How many of you think about goals? How many write or otherwise articulate them? And how
many go back and review them?
A few years ago, in a discussion with a close friend of mine - Ken, a private wealth advisor - who shared with me that he reads his goals every few months, then puts them back in the drawer. He said, “David, I don’t know how it works exactly, all I can tell you is - it works.” He went on,“All my professional goals are manifesting and I’m achieving recognition at my brokerage firm.” This is the power of the subconscious.
Let’s break down what Ken does.
Retain
Write down your goals for the next 1 and 5 years:
Two personal
Two business
Two Health
Goal setting triggers your subconscious computer. Simplicity is helpful; use power words that
capture the essence of the goal and link it to a feeling. Avoid lengthy or complicated
descriptions of goals and take note of thoughts that creep in saying, “It can’t be done.”
Remember
Every three months set a reminder in your calendar to re-read these goals. There is no work to do here, only to read them and put them back away. This activates the subconscious; there is ample contemporary research indicating how well this approach works.
Permission
Goals change and morph into new things. Give yourself permission to change or revise them
based on new information or needs. A permission-based approach to yourself is liberating and takes the stress off. It bypasses those times when we are hard on ourselves or feel locked into something, e.g. “I set the goal and now I must finish it no matter what.” Permission softens things and helps you initiate the action, not the other way around. My clients love permission.
Make It Effective
Make your goals and seasonal reviews more effective by improving your choice of words by
replacing: I wish, I should, and I’ll try, with: I will, I can, I’ll do it. Observe your thoughts and
words over the next two days and watch how much you use the words should and try. Test or
stretch yourself by replacing them with I will and take note of how that feels.
When you have a challenge to setting and following through with goals, we sometimes need to look beyond goal-setting structures like those covered in this article. In coaching we work
efficiently to uncover the hidden layers that are blocking you from getting what you want. In
this area we examine emotional baggage and ways we sabotage ourselves; once identified we move past the baggage and craft a new story about your relationship with goals that matter most to you.