MENTAL DIET: HOW TO DEVELOP A STRATEGY FOR WINNING

“Are you attempting to play the game of life without goals? If you are, what’s the score?“

• ZIG ZIGLAR

Can you imagine a football field without a goalpost? The defenders, attackers, and mid-fielders would experience frustration on the field. Both teams would run around the field in circles without a sense of direction; their effort would be full of activity without effectiveness; they will engage in motion without progress; their struggles will yield no reward.

 If it is obviously ridiculous to play the game of football without a goal-post; how can we ever think of playing the game of life and winning at it without a goals program?

What if you were to play the game of football with a group of friends for the fun of it; how much excitement will you bring to bear in playing the game? What if you were to play in a world cup tournament? What difference will it make playing for pleasure and playing in a competitive sport, especially one that the whole world is watching?

You bet, playing in a world cup tournament will arouse or create in you great excitement and expectations; it will stir up discipline, creativity, and determination. Therefore, you will invest your time and effort to relentlessly prepare for the game.

Your motivation will be stirred up-you become aware of the gains of winning in terms of recognition, influence, and monetary reward. In life, many people seem to have some sort of “survival goals”-paying bills and providing for the basic necessities of life. Having “survival goals” brings struggle and desperation to life. Aimless living is the product of a goalless life.

Human beings were designed to thrive and blossom because we have an inherent ability to grow, unfold and expand and attain the full expression of our unique gifts. Therefore, when we fall short of this ideal, life becomes an arena of struggle and desperation.

In the game of football, the players know the direction they are headed for with the ball; every effort is deliberately targeted to score a goal. The players have a plan of action on how to score goals. The more effective and strategic the plans are, the more they will have the capacity to hit the mark or score goals and win the game.

When a team is unable to score goals, with the help of the coach they will re-strategize and devise a more effective plan to heighten the possibility of scoring goals in order to win the game. So it applies to the game of life.

Goals enable you to live life by design rather than by default. It enables you to deliberately choose where you are going and map out plans to get there. In fact, an effective goals program makes you know where you’ve been, where you are, where you are going, and how to get there.

Goals enable you to focus your time, energy, and emotion to hit your target. Significant accomplishment is the product of specific goals. Goals chart your course of action in order to fulfill the course of destiny.