Goal Setting and Your Brain

It’s a new year, which means most people will attempt a fresh round of goal setting. Most people will also struggle with achieving their goals.  Why?  It could be for a lot of reasons… maybe you’ve set too many goals, or unachievable goals, or maybe you don’t have the right plan and follow up in place. Whatever the reason may be, there’s a simple solution to making sure your goals are always reached… using your brain for what it was intended!

Goal Setting and Your Brain

Our brains are incredibly powerful tools, if you know how they work and how to use them…

Our conscious brains are built like a series of processors in a computer, only capable of one conscious action or thought at a time.  Knowing this allows you to use your brain’s processing power to help you achieve your goals:

1. Because ours brains are only capable of one thought at a time, use that power for good and not evil.  What I mean by that is only allow your brain to tell yourself in our ‘internal self-talk’ that you can achieve what you set your mind to.  A famous U.S. Marine General once said: “a soldier’s worst enemy on the battlefield is the six inches between his ears.”  Replace negative, self-defeating self-talk with: “Yes, I can.”
2. Use your ‘Reticulating Activation’ power.  Our subconscious mind is incredibly powerful.  Our subconscious brain is like a super computer that uses a parallel processor – meaning that it sees all, hears all, and can process thousands of bits of data in a fraction of a second.  When we set goals for ourselves, our subconscious brain captures the goal and goes to work scouring data to find opportunities for us to be successful based on our conscious thinking.  For example, you set a goal to go on a family vacation to Hawaii.  The next thing you notice is that you are seeing posters in windows and items on your computer about Hawaii.  Everywhere you go, you bump into people and overhear conversations about Hawaii.  Did the entire world decide to go to Hawaii at the same time?  No.  The ‘data’ about Hawaii was always there.  Your subconscious was not paying attention to it before because it was not important to you.

Conclusion for Successful Goal Setting and Achieving?

Use your brain.  Use the self-talk in your mind for positive, motivating discussions with yourself.  Then use the reticular activating system in your subconscious to see opportunities for success unfold before your eyes.  The rest is up to you and the choices you make.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, partner at Incrementa Consulting Inc., #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.