Locating a Starting Point for Your Goal

As you’ve probably figured out, when you are embarking on a personal goal, there is rarely a clearly marked roadmap. That’s because personal goals are just that. Personal. The catch-22 of personal goal-setting is that the more crystal clear your vision is, the more unique your journey is going to be. So, who wouldn’t feel a mixture of excitement and resistance?

It’s normal for us to avoid taking action, and then get frustrated because we aren’t taking action. Then we feel stuck.

Enter stage left: Mr. Self-Talk, who starts asking questions like:

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Why can’t I figure this out?”

“Why do I keep procrastinating?”

These kinds of questions will keep you where you are or possibly set you back. The trick is to ask questions that will move you forward.

“What can I do today?”

“Why is this goal important to me?

“What will be different when I get there?

“What are my superpowers that will allow me to do this?”

“Who can help me move forward and support me?

"The trick is to ask questions that will move you forward."

These kinds of questions will help clear the fog of self-doubt and create mind-set for movement. As mentioned above, a unique personal goal requires a unique personal road map. Since you will be drawing your own road map, you will of course be in charge of locating a starting point. This is a step that trips a lot of people up.

A great way to find a starting point is to work backwards from the end goal. Picture the goal in your head. Now pull out a pen and paper and starting making a list of actions you need to take to get there. And keep asking the question, “What needs to happen before that?” Eventually you will arrive at a realistic first step.

"What needs to happen before that?"

Remember: You’re not developing a project plan (but that’s a great action step to put on your list!) The point of this exercise is to create momentum by drilling down to a simple fail-safe step you can take immediately to get started on the larger goal.

For example, let’s say I want to do a two-week cross-country road trip.