The Importance of Setting Goals
Goals are an essential part of life if we are to be the best we can be and feel healthy, happy and fulfilled. Many people go through life with no real direction or plan in mind for what they want to achieve, where they want to end up, let alone how they are going to get there. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this way of being if it makes you truly happy but most of the time these people aren’t happy, they are simply using distraction techniques to stop them facing this uncomfortable truth. Spending money, shopping, gambling, watching endless television, playing computer games and other forms of entertainment including over-eating, drinking too much alcohol, over-exercising etc. are all just ways to alleviate the boredom. Whilst going with the flow does have its benefits, High Achievers know more than most just how important it is to have goals, visualise them and create a plan to make them a reality.
The Subconscious Mind and Visualisation
Visualising a goal gives your subconscious mind a clear picture of exactly what you want to achieve. As soon as it has this, it doesn’t stop searching until it finds a way to make it happen. So this is precisely why it doesn’t matter that you don’t know exactly how you are going to make something work, only that you tell your subconscious mind what the goal is because then it will work out the best way for you to achieve it by giving you the ideas and inspiration, allowing you to create a plan which you can then begin to implement. So keep your feet firmly on the ground but your eyes on the stars and think big!
Think Big and Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
High Achievers are constantly setting goals which take themselves out of their comfort zone more often than most because they think big (have huge visions and missions) and they thrive on challenges. In fact, they would be bored and depressed without them. Not having goals would be like taking away the air they breathe – they are essential to their health, wellbeing and success! They also know how important it is to be crystal clear about why they are here and what they are born to do in this world so that they can make their vision and mission a reality. But more to the point, goal setting is exciting and fun and most definitely not boring! Hypnotherapy allows High Achievers to maximise their performance, wellbeing and success so they can be the best they can be and make a dent in the universe.
The Goal Setting Checklist
The key criteria for setting any goal is that it must be:
- Practical.
- Plausible.
- Possible.
Making sure that your goal checks off each of these points is vital to your success, so do this before you take action.
The Visualisation Process
Many people I work with worry that they won’t be able visualise in order to be able to do the Hypnotherapy to set their goals. However, visualisation comes in many forms and not just the obvious one which is seeing i.e. as if you were looking at a photograph or watching something on television. Of course, there are many people who do visualise in this way but there are also many others who are more auditory or kinaesthetic i.e. they hear things or feel/sense things. It doesn’t matter which form of visualisation you use provided it comes naturally to you and it allows you to set your goals so your subconscious mind can get to work on helping you achieve them in the fastest and easiest way possible. The more that you can use all five of your senses to visualise your goals the better. So that involves imagining how you and other things that form part of your vision will look, sound, smell, feel and taste. Obviously it depends on the goal as to whether you can use all five, and in some cases it may be easier than others, but it is important to give it a good go as this information is sent to your brain and processed to tell your body how to respond and therefore act. As we all know, information and knowledge is power but only when we use it, so taking the relevant action is key once you have set your goal and defined a timeline to achieve it by. It goes without saying that the more detailed you can be with the visualisation process, the more successful you will be.
So let’s use an example of a goal that most of you High Achievers will probably be able to relate to easily:
Problem:
Too many emails. Very time consuming and stressful dealing with them when so much to do and only 24 hours in a day.
Goal:
Change the way emails are dealt with to reduce stress, avoid feeling overwhelmed and remain calm and in control at all times.
Plan:
Decide to only check and respond to emails once or twice each day, and define the times to do this.
E.g. 9:00am and 5:00pm for one hour maximum at each set time.
The times will be different for everyone, as it really depends on the business and how the individual prefers to work.
Example of the Visualisation Process:
Now for the important bit, visualising with all five senses. See yourself sitting in your office in front of your computer looking calm and relaxed. The alarm on your phone goes off to remind you it is 9:00am and time to check your emails for the day, so you turn it off ready to get started. You feel happy as you can see that some emails you were expecting replies to are sitting there waiting for you to deal with them. You can smell the fresh coffee that your Assistant has just brought you from Starbucks sitting on your desk, and you enjoy the taste and warmth of it as you take a sip. You are surprised at how quickly you deal with all the emails in your Inbox which gives you a real sense of pride and satisfaction because you feel it has been an effective and productive hour. In fact, you get up quite a speed typing away on that keyboard that your Assistant comments on how you will be doing her out of a job soon, and this makes you laugh.
The list of emails is much shorter now which makes you feel even more in control as you close your Inbox and move onto other work you have planned for the day. You know your alarm is set for 5:00pm to remind you to open your Inbox up again then and deal with any new emails and replies at that time. So for now you close the email application to avoid getting distracted by the sound of incoming emails until 5pm. In the meantime, you know you will send emails if you need to but not respond to any. This plan pleases you and so you continue on with your day with an optimistic feeling. Any time your mobile phone beeps telling you that you have received a new email it calms and relaxes you but you feel no need whatsoever to check it until the scheduled time of 5:00pm. Until then you remain totally focused on the other work you are doing so you can achieve those goals. This disciplined mind-set makes you feel even calmer and more in control as you know this is the way to achieve your goals more efficiently and with minimal stress.
Why Imagination is the Language of the Subconscious Mind
As you have read, all five senses have been incorporated into this goal and the more vivid you can make it in your mind the better. Imagination really is the language of the subconscious mind! If you visualise something regularly enough i.e. what you want to happen and how you want to be, as in the example above, then by the time you come to do it you will feel as if you have been doing it that way all your life. Why? Because the subconscious mind doesn’t recognise the difference between something we have imagined or something we have actually done. Which is precisely why it is so important to tell your mind what you do want rather than what you don’t.
Smart High Achievers Use Hypnosis
The strongest of minds do the best with Hypnotherapy which is why High Achievers use it to maximise their performance, wellbeing and success. However, as with anything in life you have to be 100% committed and motivated to achieving your goals and this includes the way you decide to go about doing this.
Hypnotherapy isn’t the most well-known method out there and there are an awful lot of myths going round about hypnosis that are totally unfounded (more about that on my website) but ask yourself this: As a High Achiever can you afford not to take a risk and use it? Be smart and achieve your goals with ease to minimise stress so you can be even more effective and productive and thrive in both your personal and professional life.
The Richer Life Programme
Our ‘Richer Life Programme’ is designed to help High Achievers get clear about the goals they want to set and achieve them easily so they can be the best they can be. If you are interested in finding out more about how we could help you, please visit our website: www.clairerich.com, join our Free Newsletter List and then give us a call to request your copy of our ‘Richer Life Programme Brochure Pack’.
Are you a High Achiever? Have you ever used Hypnotherapy to help you achieve your goals? What goals has it helped you achieve?
Let us know by commenting in the feedback box below.
Please also share this article with your friends so we can spread the word about this amazingly, powerful therapy which could help you maximise your performance, wellbeing and success.
Copyright © 2016 Claire Rich. All Rights Reserved.
