Dream + Belief = Acheive

We are one month into the year so this is a good time to stop and have a think about what you would like to acheive in 2018. Here are 5 tips to make reaching your goals a little easier.

1. Allow yourself the time.

Are you finding yourself resentful or unfulfilled because there is something you would like to do or start but you dont have the time? You are not giving yourself permission to have the time because others are being demanding and you feel you have a duty to please them. I will start writing my book next month? or I will learn to play the piano once my job becomes less demanding? Sound familiar? It is familiar to me because this is the position I put myself in when I wanted to write my book. I had to readjust my priorities and make a plan otherwise it would never happen. I addressed the following steps which lead me to acheive my goal.

Give yourself permission and spend the next 5 minutes being imaginative. What would you like to acheive in 2018?

2. Self Discipline

Are you giving in too easily to distractions? I would put off writing my book (on reflection I realise) through lack of self belief. I would do anything other than sit for an hour to write a chapter - vacume - clean the oven - sit and stare into space doing f... all.

According to the work of the Psychologist Roy Baumeister, the limbic part of the brain is responsible for the reactive and impulsive behaviour such as watching your favorite programme or spending an hour on social media. The prefrontal cortex part of the brain is responsible for the cognitive balance, desires and setting goals such as putting aside an hour of your time to sit without distractions and write a chapter of your book. These 2 parts of the brain are constantly in conflict for power. The ability to recognise this and discipline yourself is more important than IQ in terms of setting goals.

Think of why your goal is important to you. If your goal mirrors your values in life, you are more likely to acheive it.

Think about what skills you have that will help you reach your goal and utilise them.

Plan and put aside a specific amount of time in your diary to work on your goal every day or every other day. How ever much is necessary to realisticly help you acheive your goal.

3. Procrastination

(One of my previous blog pages)

There are reasons why we procrastinate. Each person's reasons are different and personal to them. The most popular reason is you are just too knackered. Knackered from life - your job - your family. You need to prioritise and set aside time for yourself to focus on your goals. Even if it is only ten mins. Another reason is your limbic part of your brain winning the battle, allowing you to choose pleasure over task. Make task a little more fun!! Lastly are you just feeding yourself with excuses of why you can not commit to action.

You could design a weekly plan for yourself which incorporates all your work - family committments - pleasures and goal time.

4. Self Doubt

Are you filling your mind with negative thoughts which eventually you will beleive to be true. What your unconscious mind believes determines how you feel and your unconscious mind only believes what your conscious mind tells it. If you are constantly reaffirming to yourself a pessimistic view of life then constant negativity sets in. Did you know that it has been proven that an optimistic person will live longer than a pessimistic person? Limiting beliefs are not usually backed up with any real evidence - similar to F.E.A.R. False evidence appearing real. Change the way you think about your goal - instead of saying "I will never be able to write 50,000 words for my novel" say "I will write 500 words per evening and eventually I will have enough words to complete it.

5. Commit to your Plan

Now is the time to put your plan into action.

You have given yourself permission to acheive a desired goal in 2018

You have made a plan and set aside time in your diary to work on it.

You have identified why your goal is important to you and what skills you have to acheive it.

You are aware of the reasons why you procrastinate

You are now using optimistic affirmations to increase your self belief.

So what small or large thing are you going to do TODAY to set you on the path to acheiving your goal in 2018?

Why dont you share it by making a comment 🙂

Amouraj x