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Write and Re-Write Your Goals Everyday

dollarBlogger

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Dec 26, 2008
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Any Brian Tracy fans out there? I’ve been actively reading/listening to his stuff for about 6 months now. I know, some of his stuff can get a little cheesy, but I think a lot of the things he writes/speaks about are really fantastic. Especially when put into action.

In a few of his programs he talks about writing and re-writing your goals everyday. I’ll be the first to admit I used to only write my yearly goals down, refer to them a few times throughout the year and leave it at that. I decided to take the jump and do what Tracy recommends and am on about day 30. Although I haven’t had any mind-blowing revelations I have definitely been more focused and aware of what I spend my time on. I’m certainly asking myself more often if the particular task I’m doing at that point in time is the best for me to be doing to reach my goals. I've definitely seen enough of a difference in my life to continue doing the exercise.

Below is the goal setting techniques that Tracy talks about in one of his programs that I wrote down and refer to about once a week. I hope it helps you as much as it has me.

Here's the technique....

Get a notebook and keep it with you at all times. Each day write down your 10 most important goals without referring to your previous list and do this day after day.

Several remarkable things will happen when you do this. The first day you write down your list of goals you will have to give it some thought and reflection. The second day you write out your goals without reference to your previous list it will be a bit easier. However, your 10 goals will change, both in description and order of priority. Sometimes a goal you write one day a goal will not appear the next day. It may even be forgotten and never re-appear again. Or it may appear at a more appropriate time. Each day that you write down your 10 goals your definitions will become sharper. You will eventually find yourself writing down the same words everyday. Your order of priority will also change as your life changes around you, but over time, after about 30 days you'll find yourself re-writing the same goals everyday.

At about this time something remarkable will happen in your life. It will take off! You will feel like a passenger in a jet hurdling down the runway. Your work and personal life will begin to improve dramatically. Your mind will sparkle with ideas and insights. You'll start to attract resources into your life that will help you achieve your goals. You will start to make progress at a rapid rate, sometimes so fast that it will be a little scary. Everything will begin to change in a very positive way.

Here are some special rules that you must follow to get the most out of this exercise.... First, you must use the 3 "P" formula. Your goals must be written and described in the POSITIVE, PRESENT and PERSONAL tenses. Your subconscious mind is only activated by affirmative statements phrased in the present tense. You therefore write down your goals as though you have already accomplished them. Instead of saying, "I will earn $50,000 in the next 12 months." You would say, "I earn $50,000 per year." Your goals must be stated positively as well. Instead of saying, "I will quit smoking," or "I will lose 20 lbs.," you would instead say, "I am a non-smoker," or, "I weigh 150 lbs." Your command must be positive because your subconscious mind cannot process a negative command. It is only receptive to a positive, present tense statement. The third P stands for personal. From now on and for the rest of your life you write out your goals starting with the letter "I" followed by a verb (action!) of some kind. You are the only person in the universe that can use the word "I" in relation to yourself. When your subconscious receives a command that begins with the letter "I" it is as though the factory floor receives a production order from the head office and goes to work immediately to bring that goal into your reality. Begin each of your goals with phrases such as "I earn...", "I weigh...", "I achieve...", "I win...", "I drive such and such a car", "I live in such and such a home", "I climb such and such mountain" and so on.

To add power to your daily written goals add a deadline at the end of your goals. For example, "I earn an average of $5000 per month by December 31, 2xxx." Your mind loves deadlines and thrives on a forcing system. Even if you don't know how the goal is going to be achieved always give yourself a firm deadline. Remember, you can always change the deadline with new information, but be sure that you have a deadline like an explanation point at the end of every goal.

This exercise of writing out your 10 goals every single day is a test. The test is to determine how badly you really want to achieve these goals. Often you will write out a goal and then forget to write it down again. This simply means that you either don't really want to achieve that goal as much as something else or you don't really believe that goal is achievable for you. However, the more you can discipline yourself to write and re-write your goals each day the clearer you will become about what you really want and the more convinced you will become that it is possible for you.

When you begin writing your goals you may have no idea how they will be accomplished, but this is not important. All that matters is that you write and re-write them everyday in complete faith knowing that every single time you write them down you are impressing them deeper and deeper into your subconscious mind. At a certain point, you will begin to believe with absolute conviction that your goal is achievable. Once your subconscious mind accepts your goals as commands from your conscious mind it will start to make all your words and actions fit a pattern consistent with those goals. Your subconscious mind will start attracting into your life people and circumstances that can help you to achieve your goal. Your subconscious mind works 24 hours a day like a massive computer that is never turned off to help bring your goals into reality. Almost without you doing anything your goals will begin to materialize in your life, sometimes in the most remarkable and unexpected ways.

Whenever you write down a new goal of any kind you may be skeptical and doubtful about the likelihood of accomplishing it. You may have the idea in your conscious mind, but you will not have yet developed the total belief and conviction that it is possible for you. This is normal and natural. Don't let it stop you from using this method everyday. All that is required to make this method work is for you to get a notebook and then to discipline yourself each day to write down your 10 goals, more or less, in the positive, present and personal tense. That is all you need. In a week, month or a year you will look around you and see that your whole life will have transformed in the most remarkable ways. Even if you're skeptical about this method, it only requires about 5 minutes per day to try it out for yourself.

You can multiply the effectiveness of this method with a couple of additional techniques. First, after you have written down your goal in the positive, present and personal tense, write down at least 3 actions that you could take immediately to achieve that goal, also in the positive, present and personal tense. For example your goal could be to earn a certain amount of money. You could write, "I earn $50,000 over the next 12 months." You can then write immediately underneath.... 1.) I plan everyday in advance. 2.) I start in immediately on my most important tasks. 3.) I concentrate single-mindedly on my most important task until it is complete. Whatever your goal you can easily think of 3 action steps that you can take immediately to achieve that goal. When you write down the action steps you program them into your subconscious mind along with the goal. At a certain point you will find yourself actually taking the steps that you wrote down, sometimes without even thinking about it. And each step will take you more rapidly towards your ultimate objective.

dB
 
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Jul 6, 2009
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I just finished reading your text and i must say that
i am also an avid brain Tracy reader/listener. His information on how
just setting goals down and writing them can change any person into
a success being with a few day.
Granted it takes belief and consistency, but this is the fact non the less.

BUt dollarblogger, let me ask you a question. When are we suppose to rewrite our goals an how many times a ay are we suppose to do this?
 

dollarBlogger

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Great question imcmillionaire.... I write my goals down everyday first thing in the morning. I don’t think there is necessarily a right or wrong way to do it. I just do it like that because it works best with my schedule. I would say start with something. Anything! Just take action. Like you said, “it takes belief and consistency” and I think you are absolutely right! Try something out for a month or so and if you aren’t seeing results maybe it’s time to up the frequency?

Speaking of goals, a friend sent me an interesting study about 6-9 months ago. I’ve also passed it onto a few friends and think it’s fascinating. It’s about increasing the chances of actually achieving your goals. Here is that document cut and pasted....

Perhaps you have heard of the Yale (or Harvard Business School) study of goals in which only 3% of the graduating class had specific written goals for their futures. Twenty years later that 3% was found to be earning an astounding 10 times that of the group that had no clear goals. Well, it turns out that this “study” is merely an “urban myth,” as extensive reviews of the research literature by me and by Steven Kraus (a social psychologist from Harvard) as well as investigative reporting by Fast Company magazine revealed that no such study had ever been done!

However, the widespread mention of this non-existent study in business circles as well as the need for research into the techniques used by business coaches provided impetus for my current research, which was focused on how goal achievement is influenced by writing goals, committing to goal-directed actions and being accountable for those actions.

PARTICIPANTS:

A total of 267 participants were recruited from businesses, organizations, and business networking groups. However, only 149 participants completed the study. The final participants ranged in age from 23 to 72, with 37 males and 112 females. Participants came from the United States, Belgium, England, India, Australia and Japan and included a variety of entrepreneurs, educators, healthcare professionals, artists, attorneys, bankers, marketers, human services providers, managers, vice presidents, directors of non-profits, etc.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

Participants were randomly assigned to one of 5 conditions (groups):
-- Group 1 - Unwritten Goal;
-- Group 2 - Written Goal;
-- Group 3 - Written Goal & Action Commitments;
-- Group 4 - Written Goal, Action Commitments to a Friend;
-- Group 5 - Written Goal, Action Commitments & Progress Reports to a Friend.

-- Participants in Group 1 were simply asked to think about their goals (what they wanted to accomplish over the next 4 weeks) and then asked to rate that goal on the following dimensions: Difficulty, Importance, the extent to which they had the Skills & Resources to accomplish the goal, their Commitment and Motivation to the goal, whether or not they had Pursued this goal before and if so their Prior Success.
-- Participants in Groups 2-5 were asked to write (type into the online survey) their goals and then to rate their goals on the same dimensions.
-- Group 3 was also asked to formulate action commitments.
-- Group 4 was asked to formulate action commitments and send their goals and action commitments to a supportive friend.
-- Group 5 was asked to formulate action commitments and send their goals, action commitments and weekly progress reports to a supportive friend. Participants in group 5 were also sent weekly reminders to email quick progress reports to their friend. At the end of 4 weeks participants were asked to rate their progress and the degree to which they had accomplished their goals.

RESULTS

1.) Types of goals: Participants pursued a variety of goals including (in order of frequency reported) completing a project, increasing income, increasing productivity, getting organized, enhancing performance/achievement, enhancing life balance, reducing work anxiety and learning a new skill. Examples of “completing a project” included writing a chapter of a book, updating a website, listing and selling a house, completing a strategic plan, securing a contract, hiring employees and preventing a hostile take-over.

2.) Goal Achievement: Group 5 achieved significantly more than all the other groups; Group 4 achieved significantly more than Groups 3 and 1; Group 2 achieved significantly more than Group 1.

3.) Differences between all writing groups and the non-writing group: Although the previous analysis revealed that Group 2 (written goals) achieved significantly more than Group 1 (unwritten goals), additional analysis were performed to determine whether there were also differences between the group that had not written their goals (Group 1) and all groups that had written their goals (Groups 2-5). This analysis revealed that the mean achievement score for Groups 2-5 combined was significantly higher than Group 1.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.) The positive effect of accountability was supported: Those who sent weekly progress reports to their friend accomplished significantly more than those who had unwritten goals, wrote their goals, formulated action commitments or sent those action commitments to a friend.

2.) There was support for the role of public commitment: Those who sent their commitments to a friend accomplished significantly more than those who wrote action commitments or did not write their goals.

3.) The positive effect of written goals was supported: Those who wrote their goals accomplished significantly more than those who did not write their goals.

dB
 

Barrister

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Any Brian Tracy fans out there? I’ve been actively reading/listening to his stuff for about 6 months now. I know, some of his stuff can get a little cheesy, but I think a lot of the things he writes/speaks about are really fantastic. Especially when put into action.

In a few of his programs he talks about writing and re-writing your goals everyday. I’ll be the first to admit I used to only write my yearly goals down, refer to them a few times throughout the year and leave it at that. I decided to take the jump and do what Tracy recommends and am on about day 30. Although I haven’t had any mind-blowing revelations I have definitely been more focused and aware of what I spend my time on. I’m certainly asking myself more often if the particular task I’m doing at that point in time is the best for me to be doing to reach my goals. I've definitely seen enough of a difference in my life to continue doing the exercise.

Below is the goal setting techniques that Tracy talks about in one of his programs that I wrote down and refer to about once a week. I hope it helps you as much as it has me.

Here's the technique....



dB
I appreciate you posted this quite some time ago, but just out of interest, have you been able to stick to your routine of re-writing your goals daily? How has your progress been since?

Also, do you remember what Brian Tracy book is the excerpt was from?
 
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