Champagne Moments: How to Set Life Changing Goals

One of the most important ideas I believe in is the use of goals, tasks and milestones to propel massive, life changing events into motion. I’ve taught hundreds of people about this system. Given talks about it, wrote a chapter about it in my book. I thought it was the best and fastest way to achieve more.

I was wrong.

The problem with my old milestone system is that it was based off arbitrary logic: If I achieve this, then I will be much happier.

*SPOILER ALERT*

You won’t feel any happier. Even if you just climbed Mt. Everest or paid off that 6 year car loan, you’ll have no more happiness than the day before–at least not a measurable amount. This is because the means do not add up to the end result. While it’s logical to pay off a car, to many, it’s not what makes them happy.

THE SOLUTION

What we need is something that brings us closer to our ACTUAL needs and wants. Something that fulfills us emotionally. A tool that brings us closer to self actualization, and evolves as we do.

Milestones cannot do this.

But, I learned a secret thing that can:

CHAMPAGNE MOMENTS

Champagne Moments are simple and intuitive. The philosophy is easy: Pursue things that you find so exciting, that if you achieved them you would (and will!) LITERALLY pop a bottle of the finest bubbly.

Now, I know your brain is scrambling at a million miles per hour to think of the events and things that would excite you enough to open the nearest bottle of Cristal–and here are three ways to reveal your next champagne moments:

1. CONVERSION – Make a list of your current milestones/large goals on a piece of paper. Circle the ones you would be so happy to complete that you would need a champagne glass handy while you worked on the finishing touches of the project.
2. COMPILE – Write a list of the “big six” goals (Fitness Goals, Friendship Goals, Job Goals, Spiritual Goals, Family Goals, and Personal Goals) and circle which of the goals in those categories would become champagne moments. [If you’ve never heard of “big six” goals before, that’s okay, I literally just made it up.]
3. CELEBRATED – Think of times you celebrated with some bubbly in the past: what is the next step of progression for that achievement?

Boom, before you might be the most important moments and life experiences for you to pursue. Welcome to the big leagues.

3 PITFALLS TO AVOID

If you already stopped reading to begin your quest to earn some champagne, good for you. Or not, because although you aren’t reading this right now, you are likely to run into these three pitfalls:

• LACK OF CONSISTENCY – Consistency is the most important part of any system or endeavor. Once you’ve decided on a champagne moment, also decide you will consistently pursue it–no matter through what hardship.
• PROGRESS; NOT PERFECTION – You’re not going to ace every step, if any at all. The goal is about progress, not perfection.
• HERE BE MONSTERS – Don’t be afraid of the unknown. One of the major holds to pursuing a champagne moment is what we ‘in the biz’ call “startup scare” or fear of the unknown. Remember this: Fear is different than danger. Just because you are afraid, doesn’t mean there is a rational threat to you.

EXAMPLE OF A CHAMPAGNE MOMENT

A Champagne Moment I am currently pursuing is to write a new book. My last book was a non-fiction and stuck very well to it’s genre, but for my next book I want to better fuse fiction and non-fiction to give the reader a better, and much more awesome experience. This is a HUGE challenge for me because I will have to learn about story structure, character development, and other ideas I should’ve learned in high school/college, but I was too busy trying to figure out what clouds would eat for dinner, if they ate dinner. (PS, it’s marshmellows.)

How about you? I know in your head there is at least one nagging Champagne Moment that you’ve thought up. Don’t subdue it. I challenge you instead to pursue it, and at the very least ask yourself “what if I DID start pursuing this today?” Imagine what your life would look like once you completed that goal.

I promise that champagne is going to taste so great when you’re finished.