By Patricia Arawore

The path to success and wealth usually begins with a vision propelled by your talents and gifts and made possible by  your determination to succeed. Hopefully, by now, you must have a clear definition of what wealth means to you. Is it  about just being comfortable? For example, having enough to cover your needs and a little in the bank for  emergencies? Or you like to acquire cars, houses, portfolio investments, or even become mega rich, with millions and  billions at your disposal? Wouldn‘t that be nice? The truth though, is that to get wealthy, you must know exactly  what you want, and if possible, put a figure to it. This will help you to determine how much energy, time or  resources you require to achieve your target.

To get to the place of financial freedom however, it is important that you set definite goals for yourself, as  signposts to your journey, knowing that, as you achieve each one of your goals, you move closer to your vision. There  is also the added advantage that it motivates you, keeps you focused, prevents you from running round in circles,  with the hope that one day it will get better. To have a vision of being wealthy is one thing, to actually desire to  be wealthy is another. The former gives you an idea of what you would like to be in some future date, with no  commitments to your time, talent or energy, whereas the latter is a definite statement of commitment and  determination.

Goals are tangible, dated, specific, targeted and measurable. They translate wishes into actual results, and they  transform “SOMEDAY” to “NOW”. I have heard great fantasies from different people whose wishes range from living in  castles to flying their own airplanes, and spending billions and billions of Dollars. Ask them how this will happen,  and they will be quick to recite the following verses of the Bible: “My God shall supply all my needs according to  His riches in glory”…Phil. 4:19, or “God richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment”…1 Tim.  6:17. Some others will even go further to tell you that “He that believeth shall not make haste” and “Beloved, I wish  above all things that may prosper even as thy soul prospers.”3 John 2, and so on.

However, such people conveniently ignore some other important sections of the Bible that say “Go to the ant, thou  sluggard: consider her ways and be wise; which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer,  and gathereth her food in the harvest…yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands tendereth  to poverty”..Prov.6:6-10

The truth is that such people are simply held back either by the fear of failing or the reality of getting what they  want due to their feeling of inadequacy. There is always a right time for everything. Set a date to make your dream a  reality, rather than procrastinating. If you have a vision or a dream that you have been putting off, I advice that  it is time to break the jinx; set your goals and get the ball rolling. In seeking your goals, it is important to  remember the following rules:

Your goal must be specific. Simply put, you must know exactly what you want to achieve. Take the story of  Nigeria-born Lanre Olotu whose vision was to own a Printing company in New York. He had acquired a lot of experience  working at the family printing press in Nigeria and later trained at London College of Printing and at Rochester  Institute of Technology. To achieve his desire, Olotu approached 15 banks for a start-up loan. He could not succeed  in his quest because the banks required at least $200,000 contribution in order to grant the loan. A sum Olotu did  not have. Determined to make his dream come through, Olotu set a goal for himself. Thus, within the next two years,  working weekdays and weekends, he was able to raise the $200,000 contribution required by the bank. With that Olotu  secured the loan and was able to achieve his dream and purchased an established Printing Press in New York. Note that  Olotu‘s goal was realistic. He had the required experience and technical know-how, and also set a time frame for the  attainment of that goal.

The second is that your goal must be attainable according to your personal profile. In Olotu‘s case, having acquired  experience in the family printing press and going further to arm himself academic qualifications from two reputable  institutions of learning , he was no doubt qualified and capable to own and successfully run his own printing  business.

Your goal must also be realistic. By this, I mean setting a goal of becoming the Chief Executive of a multi-national  company within the next one year, when you are presently a Management Trainee is definitely unrealistic. However, if  you were a General Manager in the same firm, the prospect of attaining such a position would be more realistic. Quite  often though, there have been some extra-ordinary situations where reality has been totally defied, and things that  were regarded totally unrealistic became a reality. For example, the invention of an airplane by the Wright brothers.
Your goal must also be time-based. Every goal must have a completion date attached to it, if not, it would end up as  a mere intention that is continually postponed, and crippled by the tomorrow-tomorrow syndrome. But by dating your  goal, you commit your intention to calendar realities, which helps you achieve your ambition rather than watching it  slip away.

Finally, your goal must be measurable. That simply means that you should be able to determine or count the outcome of  your objective.

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