The Secret to Achieving Your Goals and Dreams

We often set our annual goals under the flush of an inspirational new year sermon we just heard on defining how we want our year to turn out, our year of …

We unearth our long-abandoned desires, brush them up, and bingo, we have our goals for the year. It takes more than a desire to achieve our goals and dreams, as it must be obvious to most now. We start in January and run out of steam shortly thereafter. However, there are those who run to the finish line, and they are mere mortals like the rest of us. What do they have that we don’t or rather, what do they do, that we don’t?

There are so many steps to breakthrough, attaining your goals or achieving your dreams. I am not going to enumerate them here. It is all well and good. They are all useful or necessary ingredients along the way.

However, there is one thing, a secret weapon if you like, that holds it all together. The absence of this one thing can explain why most goals and dreams go belly up. If you lack this one thing, you will not make it to the finish line. The secret of achieving your goals and dreams. It is not from wisdom from the ancients, but an everyday word that few pay attention to. It can be your greatest ally or your deadliest foe.

Your secret to achieving your goals and dreams is encapsulated in the word – momentum aka the big MO.

Momentum – the force of motion gained in movement, impetus.

There is great resistance encountered in the process of starting. This is inertia. It takes guts to throw your hat in the ring and commit to start. Try getting a couch potato to go do something useful with their time, and you get a glimpse of what I mean. However, after starting, you have to get moving and keep moving until you gain sufficient momentum to see you through to the finish line. This is where most starters throw in the towel, and return to a state of rest.

Let me illustrate by starting a car with a flat battery by pushing. If you have ever been involved in this activity, you will realize that the toughest part is getting the car to move. This is where you usually ask passers-by for help. The moment the car creaks into motion, you need to keep pushing for it to gather speed. As it gathers speed, you need less force to keep it going. It starts accelerating. It is at this point that the person in the driver’s seat, if he knows what he is doing, lets go of the clutch, allowing the vehicle to roar into life. This is also where you hands off, and express your thanks to the army of volunteers. If you hang on past this point, you will kiss the dust, as the engine has taken over, and does not need your push anymore…

Getting your goal or dream on the road to fulfillment follows a similar pattern. Getting to the start sometimes needs a good self-development book, a motivational speaker, an inspirational new year sermon, etc. As you start that book, blog, savings account, exercise regimen or what have you, you need to keep moving until you gather momentum. At this point, the force of habit takes over. It becomes a part of you. You do it by reflex, without thinking.

It takes quite some doing to get to this point. This is where most of us drop the ball. We start alright, take a step or two, and then start slowing down. Negative momentum takes over. We start slowing down to a final stop. Another hope betrayed. The secret to achieving momentum is to take a small step forward, every day. Keep taking that step, no matter how small, come rain come shine.

Desire is not sufficient to achieve your goals. You need a deep conviction that takes you to the place of commitment. The moment you are committed, you are ready to go. There comes a time you fully make up your mind to go all the way. You need to get to that point before you set sail…

Until one is committed,
there is hesitancy,
the chance to draw back.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
there is one elementary truth
the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves too.