Mastering important skills: what is the most important yet least practiced skill you need to master you ask?
It is of course goal setting.
It is often spoken about but so few people actually DO it. A massive longitudinal study by the esteemed Yale University in the 1950’s followed the progress through life of their graduate class from 1953. They found that only 3% of the graduates actually wrote down their goals at the start of their careers, and 20 years later that same 3% were worth more than the other 97% put together.
So what is the deal? How is this supposed to be done for the highest chance of success? As alluded to previously, the first step is to go past ‘thinking’ about it and get into ‘doing it’. When I say ‘doing it’, I mean putting into action the precise steps that give your brain, your most powerful ally, the best chance to put you on an irrevocable path to success (whatever that means to you – but you better have health in there and you know why!)
The following steps relate to a proven method of putting it together which dovetails with how the brain has been shown with amazing modern day technology to actually work.
- Step 1. Find a quiet relaxing place and visualise in vivid detail your most idealised life – where you live, how you live, what you do on a daily basis, how energetic you are in your activities etc.
- Step 2. Immediately write down the 5 top goals that will make that idealised life a reality, with the most important goal at the centre and the other goals coming off that. This is your ‘prioritise, plan and organise’ step which engages the logical left brain.
- Step 3. Engage the all powerful right brain and put these goals into pictures because that is the language of that side of your brain. If you can’t draw it’s no problem, draw symbols or anything that means a lot to you. Use as much colour and flare as possible.
- Step 4. List your most compelling reasons for wanting to achieve these goals. Tap into the strongest emotions you can find.
- Step 5. Put a timeline on all of this. No date means these goals will just remain dreams or wishful thinking.
- Step 6. This is the ‘how’ of doing what needs to be done.
- Step 7. Write down who is going to help you do this. Support will be a key factor in getting this done.
- The final step is to sign it. This signature is the symbol of the commitment needed to achieve great things.
See Brian Mayne and Goal mapping for more information on this methodology of goal setting.
All the best for a great 2015. Remember, without health you have NOTHING!
