You’ve set awesome goals for the coming year! Now what?

Let’s break down the process that you can take to prepare your actions and just as importantly prepare your mind to achieve the big goals that you’ve set. After all, you’re venturing into uncharted waters if your goal is to go bigger than you ever have.

In the article last week, I outlined the first element in goal achievement – creating clarity around the goal. You can read it here. This article is going to focus on understanding the current reality.

Let’s dive into Current Reality:

The current situation

In order to know where you’re going and how to get there, you must first start with where you are. Similar to how navigation works on your phone. Your phone communicates with 4 satellites in space that can pin point your exact location based on the distance that signal on your phone is received by the satellites. Then Google Maps overlays a mapping system and shows you the faster route to the destination. (And if you’re like me, the ETA from Google creates an instant completion in which you are determined to win… that’s another article for another day…)

Just like navigation needs to know where you’re at to direct you toward the destination, you need to know where you’re at to know what is the first step toward your goal destination.

You can ask yourself where you are at this moment in relation to your goal. This question will set up your current coordinates and note the coordinates where you’re going. You get the gap or the bridge you must cross.

Note that this is a larger question than simply a question of outcomes. The money you made this year vs. what you want to make next year. You are single now and want a relationship next year. You weigh a number now and want to weigh a lower number next year.

Yes, those current outcomes are important to note. Yet, we must go deeper to understand what are the current reasons you have this outcome.

Further, ask yourself: What are your current habits relating to your current situation? What do you currently believe about yourself as it relates to your current situation? 

It’s possible that our minds are not setting us up for success. If your goal is to have a lower weight and you habitually eat unhealthy food, that’s getting in your way. Much like, if you believe that the lower weight is not possible for you, your belief is getting in your way.

Get the full picture of exactly where you are – physically and mentally toward your goal.

The evidence procedure

Again, your goal will take you to heights you’ve not yet achieved. Even if you’ve achieved the outcome before, it will be different this time because the experience is new.

That means that as of now, you don’t know what the outcome will look like. Moreover, your view of the future – where you want to be hitting your goal – is clouded by what you currently think and feel about it.

Our brains are prediction machines. One of the chief duties of our mind is to predict what will happen in the future. Studies show that our current thoughts or feelings, even those that are more salient like thirst or happiness, affect what we think we’ll do or feel in the future.

So, if you look at the present state of your business, your relationships, your health, in a negative way, that bias is likely to go into your prediction of the future. Same is true if you currently doubt your ability to achieve your goal because you’ve never done it.

To combat this, we need to use mental imagery to know exactly what it will look like when you achieve the goal. In other words, what is the evidence to let you know that you’ve achieved the goal?

This is more deep than just “I made [blank] amount of money” or “I’m in a relationship” or “I now weigh [blank]”. It’s understanding what that will look like and feel like when you achieve it.

Our goals are not just the outcome that we want. It’s the feeling that comes along with the achievement. When you know what exactly you’ll feel when you achieve the goal and can visualize it happening, that process will let your mind know that it’s achievable and will counteract any current negative associations with achieving what you want.

Your current reality plays a major role in achieving the goals that you want. Both from knowing how to get there from where you are and ensuring that your mind is working to help you achieve the goals that you have in the new year.

Be sure to continue following us in our steps to achieve the goals for the new year. In the next article we’ll learn to properly place your goals in contexts that help you win.