Setting Goals, Putting In Hard Work And Visualising That They Come True
Published: 14/11/2017
Goal Setting and Visualisation are two processes that I use regularly. At the Tony Robbins UPW event in March 2017, I learnt how to use these processes to give myself the best chance to succeed. They work in combination; set a goal to achieve what you really want and then visualise it coming true to make it more powerful.
GOAL SETTING: WANTING SOMETHING SO BAD THAT YOU DON’T STOP UNTIL YOU ACHIEVE IT
Setting goals many people see as a waste of time, due to fear that they won’t achieve them. Goals have always been a very important part of my life. I would love them to become a greater part of other people’s lives, so they can feel happy along the way to achieving what they really want.
Prior to the Tony Robbins UPW seminar, I was like most people, it was extremely rare for me to set goals. While I was a driven person in some areas of my life like football, I just didn’t understand how vital they are. Now that I know their importance, I set goals in all the areas of my life- financial, relationships, fitness etc.
Setting lousy goals leads to lousy results. Setting goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reliable and Time Based), will make you more likely to achieve them. I recently set a SMART goal to complete the 60km Ultramarathon on the Great Ocean Road on May 20, 2018. I now have 6 months to train, and I’m counting down the days until this event!
Setting SMART goals will help you become inspired. If I truly want something, I vividly imagine the pain that I will experience if I don’t achieve it. Especially if it is a long term goal which may be in a few years time, I do this process regularly. Vividly imagining the pain over and over again feels like I am actually experiencing it not being achieved. This visualisation process brings me so much sadness, anger and stress, that it is really what allows me to understand that If I don’t achieve my goal, I won’t be fulfilled. It also gives me clarity and helps me work out what I need to do to make sure I succeed.
Finally, when my goal does come true, I celebrate it appropriately! This is the most important part in my opinion; when you have achieved what you want, celebrate it or you still won’t be properly fulfilled.
This is a picture of me crossing the line, finishing my first ever marathon in October 2017. I set a goal to complete it in under 3 hours and 30 minutes and I’m proud to say that through significantly hard work, belief and visualisation, it came true, running it in 3.28.11!
VISUALISATION: SEEING WHAT YOU REALLY WANT AS ACHIEVED, BEFORE IT ACTUALLY IS.
Tony Robbins taught me that “the human brain can’t tell the difference between something we vividly imagine and something we actually experience.“
After learning this, I set a goal at the end of March, to captain my U19s Vermont football team to a premiership. At the time I made the goal, I hadn’t even been given captaincy, but I was already vividly imagining holding up the cup alongside my coach JB. The first thing I did was photoshop myself onto an old premiership photo he was a part of. This was a secret of mine all year, and I’m now so glad to share it.
This wasn’t out of arrogance by any means. I simply had so much belief in my teammates that we were capable of achieving the ultimate success. We had such a connection and trust in each other, even in preseason, and therefore I knew that we were going to be a special team.
Before I went to sleep most nights I would look at the picture to remind myself how much I wanted this to achieve this goal. Be a Premiership Captain in 2017. I would see it, believe it, smile and then sleep.
I know this is out there! This is nothing like what most people do and that made me feel so content. I love being unique and uncommon, as it gives me assurance that I’m always being myself and not someone else.
6 months after I set my goal, this happened:
How about that!
I want to make it very clear that I’m not saying that visualisation is why we won. Not at all, because that would be unrealistic. We had a fantastic team that was always going to go far, and likely win the premiership anyway. All I know is because I had visualised winning the premiership so many times, when we actually won it, it made me even more happy and fulfilled. Having this photo to look at each night, made my dream real. It helped me in the times where I was feeling uncomfortable and didn’t want to keep pushing hard at training or in the game, because I knew that it would all be so worth it if we were to get there and win.
The message I’m sharing is:
Goal setting, and visualising work arm in arm. Live life by setting powerful, SMART goals that will inspire you to achieve something you truly want. Use visualisation to add more emotion, giving you greater drive to achieve the goal, as you are seeing the final result before is actually completed. HARD WORK is most important though. Without hard work, the goal will not be achieved, it couldn’t be as otherwise it is just like wishful thinking or dreaming for the result. However, if you can do the three together- set SMART goals, visualise achieving it and most importantly put in EXTREMELY HARD WORK, you will become a force to reckoned with, and it won’t be a case of if, but when you will achieve your goal!
