"If you are going to be having goals, you might as well make them big ones!" | ||
| --DONALD TRUMP, BUSINESS MAGNATE AND TELEVISION PERSONALITY | ||
In the 1950s, a study carried out at Harvard University asked students whether they had goals. Not surprisingly, virtually everyone said that they did. They were then asked how many had actually put these goals down in writing and the answer to this question was only 3 per cent of the group.
This study was followed up 30 years later and the 3 per cent who had written down their goals were worth more than the other 97 per cent combined.
Amazing or just a coincidence?
That's up to you to decide, but as long as your goals only stay inside your head, you run the risk of them only ever being dreams. Remember, I highlighted in the last chapter that success is a choice you can make. You can't necessarily have everything you want, but you can have anything you want. The choice you face is what you want to be, to do and to have. You have to make some decisions about how you are going to spend your time and where you are going to put your energies, otherwise one day you'll wake up at 100 years old and be answering questions about your biggest regrets in life.
When you think about your goals, ask yourself whether you're a hen or a pig. When it comes to ham and eggs, the hen is merely involved but the pig is committed.
This isn't a spelling mistake. Let me explain.
Having a written goal is more likely to get you into the top 3 per cent of the wealth population. If you are going to go to the trouble of writing down a goal, I would suggest that you copy the example of many successful people, such as the golfer Greg Norman:
"Setting goals for your game is an art. The trick is in setting them at the right level, neither too low nor too high."
Imagine you have a goal to lose some weight. That's pretty vague, isn't it? Instead, use the SMARTS method and make your goals:
Specific. Define exactly what you want to accomplish and focus on only one thing.
Example: "I want to lose two stone in weight by March 2010."
Measurable. Use percentages, cost, quality, numbers – it doesn't matter what, but you should think of all of the ways you can measure your progress in order to be able to say whether you did or didn't achieve it.
Example: Giving a clear measure of weight you want to lose (two stone) and a time measure (by March 2010) makes your goal measurable.
Achievable and Realistic. Think of something that is within reach but still requires you stretch to achieve it.
Example: Is two stone a realistic amount of weight to lose or are you kidding yourself?
This is your decision, as what may be achievable and realistic for you may not be for someone else. For example, your goal might be to run the London Marathon in 4 hours. For Paula Radcliffe that would be a gentle jog.
If that voice in your head is telling you as you write your goal that you won't do it, the likelihood is that you won't. When you write the goal, write it as though you have already achieved it, in the present tense, and use your senses to describe it. For example:
"I feel and look great now that I have lost weight."
Why should you do this? Well, every time you read your goal (put it somewhere you'll see it every day, like by your bed or on the fridge) your unconscious mind, your emotions and your RAS (more of that later) will kick in and support you in getting there.
Timed. Set yourself a deadline by which you will achieve your goal. Be careful not to limit yourself by setting a goal that is too far in the future. At the same time, a goal that it is too close can cause you to become demotivated instead, so it's a question of finding the right balance.
Example: March 2010. Is six months a realistic timescale? It's not too far in the future that you can't imagine it, yet it's not too near to be unrealistic.
Step. The last step. What hard evidence will you need to prove to yourself that you have fulfilled your goal, that you have done it? If your goal is about buying a house, it might be the moment you put the key in the lock or the minute you see the SOLD sign being taken down.
Karen Darke, who was paralysed at 21 after a climbing accident and who then achieved her dream of cycling across the Himalayas, explained that her step was the moment she watched the sun setting from the top of a mountain she'd spent the previous couple of hours cycling up. Mark Holden, a Liquid Thinker who tells his story later in this book, described his step as imagining himself enjoying a beer with his fiancée after completing the London Marathon.
If you don't make the effort to write down what you will see, hear, smell, touch and feel at the moment of your step, you may fall short before you achieve your goal.
Example: Imagine yourself standing in front of a full-length mirror in your bedroom trying on a new pair of jeans that you really wanted to be able to wear.
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
This was said by Thomas Edison, the inventor who as we've seen was described by his teachers as a "blockhead", who carried out over 10,000 experiments, using over 3000 different types of material, including coconut hair, fishing line and bamboo, before he found success with the light bulb and was able to light the world! Do you think that his step was seeing a light bulb above his head?
Let's talk about your RAS. I'm not being rude here.
You will find that if you do take the time to think about and write down what your SMART goal is, 80 per cent of how you achieve it will take care of itself. Bear with me while I explain why writing down your SMART goal will ensure that "a whole stream of events . . . unforeseen incidents and meetings . . . which no man could have dreamt will come your way", as German writer and scientist Goethe put it.
This is down to your RAS, which stands for Reticular Activating System (RAS), a small part of your brain that is critical in helping you achieve your goals.
When you drive to work, how often do you notice the small details of your journey? Do you notice if they have painted the door of No. 29 green instead of red? Do you notice that the daffodils outside No. 10 are now in bloom? Do you spot that the curtains in No. 45 are blue? I thought not. This is because your brain is receiving about two million pieces of data a second. If you were able to process all of this information, your brain would, quite literally, explode. And so you are only conscious of a few pieces of information at any one time.
OK, so imagine you're driving through Tesco's car park, looking for a space. Suddenly you start to become aware of people carrying shopping bags and walking slowly, reverse lights on cars coming on and all sorts of other details that you would normally miss because you now need a parking space. This is your RAS working for you.
Stop for a second and think about your left foot and whether it is comfortable inside your shoe. Where was that thought until I just brought it to your attention? The answer is nowhere. You were looking after it on an unconscious level until I kicked your RAS into action.
Here's one last example of your RAS. Have you ever had a goal to own a particular type of car, let's say a yellow VW Beetle? Once you have decided what car you want, have you ever noticed how you suddenly start to see loads of that car on the road, whereas before you hadn't? It is not that these cars weren't previously there, it's just that you weren't conscious of them before.
It's the same when you set yourself a goal that you really want. Suddenly you will find all sorts of coincidences and opportunities coming your way, which will help and support you in achieving your goal. Once I had decided that I wanted to write this book, I started to find ideas and quotes to use in it everywhere I looked, in the newspapers, on television and in conversations. One of the quotes I found was from former US President Abraham Lincoln, and I think it neatly wraps up this chapter:
"When you know what you want to achieve, what your goal is, you will start to find yourself unconsciously keeping away from people and circumstances which continually knock what you are trying to achieve. It is small people who do that. You will also, unconsciously seek out and find yourself in the company of great people, who will support you and help you to recognize opportunities where there were previously none."
See, it does pay to be a SMART RAS.