What does setting goals have to do with your happiness?

If you’re like me, then from time to time, you might have a realization, a bit of an ‘ah-ha’ moment when you see that sometimes, the most obvious things seem to elude you.

Take, for example, a job I had to get done.  Now, I knew that it involved writing 28 pages in a day.  Right, that seemed pretty straightforward enough so I dutifully sat down and began typing.

Sometimes, the ideas would flow steadily with perhaps a brief pause here and there as my brain scanned its databases for the most appropriate word to use.  At other times, the ideas were a little less willing to stream through and those were the times when I would take a break and try and do something different.

When I got back, I would continue with a little more momentum than when I’d stopped but it wouldn’t be long before I was stalled yet again for an idea.

If you’re a writer, you’ll be very familiar with this sort of thing and more than likely take it philosophically as ‘par for the course’.

However, it occurred to me one day that, given that I’ve been writing for most of my life and that I’ve been writing ‘professionally’ for a good few years, shouldn’t this get easier?  Shouldn’t I be able to stick at something just a little bit longer and coax the writing muse to stay longer than it usually does?

Don’t get me wrong.  Breaks are wonderful and necessary.  But they don’t always create or cause greater efficiency.  What do I mean by that?

If I needed to write a 28 page document in one day, I should have been able to do it, given my experience, my knowledge, my skills etc.  After all, I’d done it before and I should be able to do it again whenever I wish to.  But why wasn’t it getting any easier?  Why didn’t I feel I was getting ‘better’ at it?

Pondering these questions triggered the ‘ah-ha’ moment.  I realized that what I hadn’t done but ought to have done was set myself mini-goals, or sub-goals, if you like.

For instance, I could have broken down the 28 pages per day into say, 7 pages per hour.  That would have enabled me to complete the job in 4 hours.  Or, I could have set myself a less demanding pace and decided to complete the job in 7 hours, which would have meant 4 pages per hour.

Within these time frames, I could easily allow for breaks thus keeping a fresh and steady momentum.

So what is the ‘elusive obvious’ here?

It’s this:

The brain is most efficient when it has more immediate, measurable and frequently occurring targets.

Blindingly obvious, you say?  I agree, ‘cept we don’t always remember, do we?  And we don’t always apply it to all our goals, do we?

28 pages a day is a good enough target when you have 28 such chunks to complete in the next 28 days.  The brain then organizes itself according to the 28 days and the subconscious ‘pressure’ to complete 28 pages each day is active and effective.

However, when the 28 pages in one day is a one-off, non-recurring event, then the brain requires more immediate, measurable and frequently occurring targets or goals.  The ‘pressure’ is set off at each hour and you’re more likely to stick to the demands of each hour i.e. 4 (or 7) pages rather than hang loose by a less immediate and less frequent demand such as ‘a day’.  After all, when does the ‘day’ start for you?  When does it end?  A day is an adjustable target, an hour isn’t!

Does this make sense?  I hope so.  If not, consider this:  Which of the following requests is likely to get you acting more efficiently i.e. producing the most suitable response in the least amount of time :

• Please be ready for dinner this evening
• Please be ready for dinner in the next 30 minutes?

Or, how about this one.  Which of these is going to get you moving real fast:

• Walk fast because there might be snakes in the area
• Walk fast because there’s a snake right behind you?

Yes, your brain’s efficiency increases when the targets are immediate, measurable and frequently occurring :).

But now, here’s the more important reason for sharing all this with you:

When it comes to ‘personal development’ goals, these too operate by the same principles.  You would be more successful with them if they too were broken down to more ‘immediate, measurable and frequently occurring’ goals!

Yes, the goals of happiness and freedom and prosperity can and should be broken down into sub-goals with more immediate, measurable and frequently occurring time frames.

Now, if you’ve read this far and are keen to know what I mean by that and what examples I might offer you, I dare say you’re going to be disappointed, if not irked, by what I’m about to suggest.

Why?  Because I’m sure you’ve heard it before and perhaps chosen to ignore it or didn’t think you could do it or even tried and didn’t succeed or perhaps simply had no idea how to do it.

Well, despite the risk of leaving you disappointed and/or irked, here is what I suggest when it comes to the goals of happiness, freedom and prosperity:

Break them down to the immediate and frequently (constantly) occurring goal of…

NOW.

Indeed, it’s the only way you’ll ever ‘achieve’ them!  Imagine, intend and allow happiness, prosperity and freedom NOW.  It’s not just a metaphysical goal, it’s a proven method for getting your brain to cooperate with you in achieving your goals.

If you have any doubt about the effectiveness of this, just remember:

What you see in your immediate reality are the EFFECTS of PAST thoughts, imaginations, intentions and permissions.

If you wish to see different things i.e. EFFECTS in your future reality, set yourself the immediate goal of imagining, intending and allowing them NOW.

Do it.  NOW.

Love always

Lucy

Awakening to Happiness, Prosperity and Freedom NOW!