How’s your motor running? Are you powering through your daily tasks and accomplishing all the goals you set for yourself, or are you stuck in life’s slow lane?
Here’s how to boost your performance, using your GPS (Goal Positioning System).
1. Set clear, time-limited goals, using your GPS (Goal Positioning System)
What do you want and when do you want it? You need to know where you’re headed, otherwise you’ll end up somewhere you don’t expect.
If you’ve been resisting setting goals because it all sounds like too much work, and you’ve got enough on your plate already, try using your own GPS (Goal Positioning System).
The usual way of setting goals is to decide what you want, set the date by which you will have achieved it, and then work backwards from the date, creating monthly, weekly, and daily tasks which will, with luck, get you there.
The problem with this system is that it assumes that you’re static, that nothing much is going to change in you and in your environment between now and the date you’ve set for achieving your goal. But you change every day, and so does everything else.
Try using your GPS. It’s simplicity itself. The only demand it makes on you is that you decide what you want, and by which date you want it. Then you set yourself some weekly and daily tasks which will, according to where you are at the moment, and according to your current knowledge, take you there.
The only thing you need to keep in your mind is your goal. Your GPS locks onto your goal and proceeds to move you towards it.
How? Read on for how to use your GPS.
2. Daily: visualize yourself successfully completing tasks and achieving your goals
Split-brain theory suggests that your brain’s split into two: into your right and left brain. Your right brain sees wholes, rather than parts. Your left brain focuses and sees parts, rather than wholes.
The two halves of your brain work together smoothly, most of the time. However, you can gum up the works with stress, by trying too hard, and by assuming that you know exactly how you will achieve your goals.
Your brain works best if you use your imagination (images/right brain) to picture what you want, and use your logic (left brain) to figure out a plan, and work on the plan, TODAY.
So get an image of your goal’s achievement, and confine your activities to what you can clearly see to do right now, today, to get yourself toward your goal.
You confine yourself to today, because you will change today, and everything will change around you, albeit subtly (usually). Confining yourself to today is realistic. You can’t know what will happen tomorrow; you don’t know what effect your actions today will have.
Before you do each task today, take a moment and picture the task as done, before you start it.
If you hate a task, this mental imaging is vital. Let’s say you hate to make cold calls (telemarketing). You dislike the task, so you put it off as long as possible, and when you do get around to doing it you do it in a half-hearted manner. Guess how many sales you make with this attitude?
Instead, try this. Imagine yourself doing something you enjoy, say swimming. Imagine yourself in the pool, swimming laps. Really get into this, use your senses, and clearly imagine your enjoyment.
Now say to yourself: “As I’m making my cold calls, I’ll feel exactly the same enjoyment I do as when I’m swimming.” Now picture yourself making the calls, and enjoying doing it.
3. Use your intuition
The next step in using your GPS is to allow your intuition to help you.
Your intuition manifests through bodily sensations. You may get “gut feelings” or your feelings may manifest somewhere else in your body. Listen to them. Follow your instincts.
4. Write ABOUT what you want, and why you want it
Writing about what you want, and why you want it, is a great way to deal with negative emotions.
If you feel resistance to doing something, say cold calls, as in our example, take out a pen and paper and ask yourself why you feel this.
Just keep writing. Write as quickly as you can, for at least ten minutes. Use a timer. Don’t stop writing until the ten minutes is up.
You’ll be amazed at the effect this simple process has. You can change your mood entirely, and can also get at the root cause of your discomfort and eliminate it.
True, you may feel some discomfort as you write. However, by being willing to stay with it, those feelings will dissipate. And best of all, they won’t return. Stay with it.
5. Create and use a daily task list
Each morning, using a pen and paper, write out five tasks you will do today. It’s important to use pen and paper for this, and write out the tasks manually, even if you use a PIM (Personal Information Manager) or calendar on your computer.
Write out your tasks, and prioritize them: A,B,C,D,E.
Writing out your tasks by hand kickstarts your brain. It involves both your left and right brain, and gets them to cooperate.
If you aren’t powering through your life, with your eyes fixed firmly on the prize — your goals — use your GPS. It’s easy, it’s great fun, and best of all, it will move you towards your goals faster than you believed possible.
Copyright 2003 by Angela Booth
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