Perfect "Diamond Hour" Part 2: Rewrite your goals daily

  Re-write your top 3-5 goals once every day.  Be certain to have a tangible, photographable  goal in each of your top three
arenas (body, finances, relationships).    And Journal your emotions and  observations.

This should take about two minutes.   If you can’t write your goals quickly and simply, you haven’t formulated them yet, and without clearly formulated goals, you are at risk of drifting, wasting your energy, and not seeing opportunities when they are presented to you.  Your brain works partially to filter out 99.9% of the millions of pieces of data presented to you every day.    It is like knowing your destination when driving across the country.   If you know where you’re going, and have talked to others who have journeyed there, you will know which routes to take. 

A road map doesn’t guarantee your arrival, but sometimes Route 10, which takes you directly to your goal, has ugly scenery.  Take it anyway.  Route 30 is very pretty, but ends up some place you never wanted to visit.   If you know your goals, you know how much gas you’ll need, what kind of vehicle, how many night’s lodging you have to arrange, how much cash you’ll need for food along the way.  You can get descriptions of the territory.  The journey may be difficult, but you vastly increase your chance of getting somewhere you want to go than if you simply jump in your car and drive randomly.  

Frankly, that is too close a parallel to what most people do.  I was initially surprised at the resistance people have to writing their goals down, and have concluded it is because that is an investment, a statement of purpose.  At the point you do that, you are admitting that you care.  You have something to lose, and if you don’t get it, it will hurt.

Do it anyway.   Nothing hurts worse than the sense that you’ve wasted your life.  I see that kind of regret in people every day, and it is devastating.   If your goal is clear enough to be photographed, it seems to engage a different part of your brain.  It may take work, but it’s worth it.   If you can’t think of a goal, then try taking a meta-position on it:

Your goal becomes to get a goal.  “In one year (date), I have clear goals in my body, career, relationships, and finances”

An excellent body goal might involve fitting into a particular size of pants or dress.  Career might be publishing a book, or finishing school.  Relationships might be new love in your life, a second honeymoon, or time meditating every day.  Finances might be an improvement in net worth or bank balance.

Specificity is power.   From that, you can see if you fall short. If this generates fear or shame, you know you have emotional work to do, and that goes on the list.    Fear is usually at the bottom of negative emotions, so any technique or perspective that reduces unhealthy fear will increase joy, creativity, confidence, focus, and gratitude.

Your “Diamond Hour” is the adult version of the “Morning Ritual” for children.  It is designed to channel your adult actions into creating a safe “play” space for your inner child.   I can’t express how important this is, the amount of sheer aliveness in your days.    No effort, no ethical sacrifice is steep a price to pay for this quality of “owning your own existence.”


Namaste,
Steve
www.diamondhour.com