Setting goals
With the ending of one year and the beginning of another, I am certain that you’ve noticed the avalanche of the year’s “best” and “worst” lists. They are everywhere, from newspapers and magazines to television shows – even the financial pages. While it’s fun to look back and reminisce, I believe a more productive way of looking at where we are is to consider them in the context of where we are going.
If we are to be successful it is important to review our successes and failures. The information can then be used when purposefully setting goals for ourselves, in order to unlock the energy and creativity inside each of us. When we set a goal, we cause a “gap” for ourselves – between the way things are and the way we want them to be. It is in our nature to want to close that gap. A primary job of our subconscious mind is to keep us like we know we are. Setting a goal changes how we “know we are.” We must close the gap.
In order to close that gap, to make the outside picture match the inside picture of who we know we are, our creative subconscious turns on enough energy and creativity to make it happen. We either get drive and ideas to move toward what we want in the future, or ideas and drive to stay where we are. Herein lies the danger of spending too much time looking back at the past.
You see, we move toward the strongest picture, and our natural tendency is to maintain our current idea (picture) of who we are. In order to change, we need to make that future picture (goal) stronger and more attractive than staying put. By constantly reminding ourselves of our past, we lose the drive to move forward.
Think about where you want to be and your subconcious will help you get there.