With Determination and a Good Plan You Can Achieve Your Goals

Leaving the future to chance is not a strategy. I have a relative who lives on the banks of the Jarabacoa River in the Dominican Republic and when his children want to go swimming in the river, he ties a rope around their waist. The river seems calm but it is very unpredictable. He has had to pull that rope on more than one occasion to bring his children back to safety. Life is like a river and our goals are that rope that keep us on the right path in the event of a disaster or when it is difficult for us to get through the waves. Crossing a river without the help of a lifesaver or a rope is not a good idea; nor is it a good idea to proceed without goals, as there is no guarantee that you will reach where you are going.

Imagine a staircase with ten steps. The first step is numbered zero and the highest, or last step, is numbered 10. The top of the stairs represents the best life one can have and the lowest step represents the worst. This staircase is called the Cantril Ladder and has become a very useful instrument designed by a pioneering psychologist. Social scientists and pollsters have been using this instrument for the past 45 years to determine and measure a person's expectations. Allow me to use it with you when I ask you to think about your goals.

On which step are you in terms of your educational goals? Are you at the beginning or on the first step, just starting, or are you already on the seventh step and pretty advanced? And your relational goals? If you were going to write out a list of your goals, could you put each one on a step?

Think about each area of ​​your life and determine where you are today and where you are going. In five years, on what step do you want to be on?

Take time to think seriously about your future since learning to establish goals is important. Goals help you to not only set sights on the future (on step # 10), but they also keep you walking forward, climbing up those stairs even if only little by little.