Inside: You’ll find my FREE printable goal setting worksheet pdf to help you slay your goals this year.
Research in the field of neuroscience indicates that at least 95% of our day-to-day actions are unconscious. This is quite alarming yet extremely useful to know.
Knowing this statistic gives a nod in the direction as to where the solution to our perennial New Year’s Resolution problem lies.
“Resolutions” that are merely consciously made without being more deeply embedded on the deeper part of our mind i.e. the unconscious mind, are likely to end up on the mountainous scrap heap of unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions and unachieved goals.
New Year’s Resolutions don’t work! Why? Because these “resolutions” are typically goals, rules or regulations we consciously impose upon ourselves. These resolutions can sometimes just end up being glorified “to-do” lists. Put simply, the techniques used by most people to set goals are ineffective and hence failure is the most likely outcome. business goal setting worksheet
Download My Free Printable Goal Sheets Below
Setting Goals is an Artform
I’m fanatical about writing down my goals – daily, weekly, yearly, etc. I have A4 pads, notebooks and Excel Spreadsheets full of tables of goals, tick boxes, deadlines and so on. I find this useful for keeping me on plan and keeping abreast of where I’m at. However, useful and all as these goal tracking mechanisms are, I find that these tracking methods are not so useful when it comes to setting goals.
Setting goals is an art form. Done properly it requires a much more sensory, immersive interplay of visions, emotions, and actions than the usual linear listing of goals with deadlines allow us.
Turning the Invisible into Visible
In our day-to-day life, there are invisible forces at play. The world is not really as people think it is. There’s much more happening to us than we see and there’s much more potential within us then we truly realize. In a way, true goals are uncovered rather than set. True goal setting is about turning these invisible forces into outcomes, enabling you to have a deeper, more meaningful relationship with life. Taking the following sequence of steps I believe will serve you better than any list of resolutions or goals ever will:
Step 1: Create a Mental Movie of Your Goal(s)
Sit down at a desk in a room with clear white walls (if possible) and no distractions. Take some deep breaths and look inside your mind, feeling around for both latent and overt goals you have knocking around. Forget about what goals others are setting for themselves. Focus only on what you feel is important to you based on your priorities and values. Now, take a blank copybook and start writing down those things you feel you’d like to achieve this year and the reason why.
Most people are familiar with the use of vision boards as popularized by The Secret and The Law of Attraction. A Vision Board is just a poster or foam board onto which you paste images of thing you want to have, do or be. Well, a mental movie is like a vision board except it’s a rolling picture, complete with sound, feelings, tastes, and smells played out in your mind’s eye.
If you’re not sure how to go about writing these goals down, the following method may work for you. Start by describing the desired goal/scenario in the context of what you See (scenery, people, things etc); what you Hear (sounds, voices etc); what you feel (emotions, textures, sensations etc); what you can Taste and what you can Smell.
Most people write goals as one-liners on a piece of paper but in order for goal setting to be truly effective, you need to bring all your senses into the creation of the goal and develop a mental picture completed with accompanying feelings of what it would feel like when you achieve that goal.
This is a bit of a Jedi mind trick, to be honest. You’re trying to trick your unconscious mind into believing the outcome has already occurred. To do that you need to overload the senses so that the movie kind of spills over into your unconscious mind. Your unconscious mind is non-reasoning.
It can’t actually tell the difference between whether something’s right or wrong and something that’s happened and something it thinks has happened. So, as a result of doing this “mind programming” your unconscious mind dictates your conscious actions so that you start behaving and doing things as if you had already achieved that goal.
So, for instance, if you managed to successfully install the program of you being fit and toned looking deep into your mind using the techniques outlined in this article, your behavior will actually change despite yourself. You’ll stop reaching for the nachos and beer, maybe go for a run or pump some iron down at the gym.
I call this “mental movie making” as you’re essentially giving yourself the opportunity to direct a movie of the ideal circumstances for your life. There is little point in forcing yourself to do something you fundamentally don’t want to achieve.
You need a compelling, burning desire blazing inside your mind and vibrating in every cell of your body. If you’re sort of blase about the goal in the 1st place you set for yourself you really won’t achieve it so why waste time setting goals you’re not absolutely 100% fanatical about.
Step 2: Get in a Relaxed State Often and Enjoy
Far too much traditional goal setting and achievement require force – arduous physical or mental effort. People essentially beat themselves up over their goals. This is a crazy, ineffective method of business goal setting worksheet.
The easiest way I know of achieving any goal is getting a clear mental picture of the outcome, relaxing deeply and enjoying the possibility of the outcome.
Through deep relaxation, you get to connect with your deeper self, your true nature. As a result, you become self-motivated and cease following programs given to you by society.
Step 3: Install the Program, Rinse, and Repeat (21 days min.)
Now that you’ve done your homework in Step 1 and understand the purpose of achieving a state of relaxation in Step 2, you’re ready to install your Goals/Resolutions. All you gotta do here is run the mental movie (or program) you created in Step 1 through your mind in this deeply relaxed state. Play it in your mind just like you would experience a movie.
Don’t do this “installation” exercise only once. It’s really vital that you produce the neuro-pathways in your mind by consistently repeating this installation exercise for at least 21 days in a row.
Ideally, you could try doing it every day for the remainder of your life and upgrade your program along the way as your life improves.
Dr. Maxwell Maltz, (author of the bestselling book “Psycho-Cybernetics“) is credited with first introducing with the idea that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit; that if you develop the habit of doing something 21 days in a row you will keep the habit.
According to Dr. Maxwell Maltz, brain circuits take engrams (memory traces) and produce neuro-connections and neuropathways only if they are bombarded for 21 days in a row. Or to put it another way, habits become hard-wired into your unconscious mind after constant repetition. business goal setting worksheet
So, for the first 21 days of the year, repeat this installation exercise – find a place and time you can relax for at least 30 mins (possibly either just after you’ve woken up or just before you go to sleep) and run this movie through your mind each day.
My plans for my blog.
“All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.” —Orison Swett Marden
It’s important to have a plan and goals. They help you stay motivated and focused. I’m sharing my blog goals publicly in hopes it’ll help keep me accountable and hopefully help others along the way. Below are goals I have for Budget with Belle:
- Earn $15,000/month. I would like to have the Boo quit his corporate job and stay home with us without causing financial stress to our family.
- Grow Budget with Belle to 100,000 monthly page views. This would be fantastic to hit! I would love to see how the blog grows, and the readers that can benefit from my experiences.
- Create a product to sell. Creating an evergreen product will help make my first goal of staying home with our Daughter possible by diversifying my income.
- Grow my email to 10,000 loyal readers. I’ve heard a lot of good can come out of one’s email list. I hope to be able to build and foster connections this year.
- Get consistent with posting on Budget with Belle posts. I think the way I’ll be able to accomplish this goal is by getting ahead with writing blog post.
- Promote the blog better. Currently, as you know my numbers are low. But, I’ll like that to change. I’m going to only focus on these 3 social media platforms at this time
- Continue learning and improving. On all aspect of my life. Especially this blog. I hope to someday grow it into a successful business.
If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.95 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free website domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase, at least, 12 months of blog hosting.
