Let's put down all the spellbooks and look at everything in its proper perspective shall we?

First off you really need to know yourself. Gnothi Seauton is Greek for "know thyself". Clint Eastwood's
infamous police officer character - Dirty Harry Callahan - succinctly said it as "A man's gotta know his
limitations". I couldn't agree more.

The easiest way to do this is to first take a clean sheet of paper and draw a line down the center. On the
left side, write a heading entitled 'My Shortcomings' and on the right put a heading called 'My Gifts'.

Now, if you're honorable, you'll be blatantly honest with yourself. You can lie to others but you know you
can not lie to yourself - unless your psychotic! Spend at least an hour total just meditating upon your
weaknesses and strengths. It doesn't matter much which outweighs which but rather how much about
yourself do you really know.

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living", so examine it already! Where have you been in
your life? What've been the ups? Downs? Embarassing moments? Triumphs? Victories? Concessions?

In your self-analysis, make sure you cover the following:

Mental

Physical

Emotional

Spiritual

Now once you have an idea of who you are, then let's explore where you want to go!

Another sheet of paper and divide it into three sections and title them:

1. Personal Goals

2. Professional Goals

3. Social Goals

Subhead each with the following:

Long term (10-20 years)

Medium term (5-10 years)

Short term (1-2 years)

List everything you've ever wanted to do in the appropriate location. Be frank & honest with yourself. Day
dream and allow your whims to bubble up to the surface.

Finally, write out a short essay of why you want to be a Witch, Magician, Sorcerer, Priest/ess or whatever.
Make it at least one page long, single spaced. What are your aims in the Path? What do you wish to gain?

Why go thru with all this rigamarole? Well in Neuro-Linguistic Programming this is called Determining Your
Outcome. If you want something to happen, you must have an outcome of some type in mind in which to
plan for. If you wish to persuade your brother to stop wearing your running shoes without bashing his
brains in, then you need to determine what your outcome really is. In this example it's to get your brother
to leave your running shoes alone. That'd be your outcome in that situation.

Ever read Alice In Wonderland? Remember what the Cheshire Cat said to Alice when she met him at a
crossroads? "If you don't have a particular destination in mind then any path will get you there". Goals
and Outcomes will save you a lot of headache and misery in the long run by simply acting as a guide not
as something engraved in stone.

Additional Reading:

"The One Minute Manager" by Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson

"What Color Is Your Parachute" by Richard Bolles

"The Ant & the Elephant: Leadership for the Self" by Vince Poscente