If you want to learn how to set and achieve goals in the new year, it’s essential to have a plan in place. These methods will give you the best shot at achieving your goals and dreams.
1. WRITE OUT YOUR GOALS IN DETAIL
Writing your goals down is crucial to making your goals come to life. Not only should you write your goals down, but they should be as specific as possible. Doing this will activate your success mechanism and show your RAS (reticular activating system) the importance of that goal.
2. SET A GOAL AND UNATTACH FROM THE OUTCOME
If you’re like a lot of people, you get upset when you don’t accomplish your goals because you are more focused on the outcome than the process. But here’s the thing, the process is what creates the outcome!
Instead, you want to set goals and make a plan to achieve them. This way, you have a clear action plan to make them come to life.
Instead of obsessing over your goals, you need to be unattached from the outcome. Instead, focus on being the person that you need to become to achieve your goals. Spend all of your energy on the action items that you created, not the final result.
3. UTILIZE YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
Step number three in setting and achieving your goals is to speak your goals into existence. So why should you externalize your goals?
Your subconscious mind.
Your brain is astonishingly good at listening to your self-talk and your thoughts. Don’t forget; the subconscious mind is working 24/7, 365 days a year.
It’s vital to speak about your goals positively and act like the person you need to be to achieve them. If your brain continually hears you downplaying your goals and desires, or flat out lying to others about them, it will notice and start working against you.
Instead, speak your goals, affirm your goals, and act as if achieving them is inevitable.
Don’t forget, your subconscious mind doesn’t understand the difference between what is real and what is imagined. By becoming emotionally connected when visualizing your goals, you will put purpose behind every action taken, creating new evidence within your belief system that you are worthy of achieving what you set out to accomplish.
4. SHARE YOUR GOALS WITH PEOPLE YOU TRUST
When you set goals, do you share them with people, or do you guard them carefully?
While it might feel challenging, I have found that sharing your goals with people you trust can help you increase the possibility of achieving them.
The more people you share with, the more likely you will meet someone who can help you achieve them. Friends, family, or strangers might have access to resources or connections that can help you in accomplishing that goal.
You might get told you can’t achieve your specific goal. If this happens, ignore these people as they are merely projecting their doubt and lack of self-belief onto you. As Robin Sharma said, “If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small.”
5. REVIEW YOUR GOALS REGULARLY
The fifth step to achieving your goals is to review them regularly. Goal setting is great, but reviewing them is just as important. Make sure you are reviewing them consistently as your subconscious mind learns through repetition.
Once you have a plan and make your goals public to others, your brain will find ways to achieve them. But, if you don’t review your goals regularly, your mind will feel as though they are not that important.
By consciously thinking of your goals on a repetitive basis, your subconscious will eventually notice and take them off the plate of the conscious mind so it can focus on something else.
6. VISUALIZE YOUR GOALS REGULARLY
The sixth step is to use a vision board, custom made slideshow, or personal video with images that show your goal as complete. By continually seeing your goals as already complete, this will again emphasize the importance of achieving them to your subconscious mind.
Olympic athletes, high performers, and even CEO’s tap into the power of creative visualization. Whether you imagine them with your eyes closed, dream about them, or look at a vision board regularly, you want to obsess over them.
7. AFFIRM YOUR GOALS
The final step is to affirm your goals. Write your goals down on cards and repeat them over and over through the use of autosuggestion. As described by Napoleon Hill (Author of Think and Grow Rich), “Your ability to use the principle of autosuggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession.”
By continually affirming and visualizing your goals, your brain will take notice and help turn it into an obsession.
BONUS TIP: USE YOUR DREAM TIME TO FIND ANSWERS
The final tip is to ask your subconscious a question before drifting off to sleep. If you have a goal but aren’t sure how to achieve it, ask your subconscious.
As you sleep, your subconscious will solve the answer to your questions. You might get an answer the next morning, and other times it will come a few days or weeks later. Usually, it will come when you’re very relaxed (like in the shower) or when you’re driving.
Source: geoffhughes.com
