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The evidence from goal setting research is simple. Those who set goals and then act in a certain way perform better than those who don't. Goal setting is basically a theory of motivation with commitment and self-belief as central 'levers'. “[Consciousness is] the process of creating a model of the world using multiple feedback loops in various parameters [such as temperature, space and time] in order to accomplish a goal [such as finding shelter, mates or food]” - Michio Kaku - The Future of the Mind People set and achieve medium and longer term goals - both simple and complex, effectively choosing to identify and try and solve a gap between where they are/ what they have and where they want to be/ what they want. Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself through changes in neural pathways and synapses as a result of changes in behaviour, environment, neural processes, thinking, and emotions as well as bodily change - Wikipedia So, if goal setting done in the right way causes the brain to change, what is the start of the process? Vision. In repeated scientific studies, long range goals which provide the vision of a desired or valued future produce higher achievements when combined with short and medium term goals. 'When combined with short and medium term goals' is key here. You need a vision and a plan. Peter Thiel has made a lot of money as a co-founder of Paypal and early investor in Facebook with another 73 investments in 57 companies to date. In his book 'Zero to One', Thiel considers Steve Jobs to have been a designer, but not just in the way you think. In his words, "The greatest thing Jobs designed was his business. Apple imagined and executed definite multi-year plans to create new products and distribute them effectively." Vision provides you with clear direction and aligns your resources. So today's action: Click here and describe [cm field_name="My Vision of Success"]. Involve all of your senses as if it were already a reality. What does it look like, taste like? Feel it, smell it and hear it.

Apparently, if you get stuck in quicksand you should try and lie back and relax. You eventually float to the top and can roll out. Do you ever feel a nagging sense of dissatisfaction with your inability to progress against your goals? It may be a sense of fogginess about what they really are, so you never start to work towards them. It may translate into procrastination or even dropping or reducing the ambition of the original goal. Most people feel stuck in the quicksand of failing to progress their future dreams and ambitions. This tension at the heart of goal setting and task achievement arguably reflects the tension at the heart of our very existence on this planet, living a time-bound life. Our ability to create a view of future reality (a goal) at odds with current reality and then choose the goal is fundamentally destabilising. It often means we are making a statement to ourselves of our dissatisfaction with our current lives. Some of us know this is not healthy, and attempt to reconcile a desire to progress and achieve with a mindfulness and appreciation of how lucky we already are/ what we already have: our current reality. 'Some people I met seemed to be on a different path, even though they had many of the same things that I was working so hard to achieve. As I looked to see what was different about them, I realized they were following inner wisdom instead of outer goals. They still wound up getting somewhere in the game of life. It’s just that it didn’t matter so much to them where that happened to be'. - Michael Neill, The Inside-Out Revolution. So today's intervention really is like putting windows on Constant Mentor's Trojan horse. You're embarking on a goal setting and achievement journey out of the quicksand which involve clear, scientifically-supported steps. But at the same time we're going to relax you backwards into realising that maybe the goals you currently have aren't really as important as you think. Admin How's your Vision of Success sitting with you? At any time you can review and edit your programme by clicking the Goals tab on ConstantMentor.com.

Gallup are a global research business. They identified the following elements as being the currency of a life that matters. The 5 broad categories essential to most people are: Career well-being: how you occupy your time or simply liking what you do every day Social well-being: having strong relationships and love in your life Financial well-being: effectively managing your economic life Physical well-being - having good physical health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis Community well-being - the sense of engagement you have with where you live - Well Being, Tom Rath & Jim Harter What areas of your life do you need or want to improve your performance in?: Relationships good? Hitting your business targets? Fitter than your age? The right level of wealth set aside for your future lifestyle? Part of your community? We'll come back to this, but please now click through and tell us your [cm field_name="Area of Wellbeing Most in Need of Improvement"]  

....you will get these idea/ action summaries through to consolidate your learning: Done:

• You developed your Vision of Success.
• You selected your Area of Wellbeing Most in Need of Improvement
• Your Draft Goal has been created

• All living organisms, from plants to animals to people, must engage in goal-directed actions in order to survive - Locke/Latham
• Long range goals which provide the vision of a desired or valued future produce higher achievements
• If vision is your long term 'what' you want to achieve, purpose is your long term 'why' you exist
• There is a strong possibility that your goals aren't really as important to you as you think they are, but that there are others that are
• Passion filters goals to enable you to identify the important. If you're not passionate about a goal, it isn't important to you
• Only 7% of the people surveyed thrive in the 5 areas identified as being key to a life that matters to us
• 180,000 People From 150 Countries Identified 5 Elements Crucial to a Life That Matters: career, social, financial, physical & community well-being
• Specific, difficult goals are scientifically proven to lead to higher performance than 'do your best' goals or no goals at all
• There is a direct, linear relationship between the degree of goal difficulty you set and your performance against that goal
• The performance of scientific study participants with the highest goals was over 250% higher than those with the easiest goals
• Be clear. Why do most people not achieve their goals? Failure to appreciate the amount of hard work they have to put in

....how was your second week? This is what you've learned and done: Done:

• Written a message to yourself about why your draft goal is important to you
• Surfaced your self belief issues about your draft goal
• Identified the main mental/ psychological limitation that will stop you achieving your goal
• Suggested the one thing you could do now to overcome your main mental blocker
• Identified the main exercise/ diet/ technology blocker that will stop you achieving your goal
• Suggested the one thing you could do now to overcome your main exercise/ diet/ technology blocker
• Identified the main time/ people/ resource blocker that will stop you achieving your goal
• Suggested the one thing you could do now to overcome your main time/ people/ resource blocker

• That talking to yourself in times of need will remind you of the importance of your goal to you
• As we progress, your self satisfaction will increasingly become contingent on achieving your specific, difficult goal
• We mainly fail to achieve specific, difficult goals because we are not committed enough and we do not really believe that we can achieve the goal
• Self belief is one of the most frequently cited psychological concepts in over 50yrs of scientific research of goal achievement
• Compared to commitment and self-belief, your ability rarely affects whether you will achieve a goal. Learning sorts ability.
• People most often fail to change their lives because they fail to set high enough goals
• It is important to be clear whether your goal is driven by your needs or wants, and whether it aligns with your values
• Consistent aerobic exercise eg. 30 mins per day is proven to improve brain performance, stress management & behavioural control
• Exercise, diet and technology are vehicles, enhancers and enablers for your goal via your brain and body
• Time is your most valuable resource. If you haven't been serious about setting time aside, longer-term you're only tricking yourself
• The importance of building your fan club. Identify who are the best people you know to support you & your goal. Work out how to 'neutralise' the disbelievers
• You need to work out what you need to achieve your goal and then be entrepreneurial in how you acquire the resources to achieve it

This is going to be different We're called Constant Mentor for a reason. You've not signed up for a passive learning programme you can dip in and out of. If you're serious about setting and achieving life-changing goals, read on. If not, cancel your payment card details now in Your Account and carry on with your life. Constant Mentor has been designed to fit into the gaps in your already busy life. At its core is an insight about us humans: we're not as complex as we think, and we're often hijacked by our own thoughts. We will ask you to take an action most days - either in an email or an SMS text. You have to find the minute that it will take to do it, otherwise you'll immediately fall behind. Don't worry that what we're asking of you seems a big/ important question that you need time to think about: nothing is set in stone. We come back to all areas as part of the programme as you learn more. We know that your first, fast response is often your best. Don't worry: just act immediately. Getting Started Admin Each day you'll receive SMS text messages as you did earlier. Save them to your address book as Constant Mentor so that people don't think you're getting strange messages from an unknown number. Probably best to do the same with these daily emails you'll receive too. The SMS text messages and emails each day and week take you through areas of the overall programme. If you don't understand how things fit together, don't worry. Trust us. It's all part of the process. The email you will receive in a few hours gives you a taste of how we lay you a paper trail of thinking. However, the action is the most important thing each day. Just do it. Don't procrastinate. Respond from your gut immediately rather than putting it off as a 'to-do' for later. This programme is designed for this. ps. We won't talk a lot about science and drown you in data to support what we say; we know that the action is more important than the theory. However, we're 'grumpy scientists' and struggle with telling you to do things if not backed by evidence. So just ask us at any point and we'll direct you to the research we're using from the 1,000+ studies (and counting) our team has the joy of sifting through.

How important is your draft goal to you?: [cm field_name="My Draft Goal"] This is a vital question because at your lowest moment; when you just want to stop, go home and curl up in bed, only the important goals will keep you working hard. You have to be able to draw on the importance of the goal at a moment's notice. This needs to be something that is important to you personally. It does not need to be judged by others as important, although it may well be. One Constant Mentor client contacted us after receiving this intervention and described completing his first marathon to raise money for a cancer charity, using the image of his mother's strength in getting through chemotherapy as his 'importance trigger'. The best way of testing this is to talk to yourself. As we suggested in the SMS text this morning, probably not out-loud right now - although this would work when you were about to give up. No, talk to yourself in writing and then see how it feels later in the programme for us to play it back to you. We will use this technique increasingly as you progress as a powerful form of self-talk. Your 'importance trigger': [cm field_name="My Draft Goal is Important to Me Because....."]  

I bet you hadn't realised that starting your goal setting programme would turn you into a time lord, a movie star and an entrepreneur. Nice side effects. Time is your most valuable resource. Most people start setting a goal on top of everything else in their lives. This is fine if you can make it fit, but lots fail because of lack of time. It can be soothing in the short term to use lack of time as an easy excuse for not pursuing a goal. If you haven't been serious about setting time aside though, you know that longer-term you're only tricking yourself. Wikipedia defines an entourage as 'an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual' You're going to be at the centre of your own entourage. You just need to build it. First, start with those closest to you who need to be your biggest fans and supporters rather than your biggest doubters and blockers. Think about how they need to help you; either physically, emotionally or by giving permission for you to take the time you need to take out of your life to achieve your goal. Wider public declaration of your goal at this stage has mixed scientific support. Think more about blockers and who can help you remove these blockers, and share at first with those people so that you start to build your team. They can be invaluable for the next stage of your detailed planning towards your goal, and later when you need progress feedback. An entrepreneur achieves a goal by pulling together limited resources creatively. You need to work out what you need to achieve your goal and then be entrepreneurial in how you acquire the resources to achieve it. So, what is your [cm field_name="Main Time, People or Resource Blocker"] to achieving your goal?

You may not have been expecting the interventions today. Think of exercise, diet and technology as being vehicles, enhancers and enablers for your goal. Regardless of you choosing a physical goal or not, these three areas have to be invested in to the extent that your time and resources enable. This investment is in the ability of your brain and body to carry you to achieve your goal. The extent to which your brain is performing will help your planning, decision-making and ability to spot and take advantage of opportunities. Your body needs to be as strong as your goal requires it to be, but also to provide the maximum energy to work as long and as hard as possible on your goal. Technology both enables and enhances. As tools or equipment which are required to achieve your goal, but also when technology step changes the ability to achieve. When new innovations unlock the ability to perform, goals can be set higher and your limits stretched further. People talk about enjoying the journey of life. We are advised not to obsess over the future and what we do not have, or what we want to become. We agree completely. However, a journey requires your movement. For you to take steps on a repeated basis when you really just want to give up and go back to your easy, unchanged life. So, what is your [cm field_name="Main Exercise, Diet or Technology Blocker"] to achieving your goal?  

That's the secret sauce right there. Control your mind, put in place a great plan and work hard to deliver that plan. Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor who has spent the past thirteen years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. What she has observed is that most of us know what we have to do to get what we want. But we then don't do it and feel guilt and shame for not being good enough. We must be weak or flawed we tell ourselves. I can do those '8 Habits of Successful People' in that blog/ that book, but I fail to do so, therefore I must not be good enough. Wrong. Where we are failing is to be lured by the 'how-to' and the 'quick hack' without working on the blockers and limitations first. To repeat the message of a million self-help books: you know what to do, you are all you need etc. etc..... Brené has 'just' flipped the perspective. Vulnerability/ guilt/ shame are not signals of the weak. Awareness and work turn vulnerability/ guilt/ shame into the foundations of the strong. This is why the plans we build to achieve your goals start with recognising and overcoming blockers and addressing weaknesses, before recognising what will drive success. We then build detailed plans against each of those drivers. Then you work hard. Let's go back to what you said last night about your self belief issues in relation to your goal: [cm field_name="Self Belief Issues"] What is the main mental/ psychological limitation that will stop you achieving your goal?: [cm field_name="Main Mental Blocker"]  

The clue is in the name. The uncomfortable truth about hard work is that it's hard. Your commitment to working hard to achieve your goal is the first and most important commitment you must make. Without this, everything else you do for your goal is likely to be wasted. Hard work is also so uncomfortable because it does not have a continual payback. At first your hard work will enable you to achieve a lot towards your goal. As you get closer to it, more work is required for less obvious payback because all the easy wins have already been won. So when you're feeling most weary, you'll have to dig deep to work even harder. We discussed yesterday how specific, difficult 'high' goals lead to higher performance for five main reasons. We covered the first three, which are more cognitive. Fortunately for the hard work message above, the other two relate to effort and persistence: 4. Now your specific high goal is selected, your effort and arousal will vary with how demanding it is to achieve. Effort is activated and expended in proportion to the difficulty level of the goal 5. The time you persist with your goal. A specific difficult goal will lead you to work longer at your goal than a vague or easy goal Yesterday you wrote down [cm field_name="My Draft Goal"]: a first draft of a specific, difficult goal that is important enough for you to work hard on. Click through if you now need to refine it.

Specific, difficult goals are scientifically proven to lead to higher performance than 'do your best' goals or no goals at all. Bold, underlined and an exact repeat of the SMS text you received this morning. For a reason. This is the gateway into the secrets and science of goal setting and achievement. There is a direct, linear relationship between the degree of goal difficulty you set and your performance against that goal. Just stop for a second for the enormity of that to sink in. Yes, there are requirements; that's what this programme is all about. But, the only thing that really stops this relationship is the limit of your ability. And the great thing about humans is that if this limit is reached we just put in place learning goals that we then perform against in a similar linear way until we're sufficiently skilled to continue with the original goal. Specific, difficult 'high' goals lead to higher performance for five main reasons we will cover today and tomorrow. The three, more cognitive, reasons: 1. Attention and effort is diverted towards activities that will lead to the achievement of the goal. Irrelevant activities and wasteful effort becomes more likely to be ignored 2. You activate your knowledge, experience and skills relevant to achieving the goal 3. You develop a knowledge or task strategy. Where you know how to achieve a goal, you execute on your strategy. Where you don't have the knowledge or skills, you acquire new skills through learning and problem solving. This leads to new strategies to achieve the goal. So, let's take your [cm field_name="Area of Wellbeing Most in Need of Improvement"] as your area of well-being most in need of improvement. Now write down [cm field_name="My Draft Goal"]: a first draft of a specific, difficult goal that is important enough for you to work hard on.

Is the idea expressed in the title freeing or imprisoning? It's not about ability: that can be learnt. It's about self belief. So it turns out all those motivational posters were true. If you believe in yourself, anything is possible. Or is it? Surely it can't be that simple? This would be a short programme if it was. The catch is that unless you believe, you won't set a high enough goal to have a significant enough impact to change your life. Depressing or enabling? Self belief is one of the most frequently-cited psychological terms in goal achievement scientific research because it impacts so much of the 'infrastructure' required to set and achieve a specific, difficult goal. It impacts on the goal in the first place (the little voice in your head that may have said, 'you can't do that' the other day when we asked you to think of your draft specific, difficult goal) It can undermine your commitment to a goal you have set. It affects the plans you make to achieve the goal. Ultimately, lack of self belief will hinder the hard work required to achieve any goal. So, what do we do? Weak self belief is like a monster in a dark, scary film. Pull it out blinking into the light in the middle of the day and immediately it loses its impact. In practical terms this means surfacing all the blockers and likely limitations to your success in achieving the goal. This is why we start with a draft goal and then analyse over the coming days what blockers are limiting your self belief.

There is a very big problem at the heart of goal setting. We made the point this morning that your self satisfaction now becomes contingent on achieving your specific, difficult goal. Well, what happens if you don't achieve it? Because you've started a process of attempting to achieve a goal, rather than just having a fantasy or vague aspiration to do something, you're now in failure territory. You can't fail at something you don't start. Start something, and you now have two outcomes: succeed or fail. We don't like to fail. It makes us feel bad. This may be why it's taken you so long to even get to this point. But now everything starts to change; the risks of your failing are increasing because you've actually started. Two big reasons we fail to achieve specific, difficult goals are two-fold:

1. We are not committed enough
2. We do not really believe that we can achieve the goal