New Year's RE-Solutions

Going in to 2008, the time has come again to set our goals, and work out a plan of action to achieve them. Last year I wrote about some methods of visualization that are quite effective, and I encourage you to go back and read that article.

Although it seems to be a popular idea these days that just wishing and hoping for something is enough to “make” things happen (The Secret), I am going out on a limb to say- that just isn’t enough. There is always work involved in accomplishing an objective. It is simply a matter of presentation. Some people are able to make things look easy to an outside observer, when the truth is the successful achiever has been following a plan of action faithfully, and performing a lot of hard work to get where he is at. Here are some guidelines to make your new year successful and prosperous.

Develop a Well-Formed Outcome

1. Express the goal in the positive.
There’s a big difference between “I don’t want to be sick and tired anymore”. and “I want to be healthy with lots of energy.” The subconscious mind ignores negatives, whereas positives are well received.

2. Make sure the goal is within your power to achieve.
Is it initiated and maintained by you, or does it’s success depend on outside influences? You are in control of your own behavior, but not how well the stock market performs.

3. Is the ecology correct?
When you achieve this goal, will it affect your life in a positive way? How will it affect your family? Your job? Your own values? Are you prepared for the changes it will make in your life, and on others around you?

Once you have developed a well-formed outcome, here are some NLP processes that work best for achieving goals:

1. Add it to your timeline. Place it specifically where you want it to be, reinforce it with anchoring , and lock it into place. Use 3 or more of the representational systems (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Gustatory).

2. The “As-if” frame. Acting as if a goal is already achieved can plant it permanently in the subconscious mind.

3. The New Behavior Generator. Running movies of yourself doing the new behavior, in and out of association. This way you can feel, hear and see what it’s like to achieve your goal (associated) and also see and feel it from an outside perspective (disassociated).

4. Visualization. As I described in my previous article that you have already read or will read right away.

5. The Swish Pattern. Brings your goal into focus, to replace old and ineffective behaviors.

6. Modeling. Modeling someone who demonstrates who you want to become, and has the qualities you wish to acquire in your own personality will put you on track to develop the behaviors you will achieve.

7. Release old, outdated beliefs that prevent you from achieving your goal. I should have listed this as number one, because it is the single most important necessary action. It’s amazing how limiting beliefs can be to your final outcome.

8. Lighten up. Laugh a lot, be happy, and take life with a grain of salt. Meditate, relax and enjoy life. A happy, content and calm person will accomplish more in life as a general rule.

9. Reward yourself. This is important enough that without it, everything else I have listed will have little or no effect. Each small step along the way deserves a reward of some kind, and the closer you get to your goal, the bigger the reward should be. If there are no rewards, why else will you do it? Subconsciously you must feel that you are getting something out of it to maintain the strength to continue pushing. A pat on the back will give you momentum to move in a positive direction.

2008! The year for change!

Happy New Year Motivations!

Happy New Year Motivations!

To get 2007 off to a great start, did you sit down and write out your New Year’s Resolutions? You know you did. Most of us do. At the time, we really meant it too, didn’t we? I know I did. My heart and motives were completely pure, and my resolve was unstoppable. Unfortunately, it only took a week to break the first resolution, which was to improve my diet by eating healthy, organic foods. I thought about this last night as I downed a bottle of 7-Up spiked with a shot of Canadian Mist, and a bowl of microwaved popcorn slathered in butter and caked with salt (the popcorn was actually organic, but the butter was not). The saddest part of all was that I didn’t feel the least bit of guilt or regret. Does anybody really keep these resolutions? Sure, it would be great if we could. So, how can we?

Resolve is essentially willpower, which means nothing without motivation backing it up. Motivation creates change by giving us a shove in the right direction. We are either attracted by the promise of a pleasurable reward, or forced along by the threat of pain and suffering. Without this motivational force, a resolution has no power. There must be some kind of immediate gratification to keep us on the right track. This is lacking in a resolution to lose weight, or any similar long-term goal. The promise of reward is too far off into the future, as is the threat of pain and suffering if you don’t eventually lose weight and get healthy.

The secret is too get the motivation going and keep it on track, until you arrive at your destination of a pleasurable reward. If you are working with an NLP Practitioner, many methods can stimulate motivation. I will give you a brief example here. Eyes can be closed or opened for this exercise.

1. Create a movie in your mind's eye that represents the undesireable state(for example, not being able to zip your pants, men looking away in disgust). Add sounds (grunting to zip your pants), and feelings (failure, unhappiness and defeat). This will represent the negative possiblities that you are propelled away from.

2. Grow this movie to a larger size, making it huge and monsterous, the sounds amplified, colors brighter, and the feelings stronger. Really FEEL, SEE AND HEAR the pain!

3. Once you have truly experienced the pain and misery of the undesirable state, change the movie to black and white, and shrink it down to a very small size, eliminating the sound effects. Place what is left of this movie behind you to represent the AWAY From state.

4. Now, create a positive movie in your mind that represents your desired state (for instance, yourself in a bikini- sexy and hot). Add sounds (waves crashing, or guys whistling), and feelings (the pleasurable sensation of KNOWING you look good, happiness, satisfaction and joy). Locate this movie in FRONT of you to represent the TOWARD state.

2. Magnify this picture- growing it bigger, louder and brighter in your mind. Step into the picture to experience rather then watch. It’s important to truly SEE, FEEL, AND HEAR how wonderful reaching your goal will be!

3. Step out of this movie, but keep the scene in front of you.

The object is to feel the need to run forward TOWARD your positive goal, and escape the monstrous negative possibilities by jumping into the positive movie headfirst.

This exercise works best when you have the guidance of an NLP Coach.

There are many methods to create motivation. For instance, hanging pictures of you all over the house at your goal weight (computers can do amazing things these days), or clothes in a smaller size just waiting to be worn. Positive affirmations when used consistently will propel you toward your goal. Be bold, creative, and most importantly POSITIVE. Your thoughts have a life of their own once you have formed them, so be responsible with your creations!

Have a happy and prosperous 2007!