Raise the Bar

I am an expert at goal setting and goal achievement. In 1992, I became a facilitator with an organization known as The Pacific Institute. It wasn’t a paid position, but what I learned has made me rich. I still use the same concepts today and that’s what I’m going to share with you.

What does the phrase, “Raise the bar“ mean? It was originally a sports term but it is used in many other areas now. When someone does a high jump, he or she jumps over a bar. Therefore, if you raise the bar, the jumper has to perform better to meet the new challenge. That’s what I want you to do.

If there is anything in your life that you want to improve, now is the time to raise the bar. How do you do that? Set some goals. If goal setting is new to you, here are some examples: A goal could be a bigger apartment or a nicer house, a newer car, a new set of matching dishes, or a new knife. Or it could be something big, something life changing: A new job, marriage, graduating high school or college, going back to school, or moving to Boston. It can be anything you want. You will have to work for it, but with what I‘m about to show you, it‘s much easier than you might think.

Step One: Write down your goals. Make a wish list. Write down everything you can think of. At this point, don’t worry about where it will come from or how you will get there. Just ask yourself, “What do I want?“ Have fun with this. Let your mind wander.

Step Two: Once you have your big want list, pick 3 things from your list that you really, really, REALLY want. These are your main goals. These are the things you will focus on and think about every day, several times a day. Keep the first list someplace safe. Once you see how easy this is, your confidence will grow and you will want to add more to both lists. That’s how it works. It’s an ongoing process.

Keep your list of 3 goals where you will see it every day. I keep my list on my computer where I see it several times a day. I like using Word documents because they are easy to edit. My list is constantly changing, but I keep my top 3 goals at the top.

Don’t worry about how long it will take to achieve a goal. It takes as long as it takes, but I guarantee you, this method speeds things up in your favor.

Note: My advice is don’t show your lists to anybody. People who don’t know about this method will try to bring you back down to Earth. Not in a mean way, but they might try to “save you from disappointment” and tell you things like, “your dreams are not realistic, that’s impossible, there is no way that will work…” You don’t need anybody’s approval. These are YOUR goals. Try this method and see for yourself. Once you become an expert at it, then you might want to share it with others. That’s fine. That’s what I did. :)

Step Three: We move toward and become what we think about. Visualize yourself achieving each goal. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and visualize what it will be like once you have each goal. What will it look like, smell like, taste like, sound like, and feel like? Imagine your life with the goal already achieved. How wonderful does it feel? How happy are you? Those are strong emotions and they are part of the process. Do this every day. Here’s why:

We are at our inventive and creative best when we have a problem. Our brain will work overtime to find a solution to the problem. That’s just the way the brain functions. How does this work? While we are reading and thinking about our goals every day, and visualizing achieving our goals, we are programming our brains to get used to something new. But when we look around in our current situation, we are still stuck in the old reality. We see a conflict, a problem. So our brain goes to work to resolve the problem. That’s why sometimes you go to bed thinking about a problem and you wake up with a solution. Pretty cool, eh?

Sometimes you will put something on your list of goals and after awhile, you will realize you really don’t want that any more. No problem. That happens to me, too. Just delete it.

This method works 95% of the time. There are times when you don’t get the goal. It’s rare, but it does happen. Hey, that’s life. There are some things you cannot control, and that’s OK. I believe everything works out the way it’s supposed to. When the 5% happens, look for the lesson, cry if you have to, then pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to work: “My new goal is…”

This has been working for me for 18 years so I know it works. It will work for you too if you give it a chance.

Now go set some goals!
Peace, out.

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