Your Major Definite Purpose

An excerpt from Brian Tracy's “Goals”

Your major definite purpose can be defined as the one goal that is most important to you at the moment. It is usually the one goal that will help you to achieve more of your other goals than anything else you can accomplish. It must have the following characteristics:

1. It must be something that you personally really want. Your desire for this goal must be so intense that the very idea of achieving your major purpose excites you and makes you happy.

2. It must be clear and specific. You must be able to define it in words. You must be able to write it down with such clarify that a child could read it and know exactly what it is that you want and be able to determine whether or not you have achieved it.

3. It must be measurable and quantifiable. Rather than "I want to make a lot of money," it must be more like "I will earn $100,000 per year by (a specific date)."

4. It must be both believable and achievable. Your major definite purpose cannot be so big or so ridiculous that it is completely unattainable.

5. Your major definite purpose should have a reasonable probability of success, perhaps fifty-fifty when you begin. If you have never achieved a major goal before, set a goal that has an 80 percent or 90 percent probability of success. Make it easy on yourself, at least at the beginning. Later on, you can set huge goals with very small probabilities of success and you will still be motivated to take the steps necessary to achieve them. But in the beginning, set goals that are believable and achievable and that have a high probability of success so that you can be assured of winning right from the start.

6. Your major definite purpose must be in harmony with your other goals. You cannot want to be financially successful in your career on the one hand and play golf most of the time on the other. Your major definite purpose must be in harmony with your minor goals and congruent with your values.

More on your definite purpose…