Let us start with a question. Put your hand up in the air if you are using 100% of your potential? For all of those who have not still got their hand in the air then I encourage you to read on. For the record, my hand is down too. Firstly, it really is in our best interests to take the time out at the start of the year (or month / week / day) to get clear about where we want to go. If you took an entire day or even an entire week at the start of the year to get clear about what you want, it would be a very intelligent investment. You ROI would likely be huge. Your results would be worth the time you committed at the start of the project called ‘Your Incredible Life’. So know that old saying (which was drummed into us in the military) ‘time spent in planning is rarely wasted’ actually makes a wee bit of sense.
goal setting
Too often we get caught up in the questions of ‘how are we going to achieve our goals’ before we have completed the most fundamental and important steps – which are the things that will actually enable us to achieve our goal; but even more so, they will lead us to goals that will actually make us happy. Now there is a novel idea. Choosing goals that will actually make us happy – not stressed, not overwhelmed, not left thinking ‘is this it?’, but HAPPY. I like it!
Do you remember the newsletter where I wrote about goals being responsible for 50% of our happiness (Discover what 50% of the happiness equation depends on)? It makes sense doesn’t it. If we have no goals we flounder. If we have crap goes we are very likely to be unfulfilled and wonder if this is all there is. But if we have deeply meaningful goals then we are on the right track and will feel pretty damn good about ourselves and our lives.
So for me the two biggest things to nail in the whole goal setting and creating the life you want dealio is to figure out what your goal is, and then make sure you have really powerful reasons (and meaning) for why you want this goal.
This month’s Goal & Goal Setting Tip by Carl Massy is: Willpower is similar to a muscle, in that it builds up with practice but also gets fatigued if overused and abused.
But first a quote: “The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time” by Richard Cech.
Given this characteristic of willpower, it means that you need to be aware of the times that you have more willpower and the times that you have less. And make sure the most important decisions or meetings or engagements you make, are when your willpower is at its highest. It also means you need to get adequate rest or take adequate breaks, so that your willpower can be replenished.
This Goal Setting Tip by Carl Massy is: Don’t be scared to set goals, for fear that you might not achieve them. Or might not achieve them by a set date or to a desired standard. Don’t let any fears, real or imagined hold you back from getting more out of life.
My Goal Setting tip for this month is to actually set some Goals. Don’t blow it off because of the bad wrap that New Years Resolutions get. The chances of you achieving something that you write down are about 400% more likely to happen than if you don’t write it down, according to research gathered by Heidi Halvorson, in her informative book “Succeed
I remember sitting on a hill near the ocean on Christmas Day 2001 and writing out a goal to work overseas for 5 years and save at least $20,000 each year. Well 2002-2006 saw me living and Consulting in the USA, Greece, Italy and Qatar; whilst travelling all over the world and getting to the end of 2006 with $300,000 in the bank. I not only achieved my goal I exceeded it. I believe that getting clear on what I wanted and then writing it down was key to that result.
This month’s Goal Setting Tip is: The more powerful the REASON you have for achieving your goal, the easier it is to keep going, when the going gets tough. When you have just had a fall, or a setback or a rejection it is the power and size of your reasons that will have you straight back up on your feet, dusting yourself off and planning your next move.
It works like this: emotion drives behaviour. So the more emotion you have the more ‘drive’ you will have to achieve your Goals. Emotion is created by having a really compelling reason why you want to achieve something.
Here’s two scenarios to explain it further. The goal in this case is to learn to speak conversational Italian. Which of these individuals are most likely to achieve the goal the quickest?
This Goal Setting Tip by Carl Massy is: It is very important to have a goal in your life that is difficult for you to achieve and will challenge you. If you don’t have a difficult or challenging goal in your life it is possible that you will feel like you are not moving forward.
Here is why: Have you ever thought what happens to a plant that is not growing? You guessed it. It is busy dying. We, like the plants, have an inherent need to grow. If we ever feel that we are not growing, it actually gives us a sense that we are stuck or moving backwards.
The other thing about growth is that we do not grow without resistance. It is like training muscles in the gym. If you use a weight that is too small (i.e. there is little or no resistance) your muscles will not grow. Muscles – like our emotions – need resistance to grow.
So…if you don’t have a goal in your life that is stretching you, or challenging you, or making you feel uncomfortable; then it is time to start thinking about (and getting clear on) what it is that you really want, which will cause you to grow.
This month’s Goal Setting Tip is: I am doing a lot of research on Goal Setting these days and so I wanted to share with you some of the best stuff that I have found. So from now on I will include a regular Goal Setting Tip.
The September Goal Setting Tip is:
When you write out your Goal (and YES you do need to write your Goal out), write it as if you were going to hand your Goal statement to a subcontractor and they are going to fulfil your request.
Here is the key: Is this subcontractor going to understand exactly what you want or is it too vague for them to know where to start? Will they get the order wrong? Your Goal needs to be 100% clear so that the subcontractor (your subconscious mind and life itself) can deliver you or bring you to exactly what you want.