When we struggle with accomplishing a goal we really want to achieve, it can leave us perplexed. When you think about it, why, if we really want the goal, do we not achieve it? What is holding us back? Is it our fault or not? What is the barrier that is stopping us from breaking through with our goals?
When I was in high school, I really wanted to make the football team in my first year in the school. All I ever wanted was to become a professional footballer. It’s what I use to dream about when I was younger. Manchester United is my favourite team. So I had the chance to trial with the high school team and win a place in the squad for that season.
There was one other guy who was going to the trial as well (still great friends to this day). I began to doubt myself when I knew this. What if he is better than me? What if I go to the trial and I don’t impress the manager? Do these feelings sound familiar to you? I bet they do. It happens to us all the time!
A day or so before the trial, my mum told me that I had to have my braces straightened and she booked it for Tuesday, which was the day of the trial! So I had a choice, either go to the football trial or get my braces straightened. What one did I pick? It sounds like an easy choice right? Well I opted to get my braces straightened and not go to the trial! Even reading this now, it makes me feel silly. Getting my braces straightened (which I could have pushed back to another day) was a more painful experience but it gave me a good excuse for failing to make the football team.
After that day, I never really made any of the football squads. So why, if I really wanted to play football for the school, did I opt out of it and use the braces as an excuse? I couldn't answer this question until I started looking into the complexity of the human brain and studying business gurus like John Assaraf. If we try to achieve a goal that is seemingly too big for our current self-image, it almost always results in failure.
You see our reticular activating system controls our mental alertness and often subconsciously throws a barrier up between us and our goals. This makes any goal we set harder to achieve. I know I had the football skills (not saying I was more skillful than the other players) but I put the other players on a pedestal and treated them like stars. My current self-image was deeming me unworthy of a place in the squad even though I wanted it so badly.
So how do we negate the effects of this happening to us? It’s simple (I didn't say it was easy), we need to take some time in our day, preferably early every morning to focus on and read our goals. Start using positive affirmations like “I am confident and certain in my ability to achieve my goals” and “I live each day with passion and purpose”. Then really start to visualize this. Sit down and close your eyes. It feels silly at first but it works! We can program our own mind, instead of the other way around.
Our goals are all about how we program our own mind and it goes to show that successful people who consistently achieve their goals aren't just “lucky” or “blessed” to do so. They all use these steps one way or another.
Hi my name is Gary Daly and thanks for reading my article.I am a licensed FIFA football agent and work in sales and marketing.
I have found that the skill to set and achieve goals is the single-most important thing that distinguishes successful people from the rest.
Only a small percentage of people set goals!
Those who don't set goals think that setting goals is a waste of their time. Or they mistakenly believe that they have goals ... when in fact, they have only dreams or wishes.
Still, others have goals ... but they don't have the mindset, skills or habits needed to actually achieve their goals.
Goals can transform your life. Peoples success boils down to one thing: The ability to set and achieve goals.
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