I am addressing you, personally, in this article, as if we were face to face, and you were my only reader. There is a powerful method for achieving goals that no one is talking about because it is so new, and because it is so very different from what has gone before. I will share that with you now.
Previously, goal achievement was a matter of writing the goal down, setting a deadline, and then trying to keep a fire in your belly every day so you could keep progressing, even when you absolutely were not in the mood. Those with consistent willpower and self control would succeed. Those who let either of those two qualities slip, even for a day, most often failed.
You have probably experienced this, just like I did.
Next came the power of accountability. Weight Watchers and Alcoholics Anonymous made brilliant use of accountability by joining each participant to a group with whom they would meet, and to whom they would have to report their success or failure. Along with the social power of accountability, this also added the power of peer support -- people in your same position who shared your goal or challenge.
Then, you added in the power of rewards. When you met that big, hairy, audacious goal, you got a prize of some kind. Maybe it was a trip, or a coveted widget (like a new car if you were rich, or a new DVD if you were poor).
When you added all that up, goal-setting and achievement were viable. Anybody could achieve a difficult goal if they stuck to it.
And that was the problem. Sticking to it.
We call that "willpower" or "self-control," and it is very hard to sustain day after day.
The problem was that when you worked on a goal and slipped up, it weakened your self-confidence. That allowed doubt to creep in. That sapped the strength from your willpower. And that led to a habit of failure at goal achievement. For many, that then led to a subconscious decision to give up on goals. It simply hurt too much to fail like that, and you no longer believed you could succeed.
Years ago a radical thought occurred to me. What if there were another, missing element in the goal-setting regime? What if there were a magic bullet that could overcome all the self-doubt and failure habits I had formed?
The epiphany came when I blended my marketing training with goal-setting in a very important and innovative way. At first it freaked me out, and I resisted it. Then it dawned on me that the very fact that it freaked me out was the reason it would work like gangbusters.
The secret weapon you can use to achieve your big, hairy, audacious goals, is…
Fear.
Failure to achieve your goal has to have such a frightening penalty attached that the whole idea of failure becomes unthinkable. Willpower becomes unnecessary because a whole different emotion is driving your actions. You have to set up an unstoppable penalty that is so painful that you would do anything, even work daily on hard goal-related tasks, to avoid it.
Now you're freaking out. Good. That means this can work for you, too.
Before I show you how this works, let me give this innovation a testimonial.
Everything of high value that I have achieved in the last decade has been based on combining this new, powerful principle with the best of the tried and true goal-setting wisdom. My law degree and satisfying practice. My teaching post and the joy I have when I see the light come on in a student's eyes. My consultancy, and the satisfaction I get from transforming people. My happy family relationships. Sufficient wealth for my needs without the need to obsess over it or trade away precious family time. This stuff works.
Now, here's how it works.
Your fear on hearing this principle probably arose out of thoughts of physical pain or of some unknown horror awaiting you. Anticipation of torture alone will get prisoners to talk and sell out their country, but when the actual torture starts, it become an even more sure thing.
Instead of physical pain, you need to use a less jeopardizing yet still very effective pain, so that the threat of it scares you into daily action, no matter what your mood is.
There are two kinds of pain that can do that for you.
The first kind, the weaker one, albeit still very powerful, is the fear of humiliation. Weight Watchers and AA used this, but softened it by having those who would hear of your failures be sympathetic -- no, empathetic -- to your plight.
Instead, you need to risk the penalty of widespread humiliation in front of peer, bosses, your kids -- everyone. Conversely, the same mechanism should get you praised in front of the same large group of people you know. So, you need to set up a reporting machine that you can't stop, which will either praise you or roast you in front of everyone.
That type of fear alone may be enough to overcome your need for willpower and drive you to success.
But the second type of fear, when added to the first, becomes an unstoppable tidal wave of emotion for you that will literally force you to succeed.
That second motivating fear is the loss of a painful amount of money. Superficially, you may not be impressed. If that's so, then you didn't really read what I just said. The amount of money at risk needs to be painfully large for you. Enough that losing it is unthinkable.
If you fail at your goal, that money -- your money -- is gone forever. And it shouldn't be to some worthy cause that you believe in. There should be nothing to soften the blow. It should be totally wasted either on something meaningless (that doesn't involve or help you or anyone you care about), or it should actually go to a cause you hate.
Conversely, when you succeed in achieving your big, hairy, audacious goal, that money could, and probably should, come back to you in the form of your reward. Take that trip. Buy that car,
The specifics on how exactly to implement this new goal achievement breakthrough are too numerous to cover in an article, so we'll have to stop here. But I'm certain you see the power in this method. Muster up your courage to set up this "machine" in advance, flip the "on" switch, and "scare yourself to success!"
For more information on this topic, please visit www.hyperachiever.com/rev where you can download a free ebook that goes into more detail.
Also, please remember that the classic goal-setting tools are not all superseded here. You still need a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-constrained. (The S.M.A.R.T. rubric.) You also need your roadmap written down.
Then, when you add in the accountability, and the risk and reward factors I've covered for you here, you will become an unstoppable juggernaut, and your goals will drop like flies.
Arlen Card is the creator of the innovative HyperAchiever System, and has walked the walk, with dozens of huge achievements in his life, from winning a film composer fellowship to the Sundance Institute, to running a rewarding law practice to teaching at a university, and many things in between. Operating his goal-setting and achievement consultancy under his Arlen Card, Inc., company, he "loves to help his students and clients transform themselves" into the person they've dreamed of being.
Links:
www.hyperachiever.com/rev
www.arlencard.com
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