Are You The Master Of Your Destiny

– By Dr Nav Ropra.

Have you thought that you would be further in life by now?

Did your goals turn out as you planned?

Are you the Master of your destiny or the victim of your history?

It is fundamental for any person who wants to achieve success in life to have a set of goals.  These are things or accomplishments which they intend to have done by a particular date or time frame.  The goals can be in any of the 7 areas of life; Spiritual, Mental, Vocational, Financial, Family, Social or Physical.  You may have immediate goals for short term gratification, or you may have long term goals for delayed gratification.  An example of a long term goal may be working as an associate dentist until you have accumulated enough financial wealth to purchase your own dental practice.

‘It is fundamental for any person who wants to achieve success in life to have a set of goals.  These are things or accomplishments which they intend to have done by a particular date or time frame.’

The more focused your vision is, and the greater your ability to manage your time horizons, then the greater the chance of you achieving what you want.  Let me explain.

The captain of a ship maintains the vision for the journey and the final destination of the ship.  There will be a lot of storms and challenges that the ocean will throw at it during its course.  However, if the captain remains focused and doesn’t sidetrack from the route and the goal of arriving at the destination, the ship will arrive as planned.  If the captain takes his eye off the horizon and the ship deviates by just one degree, this will have a huge impact on where it will end up.  This is what I mean when I say have a focused vision and long time horizons.

‘The more focused your vision is, and the longer your time horizons, then the greater the chance of you getting to your destination.’

You are the captain of your own ship and life is going to throw challenges at you to test your reserve.  If you get caught up with the daily battles that can happen, then this can take you off your final destination and you can end up somewhere else.  The distance that you have deviated from your original course will be the learning that you need in order to trust your own self and your own intuition.

I consulted a dentist recently and we designed a 100 year plan for what her legacy was going to look like when she left this world and how her grandchildren would be maintaining her practices.  That is what I call a long term vision.  She has the strength and insight to be a tremendous leader for her family and her business for generations to come.

‘You are the captain of your own ship and life is going to throw challenges at you to test your reserve.’

So what is the trick in goal setting?  Well, firstly, it is about getting absolutely clear what you want in life.  Where do you want to be in 5, 10, 50,100 or even 500 years from now?  Remember the longer the vision, the greater chance of you maintaining that journey and taking action steps accordingly.  If you are not sure on what your life can look like then it is a wise idea to get support form colleagues or family.

Once you are clear on the destination, then start to chunk down the individual steps that you need to get there into manageable action steps.  Prioritise those action steps or goals according to what is the most important action you need to take today.  If anything seems too overwhelming, then chunk that thing down into even more smaller action steps.

As you are crossing off action steps which you have completed, re-structure your list and priorities on a daily basis.  Things will happen that will side track you from your objectives.  However, if you can see those things as on the way rather than in the way to your long term objective, then your emotional reaction will be less and you will remain focused. present, poised and powerful towards the horizon and not the storm.

Each time you achieve a goal which you have accomplished, then remember to reward yourself and thank yourself for doing it.