kumar did a commendable job and his response in this case is much appreciated. He was able to walk away happily, because he has the mind-set to forgive old man. Even in life, we come across similar situations and our response to those situations is very important. Because in life, we can’t control what happens to us, however, we can control our emotions and reactions to all the incidents. So in any situations, direct your emotions, reactions, energy and action plans to come out as a winner along with happiness.