Ok, let’s go a bit deeper into this.

One of the best recommendations I can make to you, if you want to understand, and get good at setting and achieving short-term goals, is to learn how to cook.

Why, you may ask. Well, it contains all the fundamental principles of successful goal setting. Let’s look at an example.

Have you ever had Chinese take-out? Those boxes of tasty noodles, we call chow mein, I think you guys call it Lo Mein. Anyway… you’ll probably pay around $10 for a box. So let’s say we go on the interweb and look up a recipe for this dish… there will be probably hundreds of them. You’ll get a recipe and maybe even a few videos showing you exactly step-by-step how to do it.

First… I Got An Idea

I know this, because, as a single man, living alone for a while, I had a few choices to make. I could carry on eating out at restaurants, paying $10 a time, plus drinks, and not always being able to guarantee the quality of the food. It was out of my control. My financial situation, although fairly comfortable, wouldn’t remain that way forever if I didn’t control my expenses.

So, I set a goal, partly based on necessity, and partly on desire.

So, looking into it, I got a recipe. Some chicken, some noodles, onions, carrots, beansprouts… looking at the supermarket I could get all the ingredients for probably $2-$3. If I bought in bulk I could have enough ingredients to eat chow mein for a week for the same price as one night in a restaurant. But how do I do it?

I Followed A Plan

The recipe. I got some help, from the videos

Now, what you need to understand about Chinese cooking, is that it’s fast. The actual cooking only takes a couple of minutes at most. The key is in the preparation. You need to cut the ingredients in a certain way that they cook enough to not give you salmonella, whilst still having some individual flavor, texture, and consistency. There are sauces and seasonings, the right cooking pan, and the correct oil temperature. It takes good planning to properly execute and achieve this goal.

The goal was very specific. I had my task list. Check. There’s a pretty definite ending to this… cook it too long it ends up like mush. Instant feedback.

The first time you do it, these 2 minutes actually take an hour, as you fret over the tiniest of details… did I do it right, have I got all the right elements. Do I put the chicken in first or the onions? Do I keep the noodles hard or boil them first… so many things to think about. Then you take a deep breath, fire up the stove, put in the oil and we’re off.

The feedback is very quick to achieve. You know if you did a good job… you’ll taste it. Would you risk sharing this goal with your partner the first time you did it? Would you invite all your friends around for a dinner party when cooking this for the first time? Will you be proud or throw it in the bin… it may not go perfectly to start with, but you’ll have some experience now, and the next time you do it, you’ll be a little more confident.

So… just to make sure you got it.

What did we do here?

We had an idea.
We looked at our motivation for the idea.
We decided it was a good idea.
We did some research.
We got some help to fill in the gaps in our knowledge.
We got the tools necessary to complete the task.
We did the tasks.
We achieved our goal.
We made a few mistakes.
We learned from them for next time.

Maybe we became a bit more ambitious and had an idea to cook a Chicken Tikka Masala next…

Why don’t you go try it for yourself? I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it. Think of a meal you like in your favorite restaurant. It must be something you’ve never tried to cook before. The goal must stretch you. Do the research. Get some help. Get the tools. Make a task list. Execute the plan. Let me know how it turned out…

Goal Setting Worksheet

We’ve got the builders in – Forms coming soon

As findmycave.com is a website about making money, I guess that’s at least one of the things you’re looking for. As you work through the attached worksheets the reasons for actually doing something will start to appear. This becomes your reason why… then, depending on the scope of your big plans… as we go along we will get into the various ways of finding out HOW we can achieve the things you want.

Together…