#JustStart your Goals
We all have goals in life that we want to achieve. They either are related to our better living or for the well-being of others. We often think about our goals and we are also very keen to achieve them. But often we don’t know what to do and how to start, because they are very generalized goals. For better implementation of goals, we have to make our goals SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) and after that we have to take initiative immediately to go towards the achievement of those goals. At AMAL fellowship, we learnt “Just start and let the work teaches you”. So, to achieve goals “Just Start” to take steps towards your goal instead of only thinking and talking about it and in other words “do AMAL (action)”.
To practice “Just Start” in my life, I chose one of my goals and started working on accomplishing it. The goal is to develop regular habit of book reading. Book reading is not only my hobby but also my need as it always helps me to learn new things and improve myself. But from past many years, due to increased responsibilities and workload, I was unable to read books regularly. I used to buy books and put them in the rack unread or partially read, due to which que of my books to be read is becoming longer day by day. Whenever I looked at those books, I got frustrated because I really want to read them but didn’t get time and thus it became one of those goals which I really need to achieve.
Through Amal fellowship program, I came to know that what was wrong with my goal. My goal was general and moreover, I was just thinking about it rather then taking proper action to achieve it or in other words “Just Start”. For that I firstly changed my general goal into SMART goal and now my goal is “To develop regular habit of book reading. I will read at least five pages of a book daily to improve myself and learn new things”. After that I have to take immediate action on my SMART goal to achieve it. For “Just Start” I divided my goal in three actionable steps: 1. Time managing 2. Select a book 3. Start reading. Firstly, I started working on time managing because it was the main hurdle due to which I was unable to develop regular habit of book reading. I looked at my daily routine, prioritized my tasks and tried to complete them half an hour before going to sleep. I fixed that half an hour for my book reading or in other words for me time. Initially it seems difficult to get time from tight schedule of your life or coming out of your regular routine but I am sure that with time, when it becomes my habit, it will no more be hard for me. After that I also worked on my second and third step, I selected a book (Zawiya by Ashfaq Ahmad) and started reading it. When I succeeded to manage time and started reading the book, the feelings I had were amazing. I felt real happiness and harmony inside. But I know my goal didn’t complete yet, and to achieve it, I have to make it my daily routine to read book before going to sleep and I will.
From that “Just Start” practice, I had learned that whatever the goal is, firstly we have to make proper actionable plan for it. Then think what steps we can take immediately that takes us towards it and “Just Start” from today. Because until we don’t start, we only think and talk about our goals rather than trying to achieve them. The time when we start taking actions, things become clearer to us and seems more possible to achieve. So, “Just Start” and headed towards your goals from today.
Goodluck !
