As one famous book title put it, “If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You’ll Probably End Up Somewhere Else”. As a society, we love setting goals and making plans. The practice of coming up with resolutions and plans for self-improvement is one reason why New Year’s Eve is such a popular holiday (in addition to all of the champagne). But it is one thing to set an ambitious goal and quite another to stick to a regimen over the long haul to ensure that it becomes a tangible reality. Goal setting is taught by many, but goal achieving is taught by few.
As it turns out, many of our techniques for setting goals simply don’t work – if they did, more of us would be finding fulfillment in our work and achieving the goals that we have set out for ourselves to go conquer.
The root of the problem lies in the goals that we set out for ourselves. Too many of us are not even really sure what it is that we want for ourselves or what we want from life. We often tell ourselves stories about ourselves that don’t match up to reality or turn to dogma and thinking from others. How many of us have chased the corporate ladder or a plum position based on thinking from others rather than determining what would be the best options for ourselves and our own particular talents? We may know deep down what it is that we are seeking, but our subconscious and our conscious thinking are not matched up. Rather than tapping into our inner feelings, we are drifting by, letting the stream of the outside world dictate how we feel and desire.
This work of finding my own purpose as well as helping others like you determine your own unique purpose has been my driving mission throughout a good portion of my professional career. My greatest sense of satisfaction has been derived not from my own accomplishments or bank account, but from the contentment I feel in helping shepherd others through the process of uncovering the plans that are right for them.
My books, trainings, and curriculum are innovative, even revolutionary, in the sense that I don’t merely teach you about goal setting. There are a number of life coaches, assistants, and other professionals out there who occupy this space. What sets me apart is that I help you through each step of the process to actually program your own subconscious to line up with your conscience thoughts. Through this system, you create small actionable steps that you take each day that drive you toward the life that you seek to build for yourself. When you align your daily thoughts and actions with your deeper, fundamental impulses, the challenges of figuring out how to prioritize the tasks in your daily schedule are eliminated and you stay on purpose throughout each moment of every day. Your functions become effortless. You will wake up each and every day ablaze with a sense of purpose, clarifying which tasks you should focus on – which you also want to focus on – to create your new world and everything you want in it. You go from goal setting to goal achieving.
What I have found through my years of consultations is that the most successful among us walking the planet are those who exhibit no tension between their innermost convictions and their daily routines or behavior. They have achieved a unity of purpose and spirit that allows them to shut out so much of the minutia and noise that threaten to distract us all each day. Their ability to tap into their inner reservoirs is not just a tactic to meditate or enjoy contemplative inner happiness – they are able to more efficiently harness their energy to create the tangible freedom and lifestyle that they are aiming for.
Here is a taste of what I have learned are critical steps to uncovering your innermost desires from your subconscious thinking to begin creating that life you desire:
- See What You Want To See
Our brains are flooded each day with a cornucopia of stimuli. Even if you aren’t a big television viewer, advertisements and propaganda will follow you just about everywhere you go, especially if you live or work neat a big urban area. Resist the temptation to just see the default images that the world throws at you. It is critical to train your brain to toss out images and messages that seek to turn you into a passive consumer or fearful citizen. Instead of dwelling upon all of the haphazard images flooding in, take responsibility – you should and can be the one who decides what your brain focuses on. Don’t let whatever force currently has the media in thrall dictate what your mood or focus is going to be today.
- Be Deliberate In Setting Your Goals
Don’t just write down a bucket list of things you want to accomplish. You want to strive to write out your objectives in a deliberate fashion to help ensure that your ideas will bleed down deep into the recesses of your subconscious thinking. This will involve prioritizing your lists, not just writing down every passing idea that flitters across your mind. Remember than not choosing what is most important to you makes for a choice in and of itself. By telling yourself what you are most invested in seeing accomplished, you dictate the course for your daydreaming and nocturnal thoughts to consider during your down time. One of the best ways to see if a goal is important to you after creating your list is to go take a few minutes and actually visualize each item on your list. The ones that you can see most easily and create an emotional response for you are likely the goals that are most important to you.
- Give Yourself A Positive Direction
Set a positive tone for your subconscious mind. This is not just “positive thinking” as is often talked about by other gurus. When you align your outer thoughts and those of your subconscious, the congruency creates a positive environment for you to live and create. Maintaining positive and constructive thoughts through deliberate mantras will help ensure that your inner thoughts are geared toward positive outcomes rather than dwelling on old mistakes and failures. I call these PPMs, or Personal Programming Messages. The brain can react very harshly and quickly to negative words and stimuli, which is why you must be so vigilant about the tone and quality of the material you let into your brain– even if they come from your favorite television shows or from an old friend. This is where your PPMs take over and keep your mind clear and focused. Give your mind the freedom to focus on what may come tomorrow rather than endlessly cycling through what has already been done and finished. How?
- Take Care At Bedtime And When You Wake In The Morning
The stretch of time before you go to sleep at night and just after you waked, are some of the most crucial periods for determining the quality and strength of what you are pondering in your subconscious mind. The dream state you reside in over-night is by no means wasted time, despite the heroics that so many of us go to in avoiding sleep and pulling all-nighters. In actuality, this period is a ripe time for your mind to recharge and chew over your challenges in an entirely new way that can leave you feeling completely refreshed and ready to tackle your goals anew in the morning. Set yourself up for success by taking some deep breaths at night right before you go to sleep. Just listen to the state of your breathing. Then take a few minutes and listen to a recording of PPMs, which you made, in your voice. By entering the night in a relaxed state, and your PPMs firmly placed in your subconscious for the night, you will be more readily able to focus on positive goals in your dreams. And do the same thing when you wake to set your day and your mind to focus throughout the day.
Do these practices ring familiar? Likely not for most people. But what is stopping you from giving them a try? You have nothing to lose – and everything to gain. In fact, I expect that if you take what I have said, even just these few steps, you can go from goal setting, to goal achieving like so many people that have implemented what I am talking about. You can create your future, you are the one in charge.