Sunday, May 26, 2013

Goal Setting & Achievement


Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.
Seneca



Before I get started, I want to thank my family and friends for supporting me.  This is my first post and intend to find ways to spread this as far and wide as possible, welcoming feedback and criticisms.  In advance, I thank you.

Alright, here we go.

How much information on goal setting and achieving goals is out there?  I'll tell you, over 4 million results on Google!  Look, we all KNOW the importance of goal setting but why do so few achieve their goals?  The answers lie in the subconscious.  Now, I'm not talking voodoo, mystical, new age science and the like. 


"A
ccording to Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. the subconscious mind is running your life. The subconscious has 40,000,000 nerve impulses per second and while the self-conscious fires 40 nerve impulses per second, and 95% of your daily activity is subconscious."


Ninety-five percent!  Think about that for a second.  Ninety-five percent.  So, setting goals is not enough.  Let's look at the famous Harvard study before we move on.  

From Lifemastering.com, the article titled Harvard Business School Goal Story: Study about goals at Harvard MBA program, 1979. 

In the book What They Don't Teach You in the Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack tells a study conducted on students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program. In that year, the students were asked, "Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?" Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all.
Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. And what about the three percent who had clear, written goals? They were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.


I won't demean your intelligence, you can read.  But look at these amazing results!  Those 3 percent who wrote their goals down, combined with clear, written goals earned 10 TIMES more than the other 97% PUT TOGETHER!  This study cannot be understated.  Now, let's look at the subconscious as it relates to goal setting.

Assume your subconscious is responsible for 95% of your mind's daily activity.  This could be negative thought patterns or positive thought patterns.  But it's more than positive and negative.  The power of the subconscious comes from the emotion we attach to our positive and negative thoughts.  Just as negative thoughts can ruin your day and life, positive thoughts can allow peace of mind, creativity and flow in your life.  

So how can we apply this information to be successful in our lives, immediately? 
1. Write down your goals.  They must be measurable.  What will I do by when?  

2. Make sure they are realistic.  I dream wild but it is within reason.  If your goal was to finish first in a Marathon tomorrow, having not trained you are setting yourself up for failure.

3. When you stumble, falter, and make mistakes...simply accept it.  Emotionally charged reactions to these mistakes tells the mind it is useful.  These mistakes will continue to appear in your life until you simply accept them, move on and learn from them.

4. Emotionally attach feelings towards your goals when you write them down.  You aren't reading the newspaper.  You are setting goals to change your life for the better!  FEEL yourself achieving these goals.  Emotional visualization will lead to results.

5. Read your goals a minimum twice a day (morning/night) out loud.  You will quickly find these goals start to pop up in your mind so take advantage and repeat them as they arise.  Once you notice these thoughts, it means you are on the right track.

6. Journal.  This is an extra but I have found this to be very beneficial.  I write my goals down each time I journal and read them with emotion. This reinforces my subconscious.  

7. Take action.  You may have to fake it till you make it to begin. However, once you get started your intuition (brain in your gut) will guide you. Simply listen to it.


                                 “You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great”

                                                                         ~Zig Ziglar



Dr. Cynthia Miller. How The Brain Works ~ Your Subconscious Mind. http://brainforsuccess.com/howyourbrainwork.html

McCormack, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.lifemastering.com/en/harvard_school.html


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