Happy New Year and I hope you had a good break during the Christmas period. As 2011 has turned I thought it would be a good time to talk about resolutions, goals and dreams. To achieve your New Year's resolutions and all your goals dreams, devise your own "ad" campaign. It's powerful and it works! Here's how.
1. Write down your specific goal (remember the SMART principles?) and refer to it every day to keep it fresh in your mind and maintain focus.
2. Write it in the present tense as if it had already happened, otherwise you're always putting it subconsciously in the future. Ensure your language is positive, i.e. avoid goals like "I want to stop, give up or quit..." etc and voice it in what you want to achieve instead, e.g. "I want to become, achieve, reach..." etc.
3. Think about how you will feel and how things will be different as a result of achieving your goals, then find images from magazines, the web, amongst your photos and so on, that reflect this vividly. Post those images where you will see them frequently, e.g. as a screensaver, on your fridge, on your pinboard, in your diary. Repeated messages change behaviour. It has been proven time and again and is the reason that companies and politicians spend billions on ad and PR campaigns.
4. If there are statements which will support you, boost your confidence and your commitment to your goal, write them down and repeat them to yourself as often as possible during the day. To take an example, if your goal is to improve sales but you are not confident in your sales ability, you might write something like, "I am an excellent and convincing salesperson who is confident in my ability to close a deal and make money out of my ideas and passions"
5. Break mega goals down into smaller steps to avoid overwhelm and make them more accessible. Before you know it, you're well on your way to achieving your goal.
6. Take one small step each day, log it in a bullet point journal and reward yourself for your efforts by taking a break, doing something you enjoy doing or buying a small treat. This helps you maintain motivation and momentum and the journal allows you to track progress on the days you need to remind yourself how far you've come and why.
7. Find examples of people who have had success with similar projects and ask their advice or read about their methods, so you're not constantly 'reinventing the wheel'.
8. Don't be afraid to admit you don't know some of what you need to know and get whatever help/training you need. It's not weak. Its good management and common sense.
9. Visualise yourself as having achieved your goals. Close your eyes and engage all your senses - see what you success looks, sounds, tastes, smells and feels like and see it all in glorious technicolour every day. This powerful technique helps keep you focussed and motivated and reinforces your intention.
10. Avoid distractions and people who hold you back. Seek solutions & honest opinion, learn from your mistakes and be open and flexible. Remember, it took Eddison 1,000 attempts before he invented a light bulb that worked! If you believe passionately in something, go for it and keep going!
As usual, I warmly welcome your feedback. If you want to add a comment, a view or let me know how you get on with the techniques I cover, or if you have a topic you would like me to talk about, please let me know.
With love and best wishes for a healthy, happy & prosperous New Year
Annie x
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