(Date published: 05 March 2004)
By
Helen Stockill
Business Coach,
Resolutions
Unlimited
It's that time of year again folks, Christmas has gone and
for most of us all that remains of the food is the extra couple of inches on
the waist! The start of a New Year is often a reflective time for people when
they look back on the year just gone and set in place some different goals for
the year ahead. Maybe you have decided to give something up or start something
new - whatever it is you want the question is do you have a clear direction in
mind for the new year?
Taking The Shortcut
I was in my
local bookshop at the weekend and they had put up a huge display of self - help
books all of which promised the easy way to achieve the success they promised.
The books were flying out of the shop as people saw a shortcut to the things in
their lives that they would love to change. Here' s the stinger though,
research has shown that only 10% of these customers will actually read past the
first chapter! Oops. So the question is - is there a shortcut that works when
you are heading towards your goal? I believe there is and even better it' s
free to use. The answer to turbo charging your goals lies simply in your
imagination.
A sports study was carried out on 3 basketball teams. The
first team spent one month physically practising basketball on the court, the
second team took no physical or mental practice at all and the third team took
no physical practice and instead used the time to get together and imagine a
successful game. The results were so surprising that sports coaching generally
took a whole different direction.
The first team improved considerably
as you would expect with all that physical training.
The second team
reduced their performance - showing that taking no action at all is
useless.
The third team improved their performance by the same amount as
the first team despite doing no physical training.
Following this study
sports coaches realised that combining both physical and mental rehearsal in
training sessions gave dramatic improvements in performance results. Lets look
at how this could work for you and your goal. You have probably set your goal
and given yourself a series of actions that need to happen in order to be
successful. Well done - that is like the physical training needed by the
basketball teams. Now how can you add in the mental rehearsal side to increase
your chances of success?
The Power of Imagination
We use
our imagination all the time but not necessarily in the most thought out way.
What did you have for lunch yesterday? Who was your favourite teacher at
school? To answer those questions I would guess that you would have made a
picture. Using your imagination like this is also known as visualisation, which
I am sure you will have heard about. Visualisation is not a new technique; you
already do it all the time. Some people say to me that they struggle to
visualise but the truth is this is how your brain processes information and
therefore just because you are unaware of visualisation happening doesn't mean
it isn't.
Sabotage Through Visualisation
Your brain makes
no judgement on the visualisations you choose to have, it simply carries out
the orders given. For this reason it may surprise you to learn that
visualisation can actually prevent us from achieving our goals! Supposing you
would like to lose some weight. When you think about that what do you focus on
in your mind?
If you are thinking about how unhappy you are at your
current weight and seeing a picture of the ' big you' then you are sabotaging
your goal. Instead of imagining what it is you don' t want - start to imagine
what it is that you do want. Change the picture and the feelings that go around
it into one of success. How do you look once the goal is achieved, how do you
feel, what are people saying to you? Now you are bringing the power of
visualisation on line and just like the basketball players your performance
will be massively enhanced.
Watch Your Language What you say to yourself
about your goal can have a huge impact on how the brain then processes your
words and the resulting visualisation. Imagine saying this to yourself: " I
really should use my time better at work" How did you feel when you said that -
Motivated to take action, probably not. When you look at your life you are much
more likely to be doing the things you want to do rather than the things you
should do. "I should go to the gym tonight but I want to go to the pub with my
friends!" Think we can guess the likely outcome here. Which of these phrases
changes the goal in your mind?
- I might go to the gym tonight
- I could go to the gym tonight
- I am going to the gym tonight
- I must go to the gym tonight
- I am looking forward to the gym tonight
- I may go to the gym tonight
- I hope to go to the gym tonight
- I want to go to the gym tonight
Isn' t it strange how the odd word change
can completely change the meaning of the phrase? So, when you think about your
goal now test each of the phrases and find the one for you that creates the
most desire for action. Once you know the phrase - use it all the time; keep
repeating it over and over again to allow the brain to process the new
language.
The Picture of Success
So now you have an idea
of how important it is to focus your mental resources into what it is you want.
If we translate the sad figures of book reading into this article then only 10%
of you will have got to this stage! The good news is - those of you within that
10% are much more likely to practise the exercises as well and therefore gain
the benefits in your life.
Turbo Charge Your Goal Today
Every day this week I want you go through this process and notice over time how
it changes the motivation to complete the goal.
- Think about what it is you want in as much detail as you can
- Imagine yourself having achieved the goal
- When, where and with whom have you achieved this goal?
- What has changed in your life as a result of achieving this goal?
- What was the final thing that happened to allow you to know you had achieved the goal?
- What has achieving the goal got you?
- How do you feel having achieved the goal?
- What do you see and hear now you have changed?
- How do you look and what are you saying to others?
New Year, New You
Of course
using your imagination can be really powerful when you have one particular goal
you are working towards but why stop there. Changing the focus of your thoughts
on a minute-by-minute basis is the true shortcut to success. I leave you with a
true story which I challenge you to test and I promise you will work. When you
arrive at particularly busy car parks, do you bemoan the fact that you probably
will not get a space anywhere near where you want and of course you are usually
right? A good friend of mine gave me this technique which I must admit when I
first heard it I had some doubts. As you get near to the car park start to
imagine the ideal spot. See the empty space in your mind and even decide the
colour of the car parked next to you. Keep the image in mind all the way and
drive confidently to the place you have chosen. Give it a go; I think you will
be amazed at just how often it works!
