In every book you read about success and at every seminar you go to they talk about setting goals. (You probably know a lot of people who should really set goals for themselves, and you are thinking right know that you will email them this e-zine, so they should know how to do it.) But still most people do not realize the importance of setting goals because in their minds they are saying, “Leave me alone with all this goal stuff, my career goal is to make a lot of money…”

And they are right. That is their goal and the goal of most businessmen. The question is, “If that’s the most important goal for you, how come you didn’t achieve it last year?” (And if you did achieve your goals and your goal was high enough to match your potential, then I know that you did make very clear and specific goals in the beginning of the year… consciously or subconsciously…)

The answer to the question is that your goal was a wish and not a commitment or a vision. Let’s do the following exercise to get you to see and feel the difference. Stand up and say out loud:

• I wish I would make $1,000,000 this year. Notice how you feel after saying it… positive, excited, motivated, negative, lost; confused…

Now say each of these statements in turn and notice how you feel after you say each one:

• I hope I will make $1,000,000 this year.
• I will try to make $1,000,000 this year.
• I am planning to make $1,000,000 this year.
• My goal is to make $1,000,000 this year.
• I will earn $1,000,000 this year.

You will notice that I hope or I wish gave you a negative feeling about yourself when you said it. This is the reason why most people do not achieve their wishes and hopes, because wishes and hopes do not tell your brain that you are committed to achieving them. Actually you’re telling your brain that you will not get it… because that’s when you say, I wish and I hope… you are thinking, But I know that I will not get it….so I am wishing and hoping.

On the other hand how did you feel when you said, “I will earn $1,000,000 this year? Most people get a positive energy running through their body and they feel like saying: “Let’s go. I can do this.”

When you say, “I will earn…” It means I am committed to do whatever it takes so I will deserve to earn what I want. And it also means, “I must earn… because I want to.” And when you take a want and turn it into a must you will usually get it. Let’s try to understand this concept on a deeper level.

We are always asking questions inside our brains, and we are always getting answers that drive us to take action. When you tell your brain that you hope or wish to make more money, the real message your brain gets is, “How come I am such a loser?” On the other hand when you say, “I will make…” and you really mean it, (you cannot fake out your brain, he knows you for a long time) then the question is, “How do we make this happen, and your brain has unlimited sources of creativity to come up with ideas, and it will push you to action, which will create more confidence, which will increase the quality of your question and the power of the answers, and the cycle continues as long as you don’t interrupt your brain with negative beliefs and attitudes.

Another aspect of this concept is that when you say, “I wish or I hope…” you create a vision of yourself not having money… or whatever it is that you want to have. Your brain will always take you where your thinking goes… he does not like to surprise you. On the other hand (there are 5 fingers after all) when you say, “I will…” you automatically create a picture in your brain of yourself as a successful person. And if you can keep that picture long enough your brain will help you get there.

This is the secret that the famous Earl Nightingale teaches as the only true secret to success, when he says, “You get what you think about – all the time”.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK.
“True creativity is doing a common thing uncommonly well.” Carl Mays
QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK.
“What are you really thinking about all day?”

© 2007 – 2012, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.