Unstoppable: The Art of Setting and Achieving Your Goals

By: Cheryl Hall
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:39:55
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Goals, it can be a dirty word, kind of like “fiber” or “taxes”. You know that thing you do after New Years’ when you’ve eaten and drunk yourself into a bigger pants size and guilt and infomercials tell you that you are too fat. So you set about setting some goals, probably including “lose weight and get in shape”. Setting personal goals is easy, anyone can do it. See something you want? Set a goal to get it.

If this were true though, none of us would have a weight problem or financial difficulties. We know from past experience that setting goals may be easy, but getting there is tough! We’ve fallen down one too many times and now, just sitting with a blank piece of paper with “My Goals” written at the top is enough to make you break out in a sweat. What’s wrong with us? No will power? Into self-sabotage? No discipline? Or do we secretly just like things the way they are no matter how much we complain about it?

Actually yes, that’s exactly what the reason is. Routine, no matter how dull or unhealthy or unproductive, appeals to all of us on some level. As human beings we all began life with 9 months spent being sheltered in a perfectly climate-controlled environment, where all of our physical needs were met before we even knew we had needs. It’s also genetic. Safety, calm and routine meant you were busy staying alive as a caveman, versus stimulus, which meant stress, which meant fight or flight because something was trying to eat you. Being a couch potato is the answer to thousands of years of common sense being drilled into your head.

So if setting a goal means changing your routine and being scared by the outcome, you already have your subconscious mind working against you. But how does anyone get anything better in life without taking chances?

We also have our conscious mind to deal with. Your conscious mind is working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week asking questions, approximately 60,000 questions a day and they usually are along the lines of, “Why am I such a big loser?”

You can easily prove this to yourself right now. If you don’t have a million dollars yet, why don’t you? Your conscious mind will go about trying to find the answer to that question and let you know, “Well, I’ve never been very good at math. And I really hate my job, so they’re never going to pay me more where I’m at. I’d like to do something else, but what would I do? I’m not really good enough at anything to become a millionaire…” on and on, answering your own question. When you ask yourself a question, especially one that is set up to be answered negatively, you are going to get back about 10,000 negative answers, which create a negative shift in your thinking. You have successfully talked yourself out of a million dollars already. What else has your conscious mind talked you out of in life?

The key to setting and accomplishing your goals involves your subconscious mind. Think about it. You’re walking around, functioning as a semi-productive member of society right now using about 10% of your brain. If you can do so much with so little, what would be possible if you incorporated another 10% of your brain, basically doubling your brain power? How about if you had access to a whole 50%? Wow, you might be unstoppable!

How do we access our subconscious mind to do our bidding? Just how do you pull the cork out of the bottle and set the genie free?

Your subconscious mind is completely capable of finding a way for you to lose those stubborn pounds and inches, find your soul mate and make you a millionaire. It just doesn’t care about any of that stuff. You will only tap into the power of your subconscious mind with:

Repetition

Your subconscious mind spends a lifetime tuning out what’s going on around you and what you spend your day “thinking” about. You want it to pay attention? You’ve got to drill your goal in there, making the subconscious go, “Oh, I guess you really want that.” Sticky notes are absolutely invaluable in pursuit of your goals; because they can be everywhere. I guarantee if you write your goal down on 100 sticky notes and place them all over your house, car and workspace, you will be 100 times more likely to accomplish your goal than you would be if you had it written only once.

Completely Positive

When you write your goal, read it out loud. Now read it about 20 more times out loud and when you start to feel negative about it in any way, that’s a clue that this goal, written in this precise language does not appeal to your subconscious. It has to be completely safe to your subconscious, completely positive and your needs have to be completely fulfilled exactly as it is written. Try rewriting your goal until no matter how many times you say it, you feel completely comfortable.

Understand and Explain Why You Want It

As we said, your subconscious mind could care less about you finally meeting the perfect person and riding off into the sunset and getting married and having babies. In order to get your subconscious mind on the same level as your conscious mind, you’ve got to set a tone in your goal that explains what your real motivation is. Would you feel comforted, loved, warm and safe with the addition of this perfect relationship? Make sure you get the basic emotions translated into your goal.

Words Don’t Always Work

Your subconscious is the part of your brain that understands that the Golden Arches means McDonalds. It likes color, it likes shapes and it likes symbols. The conscious mind needs words to translate what the subconscious mind already knows. Think of a symbol or a color that you will lock into your subconscious mind to mean the accomplishment of this goal. Draw it on a piece of paper, find a way to keep that symbol or color with you everywhere. It’s another way of repeating your goal and another way of opening the subconscious to your desire.

If you set a goal and follow these steps, are you guaranteed success? No, you still have to work at your goal, you still need a detailed plan and you will still need to do the very unglamorous job of showing up every day. No one else can do the work for you. But if you make the goal appealing to your subconscious mind, if you get that other 90% (or even 30%) working for you, you will be amazed at how much more easily and consistently you are setting and achieving your personal goals.

Cheryl Hall (http://www.MillionaireKids101.com) has the keys for parents to help their children become financially successful. She has created 3 courses to help children learn how to think about money and start on the road to wealth and independence; Millionaire Kids 101, 201 and Millionaire Masters. Cheryl is a successful real estate investor and has been helping new investors start on their way to financial freedom.

Article source: Expert Articles