2.Goals-How Focused are You?
Hello again.
How did you go with the last article?
I know you did the 2 exercises repeatedly. How did you go with them?
Any feedback on what you experienced? Was there a learning curve?
Were you really committed?
Keep doing the previous suggestions until they become a part of you. You will all be developing those skills at your own rate. If you are doing this with another person, don’t compare yourself with that person.
There is no right or wrong time in the amount of time it’ll take you to develop these skills. You are all at different stages in your personal evolution.
Share but don’t compare, ever.
Okay, let’s keep going.
(c) Focus
In today’s over-stimulating environments, focusing is really tough at times. I mean focusing on the more ‘serious’ aspects of your life. It’s not hard to focus on things you like, such as your hobbies, interests, and even cop-outs, but when it comes to focusing on stuff that doesn’t fall into the above categories, well……………
Remember, it’s all in the way you approach what you have to do. You can talk yourself into doing something, or you can talk yourself out of doing something. The choice is yours, and speaking to you as a Goal setter, I know you will do it.
Focus on the end result. Think about what it’ll feel like achieving your Goal. Hear people encouraging you, hear people praise you. See the smile on your face. See the smiles on their faces.
Focus and awareness are part of the same family. Always ask yourself, “Does what I’m doing bring me closer to my Goal?” If the answer is ‘yes’, do it, if the answer is ‘no’, drop it, and seek out what you have written down that is part of you achieving the end result.
Don’t compromise. Be steadfast in your focus.
Do this exercise. In your mind, you are the driver of a very fast car in a very fast car race. You start to drive and as you increase your speed, focus on your speed, increase it, focus as you corner, focus on every aspect of your driving, Keep focusing on doing this for about 10 laps of a large sporting field. Just keep focusing on your racing. As you slow down to a halt, release your focus and relax.
It is this precision focusing you need to dedicate to achieving the Goal you set yourself.
(d) Commitment
Commitment goes hand-in-hand with the others. Nothing, but nothing is to take you off your path. You are the crusader of your Goal. You are proud of your decision to pursue that Goal.
Commitment is a sign of strong self-esteem. Self-esteem is not to be confused with self-confidence. Self-confidence can be an outer behavioural bluff. It’s all show and no substance.
Self-esteem, on the other hand, is all about the core of you. You know who you are. You don’t have to have bravado and show-offness. You can be you. It’s the quiet achiever in you who ploughs on regardless of ridicule and temptation. You don’t need anyone to make you feel good. Sure, outside validation is nice, but it’s not what you base your values about yourself on. If you do, you have a self-esteem issue, and you need to look at, why?
Commitment comes from and with inner strength and faith in yourself. No one can take that off you without your permission. Can they?
People often feel somewhat uncomfortable in the presence of someone who is focused and committed. It shows up their own weaknesses.
Do this exercise. Every time you are aware that you kept on course although you might have been tempted to go off a bit, record it, note it, write it down, acknowledge it, praise yourself for it. Remember how important being aware of your actions is.
Alright, that’s it for today.
Two more exercises. Practice them over and over again until you are comfortable with them.
This may all seem very time-consuming and a lot of work, but isn’t your life worth it?
At first anything that is new is a challenge. Take it slowly. Spend a few days, a week, whatever it takes to build up your skills.
You’ve spent years building up the disempowering behaviours re: Goal setting that you currently have, haven’t you?
Isn’t building empowering ones worth at least some of your time? And believe me, it won’t take as long to build the empowering skills as it took you to internalize the disempowering ones.
Changing direction now means that you are a winner. As you read all this, you are probably wondering why you hadn’t done it sooner.
I know that you really do believe in yourself, and it’s important that you do.
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