One of the biggest goal setting mistakes many of us make is focusing on something I call “future goals”. Focusing on the future may sound like a great idea – because we should know where we want to go, right? But the problem is your brain doesn’t understand future tense – it only understands images and action words in the present. Watch how dangerous this can be…
If you tell yourself, “In 3 months, I’ll be promoted”, your mind says ‘OK’. You wake up tomorrow, and you say “In 3 months, I’ll be promoted”, and your mind says, ‘OK’. A week later…“In 3 months, I’ll be promoted”. Your mind – ‘OK’. A month later…“In 3 months, I’ll be promoted”. ‘OK’. 3 months from now…“In 3 months, I’ll be promoted”. ‘OK’.
No! It’s not OK!!! It’s like the little rabbit with a carrot attached to the end of a stick – no matter how far you stretch and how much you strive, you’ll never attain it if it’s a ‘future goal.’
And it doesn’t matter all that much how your goals are actually worded. What truly matters when it comes to ‘future goals’ is how you think and feel about the goal internally – whether you truly believe it will happen.
Think about it. How many “next year” goals have you set, and never achieved? How many thousands of people stand there on New Year’s Eve, swearing that next year, they’ll get organized, eat healthy and lose weight? Chances are, this was the exact same thing they said to themselves this same time last year. How long will the pattern go on?
When I realized that I’ve been setting myself up for failure for the past 20 years by continually chasing future goals, coupled with a mental disease you may have heard of – “perfectionism” (an article of it’s own!), I was sick to my stomach.
However, the moment I learned how to properly enroll my unconscious mind, I finally started achieving my goals. And once you experience the same thing, you’ll know why I say traditional goal setting methods are useless. It’s because the unconscious mind – the most powerful achievement mechanism we have – isn’t usually invited to play along.
Your unconscious mind is not fully engaged until you speak its language. And future tense doesn’t cut it. If you want to truly engage your unconscious mind, you must have present tense vision statements that are compelling enough to make you want to act now.
Also, understand the very things most of us are striving for (money, a new car, a promotion) aren’t all that important anyway. The only reason to set and achieve your goals is for who you become in the process of going after them. Getting the actual award isn’t anywhere near as important as how you feel inside for having accomplished it – in other words, the personal growth along the way.
More on this to follow…
