Did you, like so many others, set new goals or resolutions this year?
Are you still motivated to make them happen?
Did you know that January 13th was Quitter's Day?
Yes, it’s a thing, recognized every year, about two weeks into the New Year. Many of us give up or just forget about the good intentions we had when we rang in the New Year.
So, if Quitter's Day is a thing, why do we even bother to set goals??
Maybe because:
We have great intentions?
We are motivated by the New Year?
We see everyone else doing it?
We have an idealization of a new me?
Why shouldn’t we set goals? Because of all those above.
We should however set goals because:
We have a clear vision of our future
We recognize a gap between where we are now and where we want to be
We are ready and able to do things differently
We have let go of the old ways of doing things.
Before you begin to set a new goal, ask yourself these questions:
Why have I not done this already?
Do I believe I can achieve this goal?
What specific action am I going to take and when?
How will I know I am successful?
If we could just decide we can be thinner, more successful, exercise daily, get a better job, be more focused or just be a different person… we would have done that already.
So what is getting in the way?
We are! Our internal dialogue that we probably aren’t even aware of. Most of our actions and decisions are unconscious. If we were conscious of every single thing we did, every moment of our lives, we would be completely overwhelmed.
Therefore, we should expect that most of our action and decisions toward achieving our goals are also unconscious. That only leaves a small amount of conscious thought to change the way we do things.
Not good odds!
If we change or realign our internal dialogue, we will have more success in changing the behavior unconsciously. Making it work within our unconscious behavior.
But how do we change what is our core self, our inner belief?
First, we should understand where that dialogue came from, what is the story we are telling ourselves or the limited inner belief you have about yourself?
“I’m not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, worthy enough”.
When we hold onto those thoughts, being able to see yourself as “enough” is almost impossible, does working on this goal go against your deeper belief about yourself? This is baggage, the stuff we hold on to that we don’t need.
Our stories and beliefs come from experiences that we have interpreted, mostly to protect ourselves from harm. They could be:
If I trust – I will be let down
If I step up or speak up – I will be rejected
If I don’t clean my plate – I will be in trouble
If I do it for me – I will be selfish
Once we release the past, let go of the baggage, we can then take the next step, and create a clear picture of our future, without the inner voice holding us back.
With no baggage, and a vision of the future, we can then begin to take action. Ask yourself:
What specific steps will you now be free to take?
What new belief do you already have about yourself and your success?
The only thing left is to remain focused on your vision of the future. This is your motivational drive. You can now leave it up to your unconscious mind with some help from a coach, an accountability partner or by creating new habits to instill the action until it becomes normal everyday unconscious action.
So don’t use Quitters Day as a reason to give up, you can tell your unconscious mind that you are worth it, you are good enough and ready to be that person you want to be.
I’d love to hear what new goals you set and how are you getting on with them? Try these 4 steps and let me know what Lightbulb moments you have?
Happy New Year to you all, I am so excited to see where this year takes us.
Send me an email or use the form at the bottom of this page to get in touch.
I'd love to hear your story!
Thanks for reading, I hope this has given you some things to think about and you have some of your own Lightbulb Moments.
I'd love to hear about them.
If you would like some help experiencing them, I'd love to help.
Please share this with anyone you know who loves experiencing Lightbulb Moments.
Enjoy the Ping!
Viki Johnston