Most people have a laundry list of ideas, goals, dreams and aspirations for their life. There are so many things they want to do but life gets in the way. The days, months and years pass by and many of those ideas never see the light of day.
There is a little technique you can use, if you have the courage, that will almost guarantee the achievement of big goals and dreams. It is based on the idea of “social pressure”.
Think about this; let’s say you have a goal to lose a certain amount of weight or achieve some desired level of fitness. You can set the goal privately and tell yourself, “I am going to achieve this goal by August 1.” On the other hand, you can make the goal public by telling all of your friends and family what you intend to do and even give a date for your desired completion.
As soon as you take that goal public, you move into a different state of mind. No longer are you at the mercy of your own self-discipline (which has been tarnished by years of bad habits). Now you have a much more powerful force dictating your day to day actions and decisions.
Is this method too aggressive?
Perhaps you’re thinking, what if I declare this goal to everyone and then fail to achieve it? It is a valid concern but let’s look at it in more detail.
If you set your goal, tell everyone about it and work hard towards the goal, only to fall a bit short, you are still in a better position than you were before setting the goal. Your results will have improved to some degree. You can move forward and set new goals from there.
However, if you set the goal, tell everyone about it and then take no action towards the goal, you have now put yourself in an embarrassing position. In my opinion, I think the pain of an event like that might be just the fuel you need to motivate yourself into action the next time around.
If the goal or dream you are aspiring for is important enough to you, I think this exercise would be extremely valuable to you and your life.
So how do you apply this to your life? Start by grabbing a pen and paper and simply brainstorm all of the things you would like to accomplish. Have fun with it and let your mind wander. Then, look at the most time sensitive goals. For example, the goal of becoming an expert guitar player may take years while the goal of quitting smoking can happen in a matter of days or weeks.
Pick a short term goal, set a date, declare the goal publicly and start working on it. You’ll be amazed at what happens!
