Personal Goals Achievement

In part 1 of this article, I showed you how to properly set goals by being specific, giving yourself a deadline and making your goals positively oriented. I also showed you a technique where you actually visualize yourself after you’ve hit that goal and you imagine what it actually feels like. In part 2 of this article, I’m going to show you a step by step process to take that goal, and create a plan of action for achieving that goal. When you are creating this plan, remember this:

“You can’t reach the top of the mountain in a giant leap-but you can get there if you take the stairs.”

So in essence, what we are about to do is take your mountain of a goal, and break it down into individual obtainable steps. For the sake of this exercise, we are going to continue with the example we used in part 1, which involved losing 30 pounds in 10 weeks. Remember the goal that you wrote down? This is our end all final achievement. We will call this our mission statement. Here is what we came up with last time, and the one that you wrote should be posted in plain view.

“Today is December 5, and I am 30 pounds lighter. I look a lot better, and I feel great. People have complemented me on how I look healthier and am a more enjoyable person to be around. I can now participate in activities I’ve always wanted to do but felt limited by my weight.”

So how can we break this down? Well since we gave ourselves 10 weeks, the best way to me sounds like breaking this up into 10 obtainable milestones that we need to complete along the way. Hitting the 10th and final milestone would complete the mission. Now we need to set up each milestone accordingly. Please note, 30 pounds in 10 weeks can be a big stretch if losing those 30 pounds would mean giving you six-pack abs. I don’t personally believe that this is obtainable to do so in a healthy manner. But for an individual who is much more overweight, it is very possible. I am using weight loss for the sake of this exercise. If your goal is weight loss, I recommend speaking to your physician about what is realistically possible for you (and then try to outdo what they say of course).

Since we are using weight loss as our mission, it is ok that we don’t set our milestones equally because it is much easier to lose those first 10 pounds then it is the last 10 pounds. I would recommend this schedule. Weeks 1 & 2 lose 4 pounds a week. Weeks 3 – 8, lose 3 pounds a week. Weeks 9 & 10 lose 2 pounds a week.

Now did you notice something about these milestones? Pounds don’t just disappear in chunks just because you made the number smaller. Completing a milestone may not be the same as leaping to the top of a mountain, but it is like leaping to the top of a hill. So, like what we did with our mission statement, we will continue to chunk down on our milestones until we can break them down into smaller more obtainable goals. I would recommend writing each milestone down on an index card on the top line (sticky notes work well too). On each index card, further break down your milestone into individually achievable goal. For example, on one card, you may list:

Week 1 Milestone: lose 4 pounds

Monday: run 1 mile

Tuesday: lift weights for half an hour

Wednesday: run 1 mile

Thursday: lift weights for half an hour

Friday: run 1.25 miles

Saturday: lift weights for half an hour

Sunday: day off (eat healthy!)

If you are really feeling diligent, you can break this down even further! You may want to list exactly what you eat on Monday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You may want to plan out a healthy sleeping schedule. Remember, the more specific and detailed you are, the more likely you are to achieve your desired outcome.

Do you remember hearing about the straight A high school students who flunked out of college? Do you know why? In high school, everything was planned out for them. They had English first period, Math second period, Chemistry third period and so forth. They followed a schedule that was strictly enforced, and they were able to thrive in that situation, even if it was to avoid the negative consequences of things like cutting class (this is away from motivation and we want to use towards motivation – we want to look great and feel healthy). However, once they got to college, they were given a lot more freedom, such as optional lectures and readings, and eventually they couldn’t keep up because they lost that feeling of an automatic schedule, where everything is laid out for them. We can argue about there being many other reasons, but I’m not going to go there right now.

You may think that this involves a lot of work. But in reality, the amount of time spent on this activity is only a fraction of the amount of time spent on achieving your mission. If you spent 5 hours a week working on your mission, what’s an extra half hour the first week? I’ll give you a little hint to help start you off so write this down. Goal #1: write down your milestone schedule!

Remember, in order to have success, you must first plan to have success.

Have you ever felt as if you are beating your head against a wall? You repeatedly try to reach a goal but you never seem to achieve it. Instead you are struggling rather than moving forward and achieving your goals with grace and ease.

You are not alone. The struggle to move from what we don’t want to what we do want is, unfortunately, a fundamental struggle for many individuals. Believe it or not, it is very common for people to struggle against what they want and to actively limit their good.

In order to have what you want, you must be willing to end the struggle and move into action. Your success is dependent on your ability to reach your goals and achieve.

The easiest way to move from “stuck” into action without struggle is to be authentic and to be in alignment with your authenticity. Authenticity means that you are connected to your core and that your desires are a true reflection of your inner self and soul.

Alignment means that your entire being is in agreement with the goal you want to achieve. For example, you come home from work one evening and you are very tired. But this evening is your work-out night. You sit on the couch and actually have to talk yourself into getting into your gym clothes and heading off to the gym. What you did in convincing part of yourself to go to the gym when it really wanted to rest on the couch is called alignment. You got yourself into alignment with the idea and intention of going to the gym no matter how tired a part of you felt.

To end struggle and successfully achieve goals, all parts of you must work together for manifestation. That means all bodies, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual, must be in agreement concerning a goal. There can be no doubts, limiting beliefs or attachments. The following describes a process you can use to do an authenticity check concerning your goals and bring yourself into alignment with your goals.

Step One: Sit quietly ? create a peaceful, serene and nurturing space for yourself. It must be a space where you feel comfortable and secure. Spend several minutes in quiet and inner reflection upon your goal. Have paper and pen handy.

Step Two: The Authenticity Check: Ask within if this goal is the appropriate goal for you to achieve at this time. If the answer is yes, skip to the next step. If the answer is no, ask what a more appropriate goal would be for you right now.

By asking this question, you move from being ruled by the needs of the mind (survival issues) and begin to access the soul within. You leave behind the petty desires of the ego and move into realizing the desires of the soul. As a result, your goals become truer and more authentic.

Write down the response you receive. If you need additional clarity concerning the response, ask for it. Keep asking within until you feel complete.

Step Three: Alignment. Once you have a defined and authentic goal, it is time to create alignment. Remain in your space of quiet and comfort; ask to speak to your mental body. (You will repeat step Three with each of the bodies) Ask your mental body if it is willing to be in alignment with you goal. The purpose of this question is to uncover any blocks or limitations that reside in the mental body concerning the goal. If the answer is yes, proceed to the next body: physical, spiritual and emotional.

If the answer is no, simply begin a conversation with this part of you. Some questions to begin with are: Why are you not willing to be in alignment with this goal? What would it take for you to be in alignment with this goal?

When a part is not willing to be in alignment with an authentic goal, the cause may be fear or insecurity. Usually the situation is remedied by helping the part understand that it is taken care of, that it is safe and that it has nothing to fear. Simply, have a conversation with the part and inform it of the truth.

Once you receive the willingness of all the bodies, remember to thank them for supporting the manifestation of this authentic goal. Affirm your alignment with this goal and your intention to manifest it.

By completing this process, you have created an authentic goal and brought yourself into full alignment with this goal. You can now move forward without struggle because all blocks have been removed. Success shall be yours.

If the 90s British pop sensation ‘the Spice Girls’ ever get remembered for anything, I hope it’s for bringing the question ‘now tell me what you want, what you really, really want?’ to the mass consciousness

Now you may laugh at this, but when you really, really think about it, is there a more important question you could ask yourself?

What is a want?

A want is a desire. Whether or not we get what we want is often based upon the strength of our desires.

I know many will probably argue with this statement, but in some strange way, there is a part of me that truly believes that we all get what we want. If you really had a burning desire to change your reality, you would do it, right? Well, I’d like to think so.

Now if you’re convinced that it’s time you actually started wanting more, then allow me to share three simple but powerful secrets.

1. Know what you want.

If ever there was a personal development concept that was worth grasping it’s this one: know what you want. If you don’t know what you want, do you really believe that you have any chance whatsoever of getting it?

The sad reality of life is the fact that the majority of people in this world don’t know what they want. Even sadder is the fact that this is the way most people prefer it.

If you aren’t actively pursuing your own wants and desires, chances are that you will become a statistic of un-fulfilment. Always remember that your employer, government, financial institutions, family and peer groups will all be trying to shape your life according to their wants, not yours.

2. Ask for what you want.

Once you are clear about what it is you want, you’ve got to ask for it!

Can you imagine sitting in a restaurant, reading the menu, making your selection, but not telling the waiter? What are your chances of getting a meal? Pretty slim!

If you are clear about what you want, you need to start telling other people about your aspirations. When you do this, you will find that others will conspire to help make your dream a reality.

I’ve personally had countless experiences of people going out of their way to help me once I had let them know what I wanted.

3. Expect to receive what you want.

It is also very important that you start to develop the mindset where you just expect to get everything you ask for. When you set your brain a task or embed an expectation, it will naturally seek a favourable resolution.

To extend our restaurant example, once you’ve placed your order you create the expectation within your mind that you will get exactly what you want. If the waiter didn’t bring the meal you ordered, you’d naturally send it back and wait till they brought you what you asked for. Why not put this concept into practice in the other areas of your life? You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results!

Success always has a price!

Once you have decided upon what you want, asked for it and established the expectation of receiving it, the only thing left for you to do is pay the price. Despite what many self-help gurus might have you believe, success will not come to you without sacrifice. Be very aware of what you are prepared to ‘pay’ in order to get what you want.

After all that, if your life still isn’t serving you the banquet that you want and deserve, just keep sending it back to the kitchen until it does!

Have you ever gotten really excited about that million dollar idea only to end up going nowhere? Often times, the idea itself was not what had resulted in failure, but a lack of a systematic process to take that idea and turn it into a reality. This is like driving your car across the country, and never filling up your tank with gas. You will only make it a certain distance, and you will never reach your final destination. What I am about to teach you is a way to create “mental gas stations,” with the Goal Achievement System (GAS). The GAS will allow you to refuel your motivation and allow you to achieve extraordinary results that you did not know were possible.

The great thing about this process is that you can use it anywhere in your life that you choose. You don’t need a million dollar idea, and you might have a different desired outcome, like loosing weight. For the purpose of this article, we will use weight loss as an example, but you can apply this same process for any type of goal.

The first part of the system is creating a well defined goal. A problem well stated is a problem half solved. We are going to take a simple ambiguous goal, the type that we are used to setting, and turn it into a clearly defined problem.

1. Set a specific goal. You cannot be ambiguous. If you tell yourself, “I am going to lose weight,” does that mean you lose 5 pounds, or do you lose 30 pounds? Your mind will probably end up giving you that satisfied feeling if you only lose 2 pounds, because that means you lost weight. Be specific. “I am going to lose 30 pounds.”

2. Give your goal a deadline. Human beings are procrastinators! If you say “I am going to lose 30 pounds” you can easily tell yourself that you are on the right track a year later and 10 pounds lighter, because you don’t have a finish line. At the same time, if you GAIN 10 pounds, you still have not technically missed your goal, because it will never come due. Imagine if your boss said: “I’d like you to hand in that report sometime before you die.” Would you do it? Probably not. If you tell yourself “I am going to lose 30 pounds in 10 weeks” you add a bit more pressure on yourself and you force yourself into taking action.

3. Use Towards Motivation. There are two types of motivation. Towards Motivation, and Away From Motivation. Away From Motivation is the act of doing something for the sake of NOT doing, being, or feeling something else. For example, If you tell yourself “I want to lose weight because I DON’T want to be fat,” your mind focuses on what you don’t want, because the human nervous system cannot process a negative though without first focusing on what it is you don’t want. For example, “Don’t think about Benjamin Franklin’s face on the $100 bill.” Did an image briefly flashed through your head before you forced it out? Away From Motivation usually ends up in us doing just enough to not have that feeling. You might lose 15 pounds and feel ‘not fat,’ and that will end up keeping you satisfied enough, but not completely satisfied. Instead, use Toward Motivation, as that will allow you to set a positive standard that you are continually trying to seek out and make better. “I am going to lose 30 pounds in 10 weeks so I can look great, be healthy, and feel more energetic.” Which sounds better to you?

4. Put yourself in the future, when you’ve achieved your goal. This is an exercise that you can use every day to help motivate you towards achieving your goal. Look at your calendar, and find out the exact date 10 weeks later. Close your eyes and tell yourself “Today is December 5, and I am 30 pounds lighter. I look a lot better, and I feel great. People have complemented me on how I look healthier and am a more enjoyable person to be around. I can now participate in activities I’ve always wanted to do but felt limited by my weight.” Imagine that picture in your head of that skinnier you, and associate yourself with that image as if you are seeing the world through your own eyes as people are complimenting you on the ‘new you.’ Take a moment to feel that excitement and energy. Smile. You will get there.

5. Write down your new goal from step 4 and display it where you can see it. Personally, I like sticky notes. I like to write my goals down and place them on my computer screen, so I end up looking at them many times a day. So write down your goal, and make sure you place it somewhere it can be easily viewed at least once a day. “Today is December 5, and I am 30 pounds lighter. I look a lot better, and I feel great. People have complemented me on how I look healthier and am a more enjoyable person to be around. I can now participate in activities I’ve always wanted to do but felt limited by my weight.” Now, whenever you see your goal, you will be able to revision your experience from part 4 and it will help energize and excite you.

Congratulations! You have just concluded part I of the Goal Achievement System. Remember, ‘a problem well stated is a problem half solved.’ You might not have lost any weight yet (or whatever it is that you are trying to achieve) but you are already half way there. Trust me. An NFL coach who goes into a game without a game plan will have lost the game before the opening kickoff. In part II, I will show you how to pick all the right plays from your play book so that you can take your newly defined goal and make it into a reality.

Sadly the world is a depressing and very frightening place for a great many people. They hold a view of a world that is full of hardship. They do not see challenges only obstacles which inevitably lead to failures. They fail to try and therefore are destined to fail. Their past failures, pains and disappointments continually haunt them and invariably lead them away from their goals and the type of life they yearn to live. It may be true that life can throw things in your way that will slow you down on your path to our desires but you must see these as challenges that you can overcome. They are lessons that make you stronger and wiser.

When you become a goal orientated person you can expect to encounter resistance and obstacles on your journey to goal-achievement and personal success. The higher you set your sets and the more challenging the goal then the more obstacles seem to appear. These temporary set-backs test your character and your resolve to reach your goal. They sometimes act as barriers to slow us down but they always act as teachers.

There is always something to learn from resistance. Whether this resistance is external or internal it is showing you something in your own character or approach to your goal that needs altered or refined. Meeting these challenges and overcoming them will develop aspects of your character, strength your self-belief and helps to increase your resolve for the future.

However, do you find that the same obstacles keep showing up again and again? Is failure becoming a common occurrence? Then it is high time you re-evaluated your approach to goals and life in general. These recurring problems are most likely a strong indication of your personal inability to learn from your mistakes. These are merely temporary failures you are experiencing and you should view them as such. The conscious mind is obviously having trouble analysing the reasons behind the failures and keeps making the same mistakes but once you find out what you are doing wrong and learn the appropriate lesson you will not experience these same set-backs again.

If you are experiencing constant failures then you have reached a point where outside help is needed. It is obvious that you are unable to consciously work through the trouble by yourself. Therefore these failures and problems must stem from a subconscious block. This subconscious block is preventing you from learning your lesson and moving forward towards your goal. In a situation like this it is always advisable to seek professional help but this can be expensive, time-consuming and hard to find! However, you will find that hypnosis can be an invaluable tool. Either Hypnosis or Self Hypnosis can most definitely be used successfully and very effectively to dig up the very root of the problem and eliminate it permanently.

One extremely powerful benefit of using hypnosis is that it gives you the ability to train your mind to stay focused on a successful outcome. You can program any specific outcome you choose and keep yourself thinking positively about it throughout the day. You can also use hypnosis to eliminate self-sabotage patterns and remove the negative feelings and thoughts that are blocking you from success.

Here are some tips for using hypnosis as a means of conditioning you for success and goal achievement.

1. Start to Visualize. You can literally program yourself for success. You can, through mental rehearsal, program your subconscious mind with your desired outcome. By using self hypnosis to bring yourself into trance you can create the perfect mental environment for visualizing your goal as if it has already happened. See it, in your mind’s eye, as already being real. Imagine the scene as if you were seeing it through your own eyes. Experience all the wonderful feelings associated with that goal attainment. Let these feelings of joy and accomplishment well-up within you.
2. Develop Persistence. By accessing your subconscious mind you can change your inner personal traits to match those people who are successful. These are the people who never quit. Through hypnosis you can reprogram your subconscious mind to be persistent regardless of what obstacles you encounter. Using post hypnotic suggestions to develop an “iron will” and persistence will be invaluable in times of stress and disillusionment.
3. Think Positively. Your subconscious mind has a tendency to only replay past memories along with all the emotions associated with it. It offers these emotions to your consciousness in the form of doubts and fears for the presnt and especially the future. Through hypnosis you can totally eliminate them forever. Use self hypnosis tp program your subconscious mind to think positively and to always expect positive results.
4. Eliminate the Problem. It is inevitably that some problems will arise when you pursue worthwhile goals that are important to you. Life has a tendency of creating situations that reflect our inner beliefs and fears. In order to successfully create anything you need to deal with these issues. Through hypnosis you can solve these problems quickly and effectively. When you enter trance see yourself as already having successfully overcome the obstacle. You don’t have to see how you did it or how you found out how to do it, you only need to see yourself at the other side, joyful and proud that you eliminated the problem for good and reached the other side. If this, in itself, is a problem for you, or you find it hard perform this mental exercise then seek the advice of a qualified hypnotherapist. A competent skilful hypnotherapist will easily and quickly find the root of your problem and just as easily remove it!
5. Prepare your path. Imagine yourself at the end result. Imagine that you have already met the right people and that you had been in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. Program your mind in this manner, through the power of self hypnosis, and your subconscious mind will pick up on any non-verbal clues in your relationships and environment and effortlessly guide you to the perform the correct and essential course of action that will lead you to your goal.
6. Develop unshakable faith in yourself and your objective. Use self hypnosis to convince your subconscious mind that your goal is, in fact, already a reality. Fake it till you make it ? act as though your goal were already true. Fool your mind into believing the objective world around you is actually exactly like the world you have been visualizing and working to create. While in trance you will get so deeply involved in your visualization and the feelings it produces that, in that very moment, you believe it is already true. You will enjoy all the feelings that this imagined scene evokes and this will create your scence even faster.

If you follow these simple six steps and use them with the power of hypnosis or self hypnosis you will be catapulted towards your goal faster than you can possibly imagine!