“I think there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers. There aren’t enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualise their vision.” — Clement Stone, author of “Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude”.
WARM new year greetings to you.
What a joy to be connecting with you again, an opportunity I am profoundly grateful to The Fiji Times and The Sunday Times for.
For those who wrote in responding to the articles last year, thank you for creating the time to connect. I am humbled to know there are people who not only wrote to say they were inspired by the contents, but have actually taken action on some of the teachings and have experienced results already — the results they want — and for the first time, are awakened to the fact that there is another way to do life and do it better, contrary to how we have been conditioned to think.
From the correspondence, it is evident that people are searching for a better and enriching life, one of deep-seated happiness, peace, good health and well-being, spiritual awakening, fulfilment, more connected relationships, financial abundance, and a purpose-driven life. A life of expansion. A life of growth. Hungry for something bigger than themselves. And rightly so.
Every living thing created has a natural inherent impulse to become more. To enlarge and expand itself. To push beyond its boundaries. To express itself more fully. Plants do that. They grow to full capacity. That is how we have been created — to be all we can become, not less.
The Book of Genesis instructs us to, “…be fruitful and multiply”. To be productive. To prosper exponentially using the gifts we have been given. To be successful. To contribute something significant to the world. It is our duty. Our responsibility. Our mission.
Sadly, many will not flourish to full capacity in their lifetime. They choose to be less.
What about you? What do you choose to be in 2014? More? Less?
If you choose to be less and continue living in your comfort zone, which is not comfortable at all, then nothing much will change for you. You will always end the year with what you have always got.
If you are looking to expand yourself and become more, you will end the year feeling totally satisfied with yourself.
By now many of you would have some idea of how you want to create your life in 2014. You have thought of the goals you want to achieve and may already be on your way working towards them.
Here are some tips on how to set and achieve goals fast:
1) Start with one goal — the one you find most inspiring. It is better to be successful at one goal then try to juggle many and achieve none. Once you achieve your first goal, give yourself time to enjoy it, then move onto the next one.
2) Write them down. This is the first step in creating something out of nothing. For a building to be built, the idea would originate in someone’s mind (creating stage), a plan is then drawn (writing down), the construction begins (taking action), and then the building appears in reality (manifestation of original idea). It is said that we think about 60,000 thoughts per day. By keeping your goal in your head among all the other thoughts will make you more confused. Confusion breeds chaos.
3) Write clear goals. The more clarity the better. It makes it easier for your subconscious mind to make your goal a reality if it is clear.
E.g. “I want to lose weight” is an unclear goal. “I want to lose 10 kilograms by the 30th of June 2014” is clearer. If you have been following my previous articles, I explained how the subconscious mind works, and how you can use it to get the results you want. One of the things that the subconscious does is think in pictures or images. It will find it difficult to ‘see’ or picture an unclear goal.
4) Write a plan. Jot down a few pointers on how to get to your goal. Speak to a friend who may have already achieved the goal you are aspiring towards and ask how they achieved theirs.
5) Take action. This is the most important part of goal setting. If you don’t take action, your dream to achieve your goal dies. I have come across so many people who say they want a better life, but don’t do anything to change their circumstances.
6) Believe. Believe that you are living your goal now, not in the future. You do that by spending some time closing your eyes, and seeing yourself in your mind’s eye achieving that goal already.
Include all the emotions you are feeling in your ‘scene’ — happy, excited, gratitude. What can you hear? People applauding you? Who else is with you in the scene? Any music playing?
This process is called visualisation.
The challenge is to do it as often as you can, for example, five minutes a day. I mean, how bad do you want that goal? Elite athletes do this (and so do I).
The subconscious mind acts on repetition. Each time you rehearse your goal in your mind’s eye, and play it like a movie, you are pulling your goal towards you. You are giving it strength each time. Then lo and behold, your goal appears in the physical. By doing this you eliminate doubt and fear, the two most common reasons why people struggle with achieving goals. How fast or slow you manifest your goal will depend on how often you visualise it.
7) Have fun along the way. You will find it difficult to stay motivated if you don’t
enjoy the journey.
8) In your journey towards your goal, aim to become more. Becoming a better version of yourself when you are working towards a goal will give you fulfilment.
* Kelera Kotobalavu is a Life Coach living in Sydney, Australia .