Photo by Urban_data from Flickr

So you have a goal in mind. You are excited. You are ready to go. You can feel the energy surging out of you. You can’t wait to get off this page to start your goal…but wait! If you go now that powerful energy will be short-lived, it will dissipate and your goals will collapse upon you.

To maximize the effect of that energy and to prolong it, I found these three tips very effective.

Tip #1: Be positive

To begin setting good goals, we must convert any negative or bad energy goals into positive goals. The number one reason is that positive goals radiate good energy. Good energy is something you want to be with. If somebody is radiating positive energy, you automatically want to befriend him or her. Same with goals, when you have positive goals you will want to complete the goal more.

To begin, you must sort out the positive goals from the negative ones. Negative goals are any goals with negative words in them.

Negative words are any words that are describing boundaries, or the half empty part of the cup. We do this more often then we think. To children we go: don’t go onto the road. That is negative because it is describing the boundaries, or where you shouldn’t go. More examples would be: don’t eat the candy, don’t climb on the sofa, don’t watch TV, etc. As you read through the examples, I am sure you can see a pattern emerging and get a good idea of what a negative goal is.

Now that you sort out the negative goals, put everything else into the positive section and ignore them for now. We are going to start to turn those negative goals into positive goals. To do this, we must identify what you can do instead of what you can’t do. If your goals are: “don’t eat candy”. What you can do might be to drink water or eat fruits. So instead of the goal “don’t eat candy”, your goal should be “Eat 2 pieces of fruit for every candy”, or “eat a fruit instead of candy”. Turn “don’t smoke” into “buying chewing gum instead of cigarettes”. Turn “don’t watch TV” into “read a book during TV time.” Turn “don’t go on the road” to “stay on the grass” (ok, that’s not really a goal, but it’s just there to illustrate my point). As you can see I am replacing a bad thing with a good thing. It’s that simple.

Tip #2: Be colorful

Did you write you goal down (if you haven’t, you should). Does it look colorful? Does the image sink into your brain? It probably doesn’t. Don’t worry about it though, because we are going to change all that.

We will need to make your goal look colorful. The point of having a colorful goal is so it’s memorable. It also makes your goal radiate more positive energy. When you look over your goal everyday, I bet your mind glaze over, I bet you don’t even fully read your goal. Well if that happens, the goal doesn’t reinforce itself into your brain and you won’t be motivated enough to complete it. Make the goal look colorful, and you will enjoy looking at the goal everyday.

To make a goal colorful is simple, get some pencils, get some gel pen, highlighter, and coloring pencil, whatever you got and start drawing out your goal. Make the goal 3-D. Draw funny pictures around it (as long as the pictures have something to do with the goals). Underline it and draw boxes around it. Basically make a fun poster for you goal.

If you are good with graphic design, make a good-looking goal for your desktop. However, do not skip drawing out your goal. The physical act of drawing out your goal involves both your brain and the goal shall sink into your brain.

Tip #3: Reduce and remove

Do you have more then one goal going on at once? If so read on, If not ignore this.

I feel that to fully achieve a goal, you must devote you body and soul to it (unless it’s a really easy goal, in which it should be on your to-do list instead). Now if you have two goals, your body and soul resources are split in half (or some other percentage depending on how keen you are on your goals). If you have 4 goals, your resources are split into four. It will keep on going and going. By having more then one goal going at once, you are reducing your chances to complete each goal.

Take a good look at your list o’ goals, pick the one that is the most important. Stick it everywhere and occupy all you attention on it. Shove the rest of the goals in the bottom of your most bottom drawers and ignore them. Only take them out again after you have completed your current goal. If you are someone who is time-conscious (aren’t we all), then you are more motivated to complete the goal in less time to finish all the other goals you have. It’s win-win situation.

Get ready…

…Because this post ends right here. Go and set awesome goals and enjoy the feeling of completing them.