Transcription
[Music] The power of goal setting. That's what we're going to study here on day 11 of our personal power program. You know, any success program that I've ever had the good fortune to go through, whether it be a good book, a good set of tapes, a good seminar, almost every single one talks about the power of goal setting. Why? Because it's a fundamental key to all lifelong success plans you could possibly imagine.
The challenge, of course, is we hear it so often, we tend to take it just a little bit for granted, don't we? I mean, you get yourself to the point where you've heard it so often, you go, "Please, don't talk about goal setting. You know, I know all about it. Yes, I should make sure my goals are stated in the positive. Yes, I should write them down. You know, I know all that stuff. Come on."
But you know what? You've got to be careful not to get caught in that trap called the law of familiarity. You know, where you get so used to it, you begin to take it just a little bit for granted. Because fundamentals have to be practiced daily. Hey, think about the greatest coaches that you can think of in sports history. Names that come up for me are names like Vince Lombardi, for example, or John Wooden. What were they known most for? Teaching fundamentals to people that are already the best at what they do.
I mean, think about it. John Wooden would take a basketball player, a kid who's the best in the world at what he does, virtually at least for his age group, and he can make a shot from virtually anywhere. And he'd go, "That's really cute, kid. Get over here and I want you to shoot 400 free throws." And the kid says, "I can do that." He said, "Yeah, well, let's see you do it." Or, "Come over here and I want to see you shoot 500 bank shots from five feet." "Well, I can do that," the kid would say. Goes, "Yeah, I know you can do it. And you're going to do it every day, this many times, so that you do it in the key clutch moments. You gotta practice fundamentals every day." He won 11 consecutive national championships, unlike any team in history. That's the power of fundamentals.
So anytime I do a workshop, anytime I try and do tapes, usually I put a goal-setting workshop in there. And some of them have some similarities. So if you've done one with me before, it's a chance to do it again and do it even more effectively. Invariably, when I hear people say something like, "Well, teach me something new," I know they aren't into mastery. Because repetition, again, is the mother of skill. You've heard me say that over and over again. It's because if you want to master anything, you've got to do it over and over and over again.
And every time I do a goal-setting workshop myself, I obviously make new distinctions. I set up some new goals. They change. So don't take it for granted and say, "Well, these two tapes are on goals, and they're short, and they're simple, and I can do that some other time. I already know my goals." Don't get caught in that hook. The bottom line is, do the exercises.
If you're setting goals brand new and fresh, and for most people, they don't have a clearly defined set of goals anyway. Again, you know, I'm now taking Taekwondo, and I have the good fortune of training with the Grandmaster of Taekwondo in the United States. His name is Grandmaster June Re. An interesting thing about June Re as a master is he taught me something. He taught me to go from the frame of mastering simple things over and over again. Everything he teaches to become a black belt breaks down to seven simple moves. Isn't that interesting?
Now, what's interesting is he says that most people never make it to black belt because they keep coming and say, "Show me something new." He said, "No, no. You have to master the fundamentals. And if you do those, and you do them over and over again, you'll be a black belt easily and consistently." So don't get caught in those traps. Break through the bonds of your past and look at the world in a whole new way where you understand fundamentals must be practiced daily. And you'll do whatever it takes. You're not bored by fundamentals. You get excited about doing the daily things that create the ongoing level of happiness and joy you want for a lifetime.
Now, let's take a quick look. What is the power of goals? Why do we talk about them so much? Why do we need to use them? Why are they important? Answer: With goals, we create the future in advance. We create our destiny. We shape our lives. Hey, we all have goals, whether we know it or not. The problem is, some people have really lousy goals. And whatever your goals are, they're affecting you. Maybe your goals are to get through this day. Maybe the goals are how to pay the lousy bills. The problem with goals like that is they don't exactly inspire you and get you to jump out of bed early in the morning saying, "I can't wait to go out today and pay my lousy bills." Rarely does that really create emotion and drive inside of you.
Goals can create the power to make us grow and expand and develop our success. But we've got to have something out there that's compelling enough to draw us forth. Done properly and specifically, they transform our lives. One of my best and favorite examples is a study that was done in 1953 at Yale University. What they did there was an intensive study where they interviewed the graduating class just before they left school. And they asked them a whole series of questions. But the one that was most interesting for me was, they asked them, "How many of you have a clear, specific set of goals with a written plan for their achievement?"
Well, interestingly enough, as you might guess, less than 3% had a set of written goals with a plan. 20 years later, in 1973, they went back and interviewed the surviving class members of the class of '53. And they interviewed these people to find out what were their lives like. Well, the interesting thing was, the 3% that had written goals that specifically had a plan for their attainment appeared to be happier, more well-adjusted, more excited about their life as a whole. But see, those things are subjective. The one thing that's very measurable is this: the group of people who had written goals were worth more in financial terms than the entire other 97% that didn't have goals combined. Think about that. That's the power of goal setting.
I can tell you, in my own life, it has transformed me. That you can know all the techniques of how to condition yourself to succeed, but if you don't know why you're doing it, if you don't know what it is you're moving towards, then it's rare that you're going to get the most out of yourself.
Years ago, I had the unique good fortune, as I began to study some of these technologies for optimum performance, I was invited to go to Russia. And I spent over there approximately two weeks. During that time, I got a chance to explore many aspects of Russia. I got to go to the universities. I got the chance to meet with some of the people who were involved in optimum performance technologies. And in the process of doing that, I found myself on one stretch where I was on the Trans-Siberian Railway, where I was going literally from Moscow all the way to Siberia and then back to Leningrad again. We're talking about a large stretch of land, a lot of time to just think.
During that time, I was just starting to develop some of my personal power. I really hadn't created my life the way I wanted it, but I felt like there were some possibilities out there for me. I was still living in my 400-square-foot bachelor apartment. I was still overweight. I was still in a position where I really didn't have my life where I wanted it in terms of my relationships. But on that trip, for two and a half days, all I did was set goals. And then for another two or three days, all I did was design plans on how I was going to achieve them.
And I set goals that were well beyond my presentability or skill. I had no idea how I was going to make them happen. And that's important. But I operated from a principle that's talked about in every religion known to man. So regardless of what you believe religiously or spiritually, it's a common law. And that is the power of absolute total belief and faith. I operated from the frame that if I could get inspired enough, if I found a goal that was exciting enough for me, I would figure out how to make it happen. Even though right now it might seem impossible, I would pull it off.
And I laid out goals for my life in virtually every area: personally, emotionally, socially, spiritually, physically, financially. And I chunked down, "What do I want my life ultimately? And what do I want right now?" And in a lot of areas, I thought, "Well, I can make it happen. I figured I can get control of my emotions." And so I set goals about how I wanted to be, how I wanted to communicate, how much joy I wanted to have, how much passion, how I want to live every single day, the kind of person I wanted to be as a human being. I described my relationships. I described the woman of my dreams in detail. I took six pages to describe exactly the kind of person, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually, I wanted in my life. And physically described her in detail. In addition to describing how I wanted my kids to be, I described everything.
Now, you might say, "Well, gosh, you know, you're really creating a lot of limitations." I set goals, and I look at them, and then I review them to see if they still make sense to me. But I did it in detail. I also did it in the area of finances. And I set some pretty absurd goals. I decided I want to make a quarter of a million dollars a year in personal income. At the time, I was making less than three thousand dollars a month. Three thousand was a good month. Guess what happened?
I came back. I laid out this plan. In fact, I did the plan on the back of a map that I bought in Russia. I have it to this day, where I broke down the whole thing. I show it oftentimes to people in my seminars so they get an idea where I was and what I actually created, just by designing the road maps necessary for success. I came back and began to implement it. A lot of my plans, I have to tell you, did not work out. But I achieved over 80% of my goals in less than 12 months. I mean, massive change. I went well beyond anything I dreamed of. I changed myself physically. I lost all the weight. I changed myself emotionally and developed the confidence that was necessary. I changed myself in my relationships massively. I attracted one of my dreams. I married her about a year after that. I had decided I wanted to have four kids. I got three instantly. What a deal! I was on a roll. I took myself from totally broke financially to over a million-dollar net worth in less than 12 months. You talk about massive change. My life changed on every level. I mean, I can tell you how much my confidence changed. But, you know, you might go, "Oh, big deal." But it did. My level of confidence, my level of faith, my ability to create rapport changed radically.
I mean, I also set thing goals besides my personal development goals because I felt confident that I could probably accomplish some of the development within myself. But I felt like, "I can control that. I can't control the outside world or my economics or the ability to get things." That was my hang-up at the time. I set goals for things like I was going to have a limousine, a stretched limousine. I mean, how absurd. I had a car that was breaking down continuously. I had a stretch limousine within six months. I mean, I'm talking about massive, massive change. I mean, you can't imagine the kind of miracles that happen. I know this sounds fluffy and bizarre, but it really works.
I remember when the first time I went to Fiji. I mean, it's my favorite place in the world. I thought, "You know, I've been everywhere. I've been most major countries in the world. This is the most beautiful, amazing land I've ever been to. You know, I gotta own a piece of property on this specific island." You know, I never would have thought in a million years that two years later, after setting that goal, I'd own an island. You know, or that I own a resort in Mali, and it's one of the top three resorts in Fiji. Now I go there four times a year with 20 of my best friends, and we all have a blast, and we set our goals there, we re-look at our lives and balance it and have fun. I mean, it's amazing.
But there's just, if you were to try to tell me that two years earlier, I would have said, "You are absolutely insane. You're nuts. There's just no way. I mean, you know, get real." And I'm here to tell you, don't get real. Get intelligent. Because what's real to you today is based on your past, based on your past experiences. And if you limit your future based on your past, you're not going to go anywhere. You got to get the goals that are big enough to drive you, to excite you. So don't stop and go, "How do I do it?" That's not the first step. The first step is get it down. And if you do that, you can create your island, your paradise, whether that be something emotional inside of you you want to create, like a character change or a behavior or habit, or whether that's a business you want to start, or whether that's some kind of money you want to earn, or something you want to do for your children. I'm telling you, it can happen. The magic that you've heard about and dreamed about is real. And it starts with a simplistic process of taking these generalized impulses of desire and starting to define them with more precision.
This is the power of goal setting. And we don't understand totally how it works. There's something beyond just what we understand of writing something down. Something happens. You become a creator when you write down goals. And you get clear as to absolutely why you make them happen. And by the way, that's the key that we're going to touch on here in detail. We've got to make sure that you not only set goals, but you get absolutely clear why you want them. Because there's a fundamental key to goal setting that changed my life. And that is this: purpose is stronger than outcome.
What do I mean? Well, I think that the purpose of goals is not so you get things. The purpose of any goal, the real reason to set goals, is what they will make of you as a person. Hey, look at the end of your life. All the things that you accumulate are not going to make you happy at the end of your life. All you're going to have is who you've become as a person, the moments you've created in your life that you'll never forget.
So some people in life, they go out and set goals, and they do it blindly. They say, "These are all things I want to have in my life." And they focus. Let's say on things. And there's nothing wrong with focusing on things. I want you to have as many things as you want. That's part of life, too. That's part of the manifestation process of creating results. But if all you do is focus on getting things, it may cost you. Some people, in their desire to get things, have given up their own integrity of who they want to be, of what they want to create in their life. And you've got to be careful of that. You've got to make sure when you set a goal, you know why you're doing it.
Hey, you might work real hard, for example, to do something thing-oriented. Let's say you want to make a million dollars. But see, a million dollars only motivates you so much. Becoming the kind of person who is able to manifest total abundance financially and physically for themselves and the people around them, that's rather exciting. Having the freedom that you think the money will give you, or having the ability to give, or having the ability to do things that you think that money will give you, or having more time. That'll motivate you a lot more than just the money does. Does that make sense?
The problem with setting goals is one, most people take them for granted. They don't do it seriously, and they don't do it consistently. They do it once a year, and they do it at New Year's. They run into the New Year syndrome. They set a goal, and they don't even look at it until a year later. They go, "Oops, I kind of screwed up." And they set a new one. So they have no power. Secondly, they don't realize the power of goals. They take it lightly. You know, they go, "Well, you know, yeah, I got these goals." But they don't make sure that they get it inside their head where it's absolutely real for them. They don't realize that when they set a goal, they're now creating something in life. And finally, the biggest challenge, I think, is that these people don't know why they're going for their goals. So the object, the goal itself, again, is enthusiastic for a while, and it dies out again.
Why is different for everyone. But you've got to find out the reasons. I believe this: reasons come first, answers come second. If you get big enough reasons to do something, to accomplish something, you can figure out how to do it. But if all you do is set up a goal and say, "Oh gosh, how am I going to about it?" you're not going to be inspired enough. It's not going to be compelling enough for you to really create long-term results. Every great success I know has figured out the "why" behind their goals, and that's their power.
So in our process, on the next tape tomorrow, when we do the goal-setting workshop itself, we're going to spend a good deal of time focusing on why do we want these goals after we've identified them. And secondly, how we're going to go about making it happen. But that's secondly. We're going to start from the frame that we can achieve anything as soon as we think of it. Somebody once pointed out to me a long time ago, "desire" in its Latin form means "of the father." Desire. I thought, "That's interesting." In other words, anything that I desire, that thought process has been given to me. And with the ability to have a goal, I believe instantly comes the ability to achieve it. That ability is built within us, or we wouldn't have the desire in the first place. So come from that place and watch what you can do to create a new reality of success in your life.
Now, I got a question for you. Do you know why goals really work? Well, there are lots of theories, but I'll tell you what a few of mine are. Number one, I believe that thoughts are things. That whatever we focus on consistently, we experience in our life. You and I know that's true from what we've talked about earlier in this tape. That if I pay attention to one area of my life and I focus on it, that's what's going to be real for me. That's what I'm going to feel. I also believe that whatever we focus on consistently, that our thoughts are things. That as you think, so you create. So you manifest. So part of goal setting is just by having that focus, and again, having a consistent focus. You can't just set goals one time and never look at them again and really expect long-term results. Although, hey, that's better than not having any target at all. At least your subconscious mind knows the general direction to move in. But the power is doing it consistently, reviewing them.
But point number one is, I really believe that if you focus on something, you'll experience it. Secondly, when you set a goal, there's an interesting dynamic that happens. And that is, when you set a goal, basically you're acknowledging to both your conscious and subconscious minds that where you are right now is not where you want to be. Which is, you begin to notice the distinctions between where you want to be and where you are. And as you feel that distinction, your brain becomes dissatisfied. And part of what motivates human action is a sense of dissatisfaction. I mean, hey, when you're totally comfortable and relaxed, feeling pleasure, you're not super motivated to do whatever it takes to make things happen. Generally, as a generalization. However, when we get dissatisfied, that's where we got some real power.
In fact, I tell most people in life, one of the biggest traps that most people fall into is called success. For a lot of people, success is a trap. Because what happens is, when they get successful, oftentimes they tend to party. When they fail, they tend to ponder. You know, that pondering sometimes they make some new distinctions. Dissatisfaction is a power that you want to take advantage of, not something for you to try and hide yourself out from. There is real power in finding some things you want to move away from. Because look, pressure is what creates human behavior. Pressure and tension are primary drivers of our actions. I mean, think about it on a ridiculously simple level. What makes you want to eat? Is it not a certain level of pressure or tension? What is it that makes you want to eliminate during the day? Pressure or tension in your body? That makes you want to get up and take that action. What makes you want to make love and be with somebody? There's a certain amount of pressure that creates that feeling. Learning to manage pressure and tension in your life is probably one of the basic, fundamental lessons we all must master if we really want to have a balanced life where we really feel happy and successful.
But learning to use pressure and goal setting is absolutely critical. With literally no pressure to go for it, we have no motivation. And so a certain amount of pressure is generated when you clearly define what it is you want, and you see that you aren't there. It creates a gestalt where your brain says, "Hey, I want that. I'm not satisfied where I am." And you begin to have that drive. Don't hide out from it. Welcome it. Look at it every single day. Pressure isn't necessarily negative. It can be very positive. Again, if you look at it as a tool for influencing yourself to take consistent action towards your success.
You all know the metaphor, don't you? I mean, pressure is how diamonds are created. They're just rocks that got under intense pressure, and now they're turned into a gem. You need to use that same metaphor for yourself and use goals as a way of pressuring yourself. Because I know a lot of people, when they think about goal setting, they say, "Well, you know, I don't want to like commit to somebody else about this thing because then I'll feel all this pressure." That's great. That is fabulous. That means you're not going to back out. I mean, hey, when I decided a year ago I was going to work out every single day, I was going to exercise, I realized the best way to make sure I kept that commitment was number one, understand why I was doing it. Not just say, "I'm an exercise to exercise." And I realized in order to accomplish the level of goals that I have in my life, I need abundance of physical energy, vibrancy, so I have something to communicate with, so I have something that can drive me. Without that, I've end up running out of emotional gas while I'm continually driving up this mountain called success. So I didn't want to float down running out of fuel. And I decided I'm going to keep that up every day. And being physically vibrant requires a certain level of exercise. So I understood why. And I linked it to having better relationships. I linked it to having more energy for my kids. I linked it to how I would feel emotionally. I linked it to my level of physical vibrancy. I linked it to my business success. I linked it to my ability to contribute to others. But I had a lot of motivation going on there.
But in addition, what I also did is I used pressure. And I went around and on several of my programs, specifically on one I do for business people, especially called "The Power to Influence," one for sales people. On that program, I made it really clear that the only way to succeed was demand more from yourself than other people would expect. And that I had decided and would absolutely exercise every day of this year. I might reevaluate in the future, but I do it this year. And I've kept it. And I'm telling it to you too, so I have to commit even more. I don't have a way to turn back. Do you follow me?
Use pressure to your advantage. Use committing to certain people to your advantage. People that will not let you off the hook. That's part of the why. Sometimes you don't feel like doing anymore. And the only why is, "Hey, because I don't want to not keep my word." That's okay. Whatever it takes to get you to follow through and create results.
So this tape today is designed for primarily only one purpose. And that is to get you clear on the power of goal setting, what it can do to change you, and the critical element to success in goals, and that is creating a strong enough "why" and enough pressure to follow through. One of the ways we can create a strong enough "why," by the way, is not just to write down the positive "whys." In other words, "Gosh, I want this goal because it'll give me this and this in my life," or "I'll be able to contribute this and that." But in addition, I've learned to create some of the quote unquote negative "why." Something I would never would have done years ago. I'd say, "God, that's being a negative person." But what I mean specifically is, when I set goals now, I not only write down why I'm absolutely committed to making that goal a reality, but I also now write down why am I going to get this. And I do it from the frame of, "If I don't achieve this, what would it cost me?" And I get a list of "whys" of prices I'd have to pay not to have the goal. Because see, what we want to do to get ourselves to succeed is link pleasure to getting the goal and pain to not getting the goal. That way, our brain will be driven to use all of our resources to make it happen. Does that make sense to you?
So I know for some of you, it may sound negative to say, "Well, what would it cost me if it didn't happen?" But I think if you understand how the human brain works, we want to use the carrot and the stick. Hey, we're in charge. We can do this with anything with ourselves. And if we don't like our goals, we can change them at any time. Part of the power of goal setting is flexibility, not just getting stuck because of years ago you set a goal. Re-evaluating and saying, "Based on where I am and now in my life, is that still the right goal for me? Is that the right direction?" I encourage people to set goals no less than twice a year. And I have them review their goals in detail at least once a month, and review their top goals daily. It is that kind of consistent review that'll keep you on track and produce those results that you're committed to.
So right now, the purpose again today is to get you clear on how to unleash this power. And part of that power is the power of "why." Why do you want things? On the positive. And the power of being dissatisfied. So here's your exercise for today. And then tomorrow, we're going to actually unleash you into a goal-setting workshop. And you might want to review and listen to this tape again so you're inspired when you go to do that exercise. Because I want you to really come to life and know you're about to create real results.
When you start that workshop today, though, pull out your success journal. And here's your assignment. What I'd like you to do is I want you to write down two things. Number one, what are some of the areas of your life you are dissatisfied with now? I don't want you to feel bad, real negative about it, but just be honest with yourself. What are some of the areas of your life that are not enough? It's not good enough. It's not where you deserve it to be. It's not where you're committed to having it be. Take a look at yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, financially, in your relationships. So the question I want you to ask yourself is, "What's not good in my life? What am I not satisfied with?" And get inspired as you write it down, because whatever you write down, you're going to be able to change. And that's number one. Make a good list of things you're dissatisfied with. That'll create some pressure inside of you to create some powerful new goals.
And number two, write down what kind of beliefs would I have to have? What are a couple of additional beliefs? Since we've talked about that earlier, what are two or three other beliefs that I would probably need to have in order to really set goals and achieve them? What are two or three new beliefs I'd need to live by in order to really start achieving my goals? That's your simple assignment for today. Just leave today with a focus on getting big enough "whys." The power of "why" is the power to achieve your dreams. I'll see you tomorrow. Remember, live with passion.
[Music]