Goals Suck

By Lauren | Brain food

Mar 30

Having goals is not going to help your business. In fact, having goals could cripple your chances of success.

The human brain is complex in it’s make-up and performance. Millions of synapses making thousands of instantaneous connections. But it still wants things to be simple.

With too much going on in your brain by feeding it too many images of potential success, it’s going to get confused, disoriented and discombobulated.

if you know anything about peak performance, that’s not a great headspace to be in.

Just ask any golf coach and they will tell you that having too much going on in your brain is the #1 major problem, in fact they call the few inches between your ears the most challenging distance in golf.

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Focusing on one thing, visualising the shot and replaying that over and over is a far better way to calm the senses and concentrate on the task at hand. This single minded focus is something coaches talk about constantly.

And it’s no different when you apply goals to your business.

Of course focused effort is not easy. It’s incredible how much you can cram into your brain during the split seconds it takes to complete a golf swing …don’t dip the shoulder, relax the legs, my calf feels tight, keep your elbow in, keep your head still, breathe, now relax and….slice!!!

So in your business, you need to take some of your own medicine.
Instead of having lots of goals, the better plan is to have one, totally clear, totally focused goal. Sure you can have smaller goals under that one vision of your success, these become markers along the way that you need to achieve, but they are more like milestones, not goals.

This way your brain has a clearly defined picture of success to focus on. Concentrating on your destination, rather than the minuscule tasks you have to complete to get there. These can simply be ticked off as you progress towards your main goal.

Many times playing golf, I’ve focused on a spot I want the ball to land when chipping onto a green and so many times the ball has ended up exactly there, instead of landing on that spot and then running on towards the hole.

You get what you focus on! So don’t focus on the small stuff.

Once you have decided what your major goal is, be that winning a race, a championship, making the cut, getting 10 new clients, making a specific amount of money, receiving an award, that’s only the start to getting your brain to help you achieve it.

You can’t just simply tell your brain about the goal. You have to paint a picture of it so your brain can help you replicate that scene in real life.

The brain thinks in pictures, not words and I’ll prove it to you.

I’m going to ask you to concentrate on two words, I want you to take your time when you read them and allow your brain to focus on them.

The two words are, bacon and eggs. Now just concentrate on them….

So what did you see in your brain?

The brain thinks in pictures, not words

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It’s unlikely you saw the words, chances are you saw a plate with cooked eggs and some rashers of bacon (although some people see a pig and a chicken!). Did I tell you anything about them? Did I say they were cooked or on a plate? They were probably your favourite style of eggs too!

Amazing isn’t it how your brain will connect the dots and paint a picture for you.
Making the picture of your goal incredibly clearly for your brain is the key, you may even wish to draw it.

When you think about your #1 goal, consider what will it feel like to achieve it?, who will be there with you?, what smells, sights, sounds will you experience? what words will you hear? what will it look like?

Mindset coach, Kurek Ashley once talked about working with the Australian beach volleyball 2000 Olympic gold medal winners Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst. He talked about how they would visualise the medals, receiving them, wearing them, accepting them. They even made a trophy case and put fabricated medals inside and visualised on that image.
When they won the medals they felt it was a bit of a let-down, why was everyone so excited? Because in their heads, they had already won them, held them, owned them.

So what’s your big goal? Can you see it, smell it, feel it yet?

Don’t set yourself lots of achievable task type goals that confuse your brain and overload it with stuff you have to do. Make them just steps on the way to achieving your BHAG - your Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

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About the Author

Lauren Clemett is the Best Selling Author of the “SELLING YOU” series of practical guidebooks Know Me, Like Me & Trust Me. She is a personal branding specialist and award winning Neurobrander, helping service providers and consultants generate more income from their expertise. For more information Click Here.

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