Make this your Breakthrough Year!
What choices are you currently making?
If you plan to get nowhere, you will definitely end up there!
Why is Goal Setting Important:
Prof Gale Mathews of University of California found that the mirror act of writing goals boosted achievement by 42%. The mere act of writing them down is like the first action in the creation process. Setting goals also provides Clarity and Focus - this becomes an accelerator towards moving you closer to your goals.
Research has shown that the percentage of people in their 20’s who achieve their goals is far greater than those in their 40’s and 50’s This is most likely due to a lifetime of disappointments which had made over 50’s lose faith, that is why you tend to hear some say “this goal setting thing is a waste of time”. If you are serious about making significant progress in your life, career or business, then invest time in setting goals and be determined to achieve them.
We design our homes before we build them; cars are designed before they are built and assembled, just as life also, must be designed to enable you live your desired life.
With goals everything is possible but without them nothing is possible.
Your success does not depend on anyone else, it depends on you. You have the power to make your life whatever you want it to be.
Most people don’t go after what they want because they don’t actually know what they want.
The key initially is to be aware of where you are going and have the belief that you will get there.
The brain is a goal seeking organ. Once you set goals, it starts looking for opportunities and resources to help you achieve it. Your brain tries to align your beliefs with your experiences, which causes you to see, what you instruct your brain to look for. When you define goals, you give your brain something to focus on and look for, such as, ideas, creativity, innovation and resources. Goals make you grow, so they must be big enough to challenge and push you beyond your limits, to enable you maximise your potential.
If you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to achieve things, then you do not have enough goals or the right goals. Every human achievement is an accomplishment of a goal.
“You can only grow, as big as the goals you set” - Paul Robinson
Set goals that are meaningful and important to you, as it gives you a compelling passion to achieve them.
Don’t let your current situation dilute your vision - Your dreams must be bigger than you.
Never allow your past to hold you hostage to your future.
When you set goals you give your mind a new set of eyes to see all sorts of ideas, creativity, resources, so it starts aligning your goals with what’s on the outside.
Written goals give you purpose and clarity!
“Only 3% of adults have written goals and other people work for them!” - Brian Tracy
This is called Psychoneuromotor activity where you write the goal down and it activates all your mental powers. It programs it into your brain and your subconscious works on it until it is achieved.
Many goals people set are superficial goals - they don’t have a big enough reason why they want to achieve the goal - In most cases the goals sound reasonable such as - I want to be a millionaire, I want to lose weight, I want to have a great relationship, I want to be happy. The problem is if you don’t have a big reason why you want to achieve it, you simply will not have the deeper motivational drive that your brain requires to keep you motivated and help you overcome the doubts or the fears, anxieties, the ups and downs, the challenges that are going to come your way.
Writing the WHY of your goals is the subconscious process in goal setting. If you are clear on the benefits, you will be willing to pay the price. When you know the reasons for setting that goal, you will find enough motivation to achieve that goal. When you have the reasons, you will persevere till the end. So the key is to have a compelling reason - e.g I want to lose weight, so that I look great in my wedding dress or so that I stop panting after climbing a few stairs. Without a compelling reason attached to your goals, makes it very difficult to achieve.
COMFORT ZONE
Goals in your comfort zone will not give you any progress. Set goals in the discomfort zone to achieve breakthroughs, see significant results, achieve things that will make you proud. When you set goals that cause you discomfort, you might experience fear, uncertainty and self-doubt, so it is the compelling motivation and ability to eliminate the limiting beliefs that will enable you overcome the challenges.
New Years Resolutions
Have you set New Years Resolutions in the past that you abandoned after a few weeks? These fail in most instances due to lack of specificity or time frame.
Starting a new project is exciting but that’s the easy bit. Making progress is the challenge. As you start on that “new resolution” journey, you suddenly find that the hill is steeper than you thought, then you start wondering if you have what it takes to finish.
Some of the Resolutions people set:
- Spend less, save more
- Exercise more often
- Find the love of my life
- Deepen relationship with God
- Be a better person
- Find a better job
These goals are not specific. Start by identifying your WHY. If you want to go the distance, you have to find a compelling reason that speaks personally to you and it must be time-bound. Find a better job, could be improved to - I will send two applications each week till I get the job I desire as an HR director or I will take a course in a specific area by June 30th then apply for two jobs each week.
What’s your goal?
What’s your dream?
What will your legacy be after you check out? What are the 3 things you want people to remember about you?
Dream BIG! Make each day count in 2018!
