TOP TIP NO 3: GOAL SETTING

LET'S LEARN ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING YOUR GOALS TO PROPEL YOU INTO YOUR POSITIVE FUTURE

Now that you have your vision, you’re going to incorporate this within your goal-setting plans.

WHAT IS GOAL SETTING?

Goal setting allows you to take control of your life's direction. It provides you with a gauge for determining how you’re doing and if you’re actually moving forward in your recovery and succeeding.

Many people don't realize how powerful making goals are. But by focusing consistently, your goal will become real, and you’ll experience it.

Some of my clients, when first coming to see me, look at their recovery path as a painful struggle. Yes, it may not be so easy; there will be bumps in your path and you may even veer off. But it's about becoming aware that’s where you are and hoisting yourself back to your constructive pathway, using the techniques in this book. And create inspiring motivating goals for all the incredible changes you’ll be making.

Goal setting and working with your conscious and unconscious mind.

• By setting your goals, you’re working not only with your conscious mind but also with your unconscious mind. The goals you make will highlight to your conscious and unconscious mind where you are now, and this creates dissatisfaction in your brain, which will give you the power to drive your motivation to begin changing your life.

Empowering goals propel you forward?

We all have goals throughout our day, whether that’s making yourself a cup of coffee, taking a shower, getting the kids ready and off to school, doing your washing. The problem is they don't exactly inspire that excitement within you. No flame would explode into exhilaration to move forward in life.

The key to setting great goals is to make them as empowering as possible. Imagine throwing petrol on a dying, smoldering bonfire; it suddenly erupts into a dynamic explosion of excitement. This is what you want to achieve when you decide on your goals to encourage you to grow and flourish, to feel that bonfire erupt inside you. Yes, this is how I want you to feel when you set your goals.

I saw an interview with someone who has known Boris Johnson, our UK Prime Minister, from a young age. He explained that when Boris was a very young boy, he decided he wanted to become King of the World; this was his goal. When he was ten, he decided maybe that wasn't such a clear goal and decided, instead, to become the UK Prime Minister. Eventually, in his 50s, he achieved it.

Whether you’re a supporter of Boris or not, this is a perfect example of goal setting; he had the vision and determination to achieve.

Time for you to make your own goals

Make your goals achievable.

Recovery can be scary and not easy, so it’s incredibly important to set achievable goals yourself. Many people set unrealistic goals, which they’re unable to achieve. Of course, this creates many negative thoughts and feelings about themselves, which could trigger that leprechaun to spring back into action, something we want to avoid.

Write your goals.

So grab your notebook, and you’re going to use your old skill in writing, which is something many of us don't do anymore.

Stay clear of jumping on your computer and typing them. Studies show that by actually writing down your goals, you’re accessing both the left and right hemispheres of your brain. You’re opening up the unconscious mind to seeing opportunities that can't be detected if you’re just typing them while thinking about them. By literally writing down your goals, it transforms your thoughts into reality.

It’s time to break down the details of your goals.

Make clear, specific goals.

Goal setting is about making clear, detailed goals. Most people, when they create goals, don't have a particular, clear vision of where they’re going.

The more specific you can be when making your goals,

the more powerful they become.

It's not just about deciding how you want to be in the future and then bumbling your way toward that. It’s breaking down the specific steps of how you’re going to get there, giving you direction of how you’re going to achieve your outcome. Without goals, you lack focus and direction.

Say you had created a goal for the week: "My goal for the week is I mustn't binge and purge."

One crucial point I want to remind you of from Step 1 is that when setting your goals, be aware of how you specifically word them. Remember to word it in the positive. Your unconscious mind doesn't hear any negative words said to it, especially if it’s a contraction. Therefore, it doesn't hear the word “mustn't.” Thus, in effect, you’re saying your goal is that you must binge and purge.

Hot Tip – Don't listen to everything I tell you in the course! Get what I mean? OK, maybe not, if you have missed what I said earlier, so let me repeat it: YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND DOESN'T HEAR ANY NEGATIVE WORDS SAID TO IT, So, wording your goals in the positive is essential. Therefore:

Hot Tip – Don’t listen to everything I tell you in the course!

Words to avoid are: Can't, won't, don't, mustn't, not, and never.

It's about learning to word it in the positive, giving your unconscious mind obvious direction. Instead, you could say:

"My goal for the week is to eat one of my three meals a day calmly, to nourish my body."

Although they both virtually mean the same thing, our subconscious mind reads them entirely differently.

Grab your notebook and make a list now of three positive goals you’re going to achieve this week. Review this each week and change your goals.

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Repeat, repeat, repeat

The power comes from repetition. You have to keep repeating your new skills and goals to get what you want. Through repetition, your new skill can become a new habit and make that profound and lasting impact on you and your future.

"YOUR DIDN'T COME THIS FAR TO ONLY COME THIS FAR"