"If you can see it in your mind,
you can hold it in your hand."
~Bob Proctor
What is a goal? Seems like a simple question. A goal is something you want to achieve in your life, or something you want to do or to have. Isn't it? My understanding of a goal changed significantly about a year ago when I heard my mentor say that most people aren't really setting goals, but instead are doing things over and over again that they've already done.
Bob Proctor famously shared a story about someone that had approached him wanting help in setting a goal to buy a new car. Bob asked a few questions and it turned out that the guy wanted to buy a new Pontiac, but he already owned that same make of car which he had purchased new four years prior. Bob's response stopped me in my tracks. He told the man, "There's nothing wrong with wanting a new Pontiac, but that's not a goal. You already own a Pontiac and you have demonstrated for the the last four years that you know how to buy a new Pontiac. Goals aren't for getting; goals are for growing!"
Most of us think we're setting goals, but we're really just creating task lists to do things that we've already demonstrated we know how to do. These are not goals, but they are comfortable to talk about because we know we can achieve these things. We know this because we've already done it. That's comfortable, and familiar, and safe. But we're not growing.
Bob called what I just described an "A-type goal." Similarly, we also occasionally venture into "B-type goals." Those are the things that are a slight stretch, but we know deep down that we could probably achieve those without much effort or discomfort.
What we want to be doing, though, is creating "C-type goals." These are the truly audacious achievements that we imagine, that we long for but have no idea how to do. These are the goals that excite and scare us at the same time, and you know you have a C-type goal when just the thought of it makes you a little nervous. C-type goals can be described as:
something so big that in the process of
achieving it you grow into the person who
is capable of achieving it.
Isn't that statement such a revolution? It's a completely different way of looking at achievement. Audacious goals aren't for getting things, but for growing into the next bigger, better, {insert your own adjective} version of you!
For me, writing and publishing my children's book, Architect of Dreams, was a C-type goal. I can write and do so for work and socially, but the idea of publishing a book seemed impossible. My mind immediately went to thoughts of limitation and fear. I spent about one year working on my mindset, finishing the manuscript, and learning the many, many components of the writing to publishing process for delivering a children's picture book. And I became a different person in the process. I grew into the person capable of doing it!
The funny thing is that what seemed so audacious at the time, is really not that a big of a deal. My monumental C-type goal is complete. Now I can write other books, but they wouldn't be C-type goals anymore. Now, guess what? Now, they're A-type goals. So I'm back to thinking about and envisioning my next audacious goal that is so big it will move me into becoming a new version of myself.
What's your C-type goal? What dream do you have that's so big that in the process of creating it you'll become the person capable of doing it?
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