The Magic Power of Goal Setting
By now you’ll have been bombarded with ‘New Year, New You’ emails, social media posts and general chatter all connected to diet, health and lifestyle. Does radical change on the 1st January actually achieve results?
In a word, no.
Change and reform takes place with gradual steps. Behaviours form routine, routine forms habits and habits form lifestyle. So if the behaviours aren’t aligned to who we are and what we want to achieve then how can we achieve the dream lifestyle that we desire?
Nearly 5 years ago I left a life at the other side of the world and walked into a new one with little more than 4 suitcases, two young children and very little money. I left my relationship, the house I co-owned (with a swimming pool!!) and friendships with lovely people not to mentioned leaving the care free, barefoot, simple coastal lifetsyle which very much aligned with who I was. It sounds like I had it all but the reality was that I was miserable.
“I shut one door and then another opened, slowly but surely”.
An incident occured that woke me up. It was a turned point where I could take no more and my ‘me’, my ‘intuition’ kicked in and told me what I needed to do. Life had to change. I was at rock bottom mentally and controlled by a man who was making me miserable.
I knew leaving one life and entering a new one would be hard but I never imagined it would be as hard as it was. There was no 1st of January ‘New You’ which I could try to then go back to my comfortable old habits, nor was there a crystal ball to give me the answers I needed to know.
That was in February 2014 and sitting here in my home office as I type this post A LOT has happened since then. I’ve grafted and hussled so hard. I’ve had to be Dad the provider and Mum the nurturer. But I did it… and wow has it made me see the world with gratitude and positivity.
So what was the major thing that helped me progress my new life?
Goal setting!
Since 2014 I have been writing my goals and intentions in a small Reports Note Pad. I aim to write these goals daily but the reality is that I write them 3-4 times a week. I don’t look at the page before, I simply write 10 goals that I’m aiming to achieve (they tend to be the same with only a few differences) and the routine of doing this has turned into a habit and in turn this habit has changed my lifestyle. That house I wanted to buy, done. That business I wanted to build, doing. That holiday I wanted to go on, done. The self improvement I aim for, doing and finally that beauitful person to share my life with, met!
“Goals can turn around life. The focus is on the pattern of disciplining the behavior, routine and habit of thinking about them and then the power of regularly writing them down”.
You can do this too and it doesn’t need to be with a plain Reporters Pad. This year (as well as my notepad) I’ve invested in a Daily Greatness Diary. It’s far more detailed than I thought and it analyses all aspects of your life from relationships to business.
Now you don’t have to buy a fancy diary at vast cost. I urge you to goal set and re-write them daily or as regularly as you can. Repetition of doing this is so powerful. It taps into areas of the subconcious in our brains. It’s doing this that makes you move towards your dream life and towards the alignment of who you are without even knowing your doing so.
Set your goals and see the magic unfold down the line…. It truly does work.
Laura xx
