DREAM AND GOAL; DIFFERENCE

Many people have goals and dreams. Very often you will hear people use these terms interchangeably as if they were the same thing. I’m sure you’ve been asked, “So what are your goals in life?” or “What is your dream?”  They are not the same.  Clear understanding of what your dreams verses goals are is key to manifesting the fulfillment in your life.
We all have dreams…we are born dreamers.  You have heard the old saying that young men have visions, but old men dream dreams.  This great proverb defines “old men” having dreams because old men speak of the wisdom, skill, and mastery of one’s innate ability to manifest their dreams into reality.
Dream On, Dream On, Dream Until The Dream Comes True
Dreams are divine inspirations birthed in the secret place of imagination that give cause to recover that which has always been!  You were born to bring into existence from your secret place of imagination, the dreams conceived, nourished, and believed.  Dreams are the co-creation of your own ingenuity.  Dreams, when defined and clarified provide you the foresight to deliberately create your desired manifestation.  This is the Divine expression of Life.
You are a Dream-Maker to manifest and live the life you deserve.  Now a dream conceived but never believed is just a fleeting fantasy.  The Unlimited Life of who we are reveals dreams to us all the time. We only need to embrace and appreciate the magnificence of personal Being in defining one’s dreams.  What happens when inspiring dreams are revealed to you even in a split second?  We automatically determined impossibilities because we limit ourselves and therefore indulged in fleeting fantasy.
Your dreams represent your inner desired outcome, manifesting into your reality. James Allen said it perfectly, “Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”  No matter how lofty your dreams or desired end product is, all things are possible!
Put full-undivided attention upon your dreams because you become what you behold, and sooner or later begin to display unto the world your self-fulfilling prophecy.  Develop within you a convincing Proceeding Power of Prediction in your live.  You hold within an Ability to create and predict your future by realizing and nourishing your dreams today! So, Dream big!
The millions dollar question is this:  How do we transform dreams into reality?
Dreams speak of your desired destination, which by the way, really have no finalization because you shall always remain in a state of Constant Unlimited Expansion.  The steps, directions, and chosen strategies that develop the manifestation of your dreams are called GOALS.
A great thing happens when you focus your center of attention on your dream destination, you begin to locate and find solutions for the journey along the way.  GOALS are the means along the way to fully manifesting your dreams.
Dreams = Desired end product while Goals = Means to achieve dreams.
The fulfillment of the goals along the way to your dream destination provides you great encouragement, momentum, and feedback of your internal focus. Dreams represent what you want and “why,” while goals represent your plan to get you there.
Here is an example of a client I worked with.  This individual was 40 years of age, overweight by 45 lbs, and had a dream to live a long, healthy life.  The dream here was not the reduction of body weight, but achieving his ideal weight, while feeling energetic and perfectly healthy at the age of 45, 50, 60, 75, and beyond.  It is dream destination that really has no finalization…it is ever expanding.
Now, this individual experienced repeated perceived failure and un-fulfillment, as a result of focusing on short-term goals rather than his dream destination.  If you focus so much on the steps (goals), you run the risk of losing sight of your destination, and the reason why you are pursuing these goals in the first place.
Specific short-term goals are not motivating by themselves; their power comes from their connection to an inspiring dream.  In the long run, when I shifted my client’s internal focus and techniques, he not only manifested his dream, but also continues to expand his dream.
As we have discussed, GOALS are the steps along the way in fulfilling your dream destination.  The key is to FOCUS and center your attention on your dreams, creating solutions (target GOALS) for unending expansion.  So, make sure your focus on the END rather than the means.
Here are some suggestions for identifying the difference between your Dreams and Goals:

1. Define your internal Dream: Develop a crystal-clear picture or your dream destination.  Write it down in your dream journal.
2. Set specific times of centering and focusing upon your Dream Destination in your thoughts and imagination.  Carry in your Mind the picture of not only reaching your Dream Destination, but also expanding your Dreams.
   Again, do not be concerned with the methodology!  To be preoccupied with the “how to” and not the “why,” nurtures doubt, lowers aspirations, and sabotages your vision of manifesting your Dream Destination.
3. Set specific times of focus, read your dream aloud to yourself.  Make sure it is stated in the affirmative as if you have already manifested your dream.
4. See yourself maximizing your ability to manifest your dreams.  Keep this visual image in your mind for 15-20 minutes, three times a day!  Hold it there!  Imagine yourself accomplishing ultimate success – how it feels, sounds, tastes, looks, and smells.
5. As you do this, write the short-term GOALS that are revealed to you. Steps of action are being identified!  Writing down your goals gives them power, and makes them real. They transform that which we have been dreaming of into a workable solution.

Practice this over and over until it becomes Life unto you.  Remember, focuses on your Dreams, dream lofty dreams for nothing is impossible to him who knows his dream to be true.  I hope this has been enlightening and inspiring to you.

GETTING MOTIVATED

What is driven motivation?
Imagine someone being given the task of preparing and delivering a presentation. They are given this task at the last moment. They feel a little anxious but they start by approaching it all very methodically. They do their research and prepare their structure and slides. However, their background anxiety increases as the time of the presentation approaches. They continue to be methodical but there is now an added edge to their activity and behaviour. They seem to have had a boost of adrenalin. They can work for long periods and their rate of activity has noticeably speeded up. It is as if they have accessed hidden reserves of power, which in a way they have.
The final few hours before the presentation have now arrived and our presenter’s behaviour will go one of two ways. Hopefully they will be able to keep control of their motivational energies, do their final preparations in a structured and logical way, and deliver the presentation effectively.
Alternatively, as the final few hours before the presentation arrive, they will lose control of the powers that are motivating them. Instead of simmering along nicely they will boil up over the rim and not make best use of their final preparation time. Their behaviour will come across as illogical and out of control. Perhaps they will start to obsessively check small details that have been gone over already, or perhaps their behaviour will speed up to such an extent that they start making careless mistakes. As a result the presentation, despite all their hard work, will not be as successful as it ought to have been.

The power and danger of imported values

The power and danger of imported values
Where does this added energy come from? Why can it either help us to achieve great things or contribute to failure?
The energy comes from the memories and experiences we have built up over the course of our lives. It emanates from strong values we have almost subconsciously imported from people who have had a strong influence on our development and view of the world: parents, teachers, close friends etc.
We have swallowed these imported values wholesale, without almost any conscious awareness or choice. Most commonly they involve strong feelings and needs around:

Getting things right
Putting others before ourselves
Being strong in difficult circumstances
Getting things done quickly and not wasting time
Always trying to do our best

Whatever they are, these imported values are like a source of reserve power that we carry around with us and that we tend to habitually tap into at times of need - perhaps when we are challenged in someway in our lives or work.
When we access these values their powers are unleashed. If we are able to manage and control them they can give us the added energy and focus to overcome our difficulties.
But as these imported values are usually just beyond our conscious awareness, and so not always under our control, they can very easily cause us to overheat - to boil over the rim. They can become stronger and stronger within us until it is the values themselves, not us, that control our behaviour and overall ways of thinking. We give the reigns of our minds and bodies over to the memories of other people and the values we believe they held dear.
When these imported values are out of control we are in effect acting from memory, habit and conditioning. We end up applying old, inappropriate, generalised and unfocused values to new, specific challenges and problems. It is not surprising, therefore, that our performance can very quickly deteriorate and become ineffective, despite all our clearly demonstrable energy and motivation.

Recognising the warning signs of overheating
In order to access the power of these imported values effectively and gain benefit from them, we have to first recognise how they currently affect our behaviour. We then have to take control of them; assertively choose when we want to use them and how we want them to affect our behaviour.
Usually, we become most aware of the influence of our imported values when we have accessed them out of habit and they have started to adversely affect our behaviour. The types of behaviour exhibited will vary from individual to individual, but here are some common examples:

Habitual checking and rereading
Generally speeding up and flitting from one task to another without achievement
Apologising over - frequently
Taking back tasks that have been delegated and doing them ourselves
Putting in longer and longer hours for less and less return
Not being able to stop working on something or always coming back to it
Thinking that you have to have all the answers straight away
Not being able to leave a task unfinished
Reacting to a small mistake in a big way e.g. checking an entire piece of work because you find one small insignificant error within it.
Asking for less and less help
Becoming less aware of your surroundings and what people are saying to you
Treating rest breaks as waste of time or not taking them at all

Proactively managing our imported values
Once we have learned how to recognise the habitual influence of our imported values on our current behaviour, the next step is to learn how to access these values out of choice, and identify and utilise those behaviours associated with them that most meets our needs. By doing this we will begin to use their energy and motivation to enhance rather than hinder our performance.
Knowing about the concepts of Over Stretch and Moderate Stretch can help us achieve this type of controlled choice when accessing an imported value.
Over Stretch
If we access our imported values out of habit we are likely experience the negative outcome given in the above ‘preparing for a presentation’ example. We feel anxiety as a result of the task we have been given. This anxiety increases until an imported value, perhaps around getting things right and perfect, is accessed, and because it is accessed habitually, without conscious choice, the value is likely to lead to inappropriate, ineffective behaviour.
In this case we would perhaps exhibit a strong, compulsive need to check and recheck our work, to a degree out of all proportion to the needs of the task. As a result of this excessive checking, deadlines could be missed and even additional errors made.
We have involuntarily allowed the imported value to distort or ‘overstretch’ our motivation in an unhelpful direction.
Moderate Stretch
We can, however, make our imported values work for us, and the answer lies in avoiding Over Stretch and utilising what may be called Moderate Stretch. Moderate Stretch is where we develop the ability to access our imported values at a time and place of our choosing and apply those behaviours associated with them that are most appropriate to the task or situation.
If we again take the example of preparing for a presentation, when we employ Moderate Stretch we will still feel an initial anxiety concerning the task, and this anxiety will still increase as the presentation time approaches, but when the ultimate pressure occurs we will not just habitually access the first imported value that threatens to surge through us. We will instead choose one that is most appropriate to the situation, and select an associated behaviour that best meets our needs.
For some of us it could still mean accessing a value around getting things right, but this time a conscious choice would have been made to access it and use it for a limited time in a particular way. For example, the need to check and revise could be used positively by setting a review time, running through the presentation in front of a practise audience, gaining helpful feedback and making the necessary amendments.
Here, we have chosen to allow one of our imported values to moderately stretch our motivation in a specified and helpful direction.
In order to get the most out of our imported values the important thing is to give ourselves the choice as to which ones we use, how we use them and when.

Achieving Moderate Stretch and avoiding Over Stretch
We can achieve Moderate Stretch and avoid Over Stretch by:

Physically slowing down and noticing what we are thinking and doing
Accepting feedback and help
Clearly identifying the situations where we want our motivation driven by our imported values
Making sure that the situations are ones that can gain positive benefit from the imported value we choose to access
Being sure that the outcome of the situation is one that we can positively influence to our satisfaction
Ensuring that the situation only requires us to access the imported value for a defined time period (Ensuring that the situation has a clear end point)
Ensuring that the outcome of the situation is recognisable, definable and desirable
Breaking large tasks down into smaller chunks
Giving ourselves scheduled timeouts and making sure that we take them
Getting into the habit of analysing one moment of driven motivation each day. What is the imported value we habitually access? How does it affect our behaviour? What could we choose to do differently?
Choosing a specific behaviour associated with an imported value and then applying it in the most appropriate way.
For example, if we access a value concerned with putting others needs before our own and we feel the need to help someone with their work load, we can either just do the first thing that occurs to us (usually this would be to do it for them), or we can choose another more appropriate and effective behaviour, such as asking them if they need help and if so pointing them in the direction of some helpful resources.
Asking ourselves a specific question such as "What is the best thing I can do right now", when we feel stress and anxiety that might cause us to access an imported value out of habit and consequently do the first thing that comes to mind

The gift of choice
This point is perhaps the most important one. Once we are able to recognise when we are accessing imported values and able to choose when we wish to utilise them to bolster our energy and motivation, they start to make the transition from imported values to integrated values; values that are truly part of our own unique character, working style and approach to life.
They become values that we cherish and use not because we feel compelled to by the memories of what others would want us to do, but because we feel that they have a place within our lives and actions that we have chosen for them.
The values, rather than being generalised ideals about how to behave, become values specific to us and the situations we have decided we need them for. Once these values become a conscious and accepted part of us, we are able access them at will and gain the immense benefits of their added energy and drive.

Summary
Driven motivation can occur when we are faced with what we perceive to be challenging tasks or situations. During these times we occasionally need to tap into the energy and drive associated with the strong values and messages we have imported from people who have been significant to us.
However, if these imported values are not accessed in a conscious and managed way they can lead to us overheating, boiling over the rim and exhibiting behaviour that is ineffective in helping us achieve our tasks or deal with our challenges.
Most of us have imported values that are about:

Getting things right
Putting others before ourselves
Being strong in difficult circumstances
Getting things done quickly and not wasting time
Always trying to do our best

To manage the influence of our imported values we first have to be able to recognise how they affect our current behaviour (see the examples given above).
Having recognised how our imported values currently affect our behaviour, we then have to proactively manage them in order to gain their benefits rather than their drawbacks. Knowledge of the concepts of ‘Over Stretch’ and ‘Medium Stretch’ can help us achieve this:

just for thought

You can't base your life on other people's expectations."
Stevie Wonder --- Submitted by George Wachirah