"Without passion you can never succeed. So even passion to devotion will make you a very good achiever." - Avdhoot Baba Shivanandji.

At the beginning of every year, our hearts pound with new aspirations and hopes. The will to achieve new horizons is at its peak whenever we welcome a new year, a new beginning. We have this joy within us where we feel blessed, and we wish for it to remain this way throughout the year so that we can fulfil our deepest wishes and meet our major goals. Gradually the year unfolds and goes by so quickly that in the end we find ourselves facing incomplete projects and unfulfilled dreams. It was just another year!

If we really want to achieve what we have in mind for the year, then we really need to work towards it holistically. That is, through our mind, thoughts, actions and behaviours. As much as achieving a goal sounds simple, it is in practice, very complex. There are indeed many schools of thoughts who have devised and designed systems to meet objectives effectively and efficiently. They are very useful to meet corporate goals but can be quite difficult to use them in our daily life.

Here is a little step-by-step method towards achieving your objectives or meeting your main goal. Easy to create and follow, we only need to put in some effort.

Step 1

Write down all your plans/wishes/objectives you have in mind to achieve throughout the year. Randomly just write down everything. For example, build a new shed in the backyard, join Zumba classes, finish the painting left to be done in your house, literally anything. You may be surprised by the amount of things you wish to get done.

Step 2

Now you will categorise them with order of priority. Here you can use an easy method. Next to every "objective" you will give a rating of 0 to 2. For example, less urgent targets will score 0 and more urgent ones will score a 2, and those that you feel neutral about will obviously score 1. Through this method, you may also realise that some objectives are irrelevant and you will remove them from your list.

Step 3

Once who've marked your objectives, you will group all the 2's together, the 1's and the 0's. This will give you an insight of which objectives are more urgent compared to others and here you will be able to categorise them under short-term, medium-term to long-term goals. Short-term could be from February to April, Medium-term will be from May-August and the rest of the year will cater for long-term goals. This will give you a clear guideline for the year. One thing to remember here is, not every urgent matter is important, therefore it can wait. Similarly not every important matter is urgent, therefore you can invest more time in doing it. The only main priority is given to those matters that are both important and urgent.

This method works for simple and straight forward objectives and helps in getting things done in a more structured manner.

We all have that one major goal we want to achieve that requires a lot of dedication, time and effort and, its fulfilment is always being slowed down due to several obstacles. We often lose hope and give up half way and get disappointed with ourselves. Achieving main goals requires our full concentration, dedication, devotion and it is primordial to sincerely BELIEVE in that goal. Only these will arise the passion within us to get anything done within the time we want to. With a little bit of self-control and seriousness you can achieve that goal whenever you want. It all depends on your attitude towards it and how you are behaving on a daily basis in relation to that goal.

Here are tools and methods that will help you in your endeavour:

Step 1

Mind mapping. On an a3 size paper, write in the middle of the page in big bold letters, your goal. Then branch out things that need to be done that will enable you to achieve your goal. From the simplest to most complex tasks.

Step 2 

Browse through all the tasks and write them down list-wise and do the prioritising exercise by rating each of them from 0 to 2. Through this, you will discover what you need to start doing as soon as possible to gradually move on to others until you reach the major goal.

Step 3

Having categorised your objectives, you can now devise your action plan over 12 months or any amount of months you want, bearing in mind that the last month is the deadline and you may not go beyond. By then, your goal is achieved. Spread the objectives over the months; in this case 12 months. Each objective or task, will have a specific time during which it has to be met. One may be reached within one month while another may take up to 2-3 months. Meanwhile you can work on the next objective.

Other tools you may use in your surroundings to attract the success of your goal:

1. Create a Vision Board

Buy a decent size board. You may find these at warehouses or even in supermarkets. In the centre or on top write you goal in big bold letters, in present tense: "I have opened my Fitness Club!" Write action notes in bold on sticky notes or on your PC and print them out, and stick them all over your vision board. You can put in a specific order you wish or no order at all. The aim is to have them all in front of you every time, so that you can look at them and let them all seep in your mind. Remember to write them all in present tense and not in future tense. Add stimulating photos on your board, to make it more real and vivid. On several pieces of paper, write "Thank You" and stick them all around so that while looking at the board, you also feel the gratitude of the goal being achieved.

2. Action Reminders

Stick action reminders where you spend most of your time. Here you can put your main goal as well as your objectives. Whichever you want to see more and more. Why not on your phone, or your PC background? The steering wheel of your car, the mirror in your bathroom? It has to be everywhere because you are under the process of creating through your neurones! You are attracting what you think.

 3. Pray - Believers, never doubt the power of your prayer.

4. Meditate

Create a relaxing space with your vision board in front of you. Stare at everything on it for about 5 minutes. Then, close your eyes and visualise your goal in real life. Keep chanting your mantra to materialise your goal. The mantra can be repeating the goal statement on and on, or any mantra which you use for meditation. Carry on by visualising each and every objective that will enable the success of our goal, being fulfilled one by one. Say thank you each time.

5. Keep a diary

Write down what you have to do in relation to your goal everyday. Through this you will be keeping track of your progress and help yourself remember important tasks.

6. Adopt the right attitude