“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible” – Robbins
Tony Robbins, a man who didn’t always have a multimillion dollar empire, built it all by being confident and setting goals. He once said, “Goals are dreams with deadlines” and that resonated with me.
When you started your business you must have had a goal in mind… did you write that goal down? One of the key things Tony talks about is his 4-step process to achieving goals – and the first step is writing your goals down.
“Write your goals down – not on a computer, but on paper, or in a journal,” Robbins says. “There’s something that happens when we write something down.”
I love writing my goals down on paper. It is almost like keeping a dream journal. There is a sense of satisfaction when you take that piece of writing out and tick a goal of your list.
There are a few ways you can achieve this. Recently, I completed a 7 Day writing challenge hosted by Joanne Fedler and the first challenge was to “dreamwrite”. I had to jot down whatever came to my mind in a list. Things I hated, loved, wanted to do, wanted to be… etc. BUT I had to do it with a stop watch on, and I had to WRITE it in my journal. This was great practice. Once you get into the swing of writing, you can chalk out almost anything – including your action plan and your goals for your business.
Now, writing down your goals is only step 1. What happens next…
Robbins suggests you write down the answers to the questions, “What would that mean to you?” and “How will it change your life?”
Now that you have written down your goals, it is important to delve deeper and outline why these goals are important to you. Why is that goal on your list in the first place and what are you going to achieve after completing that goal.
It always helps to have a clear objective, purpose and create momentum. It can be related to your business, your job or our personal life. Goals are important all around. But goals mean nothing if they don’t have meaning behind it. Write a goal down and then explain what that goal means to you, why you want it and what you would gain from achieving it.
Writing goals is not a 5-minute process. Whilst it is task people are prepared to take on, it is important to get into the right mindset.
“The reason why most people don’t follow through is because their psychology is messed up,” Robbins tells CNBC’s Kathryn Dill. “How do you change your psychology? I don’t mean be positive, I mean be smart.”
We often chat to our members about Mindset and how important it is to be clever when chalking out what you need to do to get to where you want to be. Everything in life comes from the ideas in your mind so it is very important that your mind is fed the right kind of food.
If you start believing in something, positive or negative, it will happen. Your mind is that powerful. If you believe that your business is failing due to competition and that your money is being wasted on advertising, then your business will fail due to competition and money wasted on advertising.
BUT
If you believe that your business can do better if you stand out from the competition and improve your advertising after testing and measuring your current marketing plan, then your business will succeed.
Mindset – a very powerful tool when your goal is to succeed and be happy.
Robbins shares his 10-minute morning routine with CNBC. These few habits help him focus:
- He spends his first 3 minutes thinking about things he is grateful for
- The next 3 minutes – Tony focuses on feeling the presence of God
- The last 3-4 minutes he visualises his “three to thrive” – he thinks about the three things he is going to achieve that day.
Anyone can find 10 minutes each morning, the self-made millionaire says: “There’s no excuse. … If you don’t have 10 minutes, you don’t have a life.”
The last and probably the most important step in Tony’s 4 step process is “Repeat”.
“Repetition is the mother of skill,” Robbins writes.
Everyone has heard the phrase Practice Makes Perfect. This is basically what Robbins means when he uses “Repeat” in his 4-step process.
Have you ever noticed that if you write down a goal that is unachievable, big and impossible to complete quickly, you get more disappointed if you fail? You then start losing focus on that goal and slowly, that goal becomes less important. Therefore writing small, achievable and repetitive tasks is a better formula for success.
“If you want to master anything,” Robbins says, “you have to ingrain it into your system.”
Sonia Irani
