If you want to be successful, you need to know where you want to go.

To do this, you must first define a target and it has to be a CLEAR target.

Writing goals down on paper is one of the most effective ways of doing this.

Biologically, your brain is so busy processing information that it has been compared to a blind-folded man juggling bowling balls while spinning discs with his feet.

The drawback of this incredible exploit is that you are left with a limited capacity for paying attention.

Because of how your brain is wired, you can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Basically, you don’t have enough hardware to do so.

Try this:

Have one person read something to your left ear while another reads something else to your right ear. See how much of the message you can remember.

You must realize that in order to achieve ANY goal, there is going to an immense amount of concentration and dedication required in a specific direction.

We like seeing the beginning and the end of things (no wonder “before and after pictures” are such good examples of marketing) yet, we never tend to pay enough attention to the things that go in the middle and the sweat and tears it often takes to get to the end.

For example, take a look at any rock band and you may notice that they’re “living it up”…getting paid for nothing and living the life as rock stars. Yet, if you’ve ever been in a rock band yourself, you know how much work it takes to get to that position.

It takes concentrated and consistent effort in a specific direction to get to the top.

By writing goals down, you can gather and focus all of your strengths in that single objective.

Before you spend 10 years working like a slave to achieve something that you may not really want to begin with, it may pay off to spend a few hours RIGHT BEFOREHAND (or days; or weeks) to decide upon whether it really is what you want and HOW you want it.

For example, when asked what they want, many people often answer:

“I want to be successful”

“I want to be rich”

“I want to be happy”

All of these desires have one major thing in common.

They’re too broad and too vague.

Rich? How rich? Doing what? When? With who?

You cannot hit a target that you cannot see.

Another aspect of success is the issue of time. Regardless who you may be, everyone gets the same 24 hours a day.

The truth is that you can only concentrate on certain amounts of things according to your time available and it’s VERY easy to get distracted.

We are constantly being distracted by many things in our environment.

For example, every time you turn on the television, you are being fed different commercials whose purpose is to distract you and influence you into buying whatever product they’re selling. If you let yourself get distracted enough by unimportant things, you will NEVER be successful.

The old Yogic texts describe the untrained mind as being like a monkey. If you close your eyes for a few minutes and pay attention to what’s going on in your head, you will notice that the content will tend to jump from one thought to another.

That’s perfectly normal.

If we look at the brain as an information processing machine, it’s doing its job by consistently feeding you data and making connections between the data it’s constantly receiving.

You must realize that in order to achieve ANY goal, there is going to an immense amount of concentration and dedication required. You must cut out as many distractions as possible.

Let me tell you, writing goals down and committing to their achievement isn’t easy.

It takes an immense amount of self-control and discipline to do this. Once you’ve set your goals and decided upon completing them, you’re halfway there though.

I personally still find the process to be challenging, yet it is extremely rewarding. It’s as if the more I do it, the more my mind clears up and the more I get done.

Among the benefits of goal setting is the fact that you get to empty all of the stuff in your mind into a format that you can easily manipulate.

Writing your goals down gives you a broader perspective on what it is you actually want.

For example, some time ago, I had the goals of being extremely fit and healthy AND partying all night long 4 days a week. Let’s say this wasn’t going to be possible in my specific situation, no matter how I worked or planned things out. The goals were conflicting.

I decided to become fit instead and cut out the late night partying.

So far, I am VERY glad I took that decision.

Don’t think of goals as magical mystery things. They’re objectives. Just knowing where you want to go from where you are is a goal.

Goal setting isn’t just a process, but it’s also a way of thinking and a discipline that increases your awareness of life.

You cannot hit a target that you cannot see.

Having a written goal does that.

ACTION:

For the next hour, don’t do anything else until after you’ve written down at least 10 things you want to do this year.

(C) 2008 http://www.Abundancementality.com