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The question was originally asked in reference to having a spiritual calling and not knowing how to get to the point where you're actually serving humanity. It's no different if you are an entrepreneur with an internal calling to successfully run your own company, a musician with a calling to perform on stage for large audiences, or a writer with a calling to see their books published. It's really all the same. If you have a vision in your mind's eye of yourself happy and successful while performing your daily work, then you have to figure out how to get there from where you are today. There are basically three approaches that you can choose from.

The first one is to just do whatever feels right at the time. This is can involve intuition, divine guidance, or some form of following the end of your nose. Logically, this approach should have you wandering in circles, not really getting anywhere, or at best arriving after a long indirect journey. Most of the time, this method won't get you anywhere but back where you started with a lot of stories to tell. The ironic thing is, that there are folks out there who have amazing success with this approach. It's almost as if a little bird is on their shoulder whispering in their ear and pointing the way. In all honesty, I cannot tell you not to use this method if it's what works best for you.

The second approach is the classic goal setting concept taught by many coaches. Research like crazy what the normal logical steps from Point A to Point Z are. Find out exactly how long it will take to achieve each and every step along the way. Then figure out your own personal time line incorporating your family obligations, personal level of motivation, and any other dynamics that might effect your ability to accomplish the goal. Then you plot out a very carefully laid out plan of step by step mini-goals to accomplish in order until you arrive at the desired destination. Not very exciting but it has a really high success rate. People who can do their homework and really follow a plan every step of the way have a fairly high chance of succeeding. However, I've also seen folks who use this method and never get anywhere. Their well laid out plans keep getting sidetracked or they keep hitting these mystery walls that keep them from moving forward.

The third method is a reverse of the second method. You look at folks who are already successfully at Point Z and visualize how your personal Point Y looks just before you step into Point Z. Then you visualize yourself successfully doing Point Y and how you got there from Point X. Then you visualize yourself successfully doing Point X and how you got there from Point W' and so on and so on. It's something like reverse engineering. The idea is that you still end up with a well thought out plan of steps to take but they are visualized as to how you personally would most likely have arrived at that final destination. I have only recently heard of this approach and don't know what kind of success rate it has, but it makes some sense to me. I suspect that it could work fairly well for people who are into positive affirmations and using positive visualizing as a form of motivation.

Personally, I use a bit of all three blended together. For example, let's say that I see myself as a dynamic witty guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show. I would take time to imagine how that came to be' How did she come to get my books in her hands so that she could fall in love with them? and go backwards from there. At the same time, I research everything I can get my hands on about my industry and have a rough outline of the step by step plan from where I am now to where I'm going. I don't write it in ink though. I pencil in my goals, but am open to the spirits, intuition, and whim of the day that may send me down a trail that will get me closer to the end goal. I may decide that I'm going to go from Point A to Point B and then skip Points C and D because according to my research they are not all that helpful. From there I'm going to Point E and then jumping over to L. How I get there isn't quite known yet, because I'm going to trust my intuition, happenstance, and those little voices in my head to guide me. I also leave it open for complete changes in direction. Nothing is ever really written in stone.

I spent years beating myself up for taking so long to get to my spiritual calling. I have not accomplished all that I set out to do nor have I accomplished all that the spirits have asked me to do. I haven't even come close to the visions they originally showed me of my future, but I am definitely on the right track and am enjoying the journey without guilt over timelines. That would be the most important thing I could tell you. Enjoy the journey from Point A to Point Z for in the journey is the life stories. How would life be if we could simply snapped our fingers and poof we were suddenly transformed into whoever or whatever we wanted to be without the lessons and the wisdom gained from the journey?

Yes, we should love the goals we are working towards, and the blessings we will receive for accomplishing them. Love of our dreams gives us the motivation to work through the many many steps involved in achieving them. Life should be a series of wonderful adventures we experience on the way to achieving our goals.

Copyright 2006, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow's Edge