How To Properly Set Goals For The New Year/Decade!

by John James Santangelo

PhD It’s that time of year again. Setting New Year’s resolutions, making plans, and setting goals… usually, for most, to see them fade before spring. Very few people even bother to set goals, and even fewer follow through on them. This short article is a specific working method to ensure IF you set and follow through, you can produce massive results like never before.

The reason most people don’t achieve what they truly want is only two things;

#1 is they don’t KNOW exactly what it is they do want, and

#2 they don’t know HOW to get out of their own way to take action! We’ve been conditioned to believe that the theory of S.M.A.R.T. goals work; i.e. SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ATTAINABLE, REALISTIC, and TIMED is how we intelligently achieve our goals. But if that we’re the case then we’d all have everything we want correct?

(Yes, this is important process, but what it actually lacks is the kind of person we need to BE in order to achieve the goal.)

The answer to get what-ever you want is simply KNOW what you want; Clarity - The Power of Focus, obtain enough reasons WHY you want it; Emotion - The Driving Force, and develop the PROPER skills to get out of your own way; Behavior - the Ability to ACT! Clarity - The Power of Focus - Here’s the first question I pose to every one of my coaching clients; “If I were your travel agent, what would be the first question I’d ask you?” And of course they answer, “where do you want to go?” Because without a destination we’d never arrive, no matter what vehicle we use.

The unconscious mind’s primary objective is focusing on your dominant thoughts. Because what you focus on inside, manifests outside. Fear, Lack, Self-Worth, Goals or Wealth, the unconscious does not care. Where attention goes, energy flows, results show!

So whatever you put up on the screen of your mind you move towards it. If you focus on what’s NOT working and lack, you’ll tend to get more of that, if you focus on prosperity and what IS working, you will tend to create more of that. Napoleon Hill, author of “Think & Grow Rich” called this - a definiteness of purpose!

TASK – let’s figure out WHAT you really want. We’ll start out small and build on our success. This will build confidence and faith, which consistently drive us forward: MOTIVATION and PERSISTENCE! Write out one goal in one SHORT, CLEAR, CONCISE sentence, then we’ll break it down into an effective action plan. The key is to primarily focus on your most important task then discipline yourself to concentrate single-mindedly until it is 100% complete! This is called ‘chunking’ breaking down each goal into small DO-ABLE tasks. This makes it very easy and manageable to move through the list. Then if you’re really committed to finally get your goals… do this for all ten of your most important goals. “How do you eat an Elephant… one bite-at-a-time!”

#2 Emotion - The Driving Force! The one driving force of our behavior is EMOTION. It’s what causes us to procrastinate or to ACT! How you FEEL about taking action determines whether or not you go after it. In NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) we say; “you’ll do more to avoid pain than gain pleasure.” True Yes? NLP Training website - www.LANLP.com

What will you do more for; to avoid the pain of rejection, ridicule or fear, or the pleasure of accomplishing your goal? For most people (at an unconscious level) they’ll avoid the pain at all costs, therefore NOT taking the appropriate actions to get what they want.

So, to counter this pain/pleasure principle, you want to create massive emotional reasons WHY you must have your goal. The more reasons WHY you have, the more emotional intensity (motivation) you’ll have moving you towards it.

TASK – If you’re really serious about doing this, give your unconscious some real juice. Write out 100 reasons WHY for each one of your goals. (Usually only the serious will do this!) Imagine how much motivation you’ll have propelling you towards your goal if you have this much emotional intensity?

#3 Behavior - the Ability to ACT! One thing that has been overlooked in the past is making the very fine distinction between a “behavior and a thing.” I ask my coaching clients, and companies such as; CSUNNorthridge University, Mary Kay Inc, Well Point, Xerox, RE/MAX Realtors, MultipleSclerosis Society, Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Teamsters Union, and after Sept 11th, the US Army counter-intelligence team, to set their “goal” as a behavior they want to ‘be doing’, not an object outside themselves, like having a gazillion dollars in the bank or a Ferrari in their garage. These are simply the “rewards” you’d receive for BEING & DOING certain behaviors. They are not behaviors themselves. So my question here is what behavior(s) do you need to HAVE and DO to obtain your goal(s)?

TASK – What kind of behaviors or characteristics do you need to implement with yourself achieve this goal? WHO do you need to become? Think about this!!!

To Your Success, John James Santangelo PhD

If you’re serious about achieving your goals, learning more about NLP or to get your Free NLP Mini-Course go here – www.LANLP.com/free

And get full version of my Kindle ebook “Setting Goals” on Amazon GO HERE - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009O1PY34/