The Science Behind Setting (and Achieving) Goals
Can you believe it…
Yet another year is gone!
One thing that kept on running through my head on the 1st day of this rand new new year was something that I read years ago. I must admit that at the time it didn’t really sink in, but still, it stayed with me and with each passing
year the truth of this statement became even clearer.
It was something that Tony Robbins wrote in his classic Awaken The Giant Within. Here is what he said:
Most people over estimate what they can do in a year
and they underestimate what they can achieve in a
decade or even a lifetime. Most new years resolutions
fail because people tend to want to do it all overnight.
The problem with wanting to do too much too soon is that it overwhelms you – and you usually end up procrastinating because you feel like there’s ‘too much’ to do. People who focus on taking small and consistent steps usually exceed al their expectations because they always feel in control.
The key to success is taking small and consistent steps.
Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare?
Slow and steady always wins the race!
Now, the question is not what you have done up until now. The real question is what are you going to do about it now?
You have the choice!
You can decide to make this year your best year ever. Always remember that what you want also wants you. You have the choice to turn your hopes, reams and goals into reality.
The key lies in consistency and in the progressive realization
of your goals. The challenge is that ‘Goal setting’ has become a bit of a catch
phrase, but there is a science to it….
Do it now before you get caught up in the ‘river of life’ where
the current tends to just sweep you along – current affairs,
current problems, current issues….
It is critical to tap into the real power of goal setting. The science of achievement relies heavily on setting goals and becoming clear as to exactly what you want. Dr. Maxwell Maltz, founder of Psycho Cybernetics discovered that we all have a ‘built-in’ success mechanism that is very much like a servo mechanism on a missile. It follows the target we program it with. You’ve probably heard the old axiom that you can’t hit a target if you don’t know what it is. As silly as this might sound, there is some truth in that. A big part of setting and achieving anything of value is in developing clarity as to exactly what you want. If you don’t know what you want you probably won’t even realize it once you get it? Your own internal servo mechanism must be directed and the clearer the ‘target’ the easier it is to get what you want in life. A large part of reaching any goal lies in developing enough clarity about EXACTLY what you want.
Developing this clear image in your mind is what directs your internal guide. Now, this does not happen in an instant. Most people think they need to simply set a goal and then start chasing it. If you do this, I can assure you that it will chase you! Like painting a picture you have to develop this clarity and every step along the way will color both your experience and reveal another part of it. Someone once said to Picasso: “I can’t wait to see your next picture…” to which he responded: “neither can I”. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. You simply need to see the next step and this is how you develop clarity.
Dr. Maltz then goes on to point out how we are all, in essence, goal striving creatures and that we are consistently moving in a direction in life – we are consistently striving to achieve our next goal. The problem is that for most people this goal is to pay the bills or even to just make it through this day! When you consciously start to direct your goals and start to instruct your inner servo mechanism, life takes on a whole different meaning because now you can start to dictate what shows up in your life.
I know that sounds very ‘easy’ and almost too good to believe, but it’s not. Over the next couple of weeks we will look this in more detail, so keep your eye peeled for my emails. In the meantime I would suggest you check out Dr. Maxwell Maltz and Psycho-Cybernetics because I am sure that you will be as surprised as I was when I learned about all the ‘superstars’ that used Psycho-Cybernetics to achieve their success.
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