- Image by bark via Flickr
So, how has the first week of the year gone for you?
Are you excited, or drained?
Are you done with your New Year Diet yet?
Are you supercharged about your goals, or has life numbed you back down again?
It’s hard maintaining enthusiasm when you aren’t getting results yet, isn’t it? That’s why its so important to always keep the vision of the life you want alive in your mind – and take some sort of action every day that will move you towards your goal.
If you want to lose weight, start with eating a salad every day and replacing one of your pops with water, or green tea, or juice. Take small steps. Its better than no steps.
Do you want a better career? According to the late Earl Nightengale, if you read something related to your field for an hour a day, in 5 years you will be an expert in your field.
There was a video that I wanted to share with you, but I lost it. I’ll try to explain what she did, and I hope I can do it justice…
The video was about rewiring your brain for success. She was talking about using affirmations, but what she did was really different. In her example, she said something like, “you are awesome.” Before you could have another thought she repeated, “you are awesome.” And she did it over and over again. It was really weird because you just couldn’t have another thought. She just kept hammering you with it.
So, the exercise is that you state your positive affirmation in the present tense –
I am thin, or I feel great, or I make $500 a day, or whatever your goal is. You repeat it over and over, not allowing another thought to bubble up for 5 minutes a day. They say the best times to do these kinds of exercises are when you get up, and/or right before you go to sleep. I find in the car works for me.
She says it take 90 days to see results. That’s a long time, isn’t it? Most of the self improvement gurus say 30 days. But it really has such a weird effect on you that I’m trying to keep up with it. At a minimum, it keeps me motivated to actually take action – so in some respect it will work, right?
Let me know if you try it and how it makes you feel.
Let’s make this a great year!
Very inspiring post Carole!
Resolutions tend to not work for most people. Setting clearly written goals and taking actions steps, even small ones towards them regularly, really works.
Scientists have discovered how the subconscious mind works. When we state things as if they already are that way, the mind believes it and does everything it can to make sure that our statements are accurate.
I wrote a detailed story about the house I’m now living in and buying as if I already lived here. I first had toured it, and walked through it carefully remembering the things that I liked about it. I then visualized it thoroughly, and thought about it a lot over a few days.
There were two other couples who were wanting it and had been working on saving the down payments. The owners said they felt drawn to my husband and I and felt we should live here. We were told we could move in with no deposits or down payment in exchange for painting walls and doing minor repairs.
Unbeknownst to me my husband also had felt strongly that this was the house for us and was doing his own positive thinking about it. These techniques are not wishful thinking- they work!
Since then I’ve achieved numerous other goals that I set for myself. Right now I’m taking two online classes to help me with my 2011 business goals.
These classes are improving my business knowledge as well as offering me a support system, resources, and accountability. They are helping me to plan 2011 for my business to grow in such a way that I earn more money and it’s also very exciting because it follows my passions so I stay motivated and keep taking steps to achieve what I truly want. I’m investing in myself. I also read daily personal development and business books that further my knowledge and expertise, which Carole mentioned in her post.
All of the things I achieve have started with the desire for them, then making a committed decision that I must achieve them, believing that, using tools and techniques that I’ve learned to aid me in guiding my mental state, and then taking planned steps towards reaching them.
Focusing on one specific goal for each area of your life is another helpful bit of advice. If you set too many goals at once it is much harder to achieve them. Since you achieve them faster by focusing on only one at a time, you can keep setting new ones. Over the course of a year you’ll be amazed at how much you accomplish!
Beth Earle´s last blog post ..Before the end of the year