Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya!
Are you setting your big goals correctly? This question has been challenging me since some recent training I completed last week that revealed a fascinating insight about why some goals succeed while others fail.
What?
I’ve always been a proponent of setting detailed W.A.Y. S.M.A.R.T. goals (Written, Assessed, Yours, Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound). I’d meticulously plan exactly how many people would be in my mastermind group, how much money I’d make, and precisely when everything would happen.
Sometimes these detailed plans worked perfectly, but often they didn’t – and I never fully understood why until now. During my recent coaching certification training, I discovered something about how our minds process goals. They taught us about the difference between our conscious and unconscious minds in goal achievement.
Why?
Here’s the key insight: your unconscious mind is the actual “goal getter” while your conscious mind is merely the “goal setter.” This creates a potential disconnect. My conscious mind was busy setting elaborate, complex goals with multiple parameters, but my unconscious mind – which actually drives achievement – was overwhelmed or even resistant.
The unconscious mind prefers simplicity. It works with pictures and short descriptions, not complicated plans with 57 different measures (yes, I use that number a lot when I mean “too many”). When my goals became too complex, my unconscious mind was essentially saying, “No, you’re not doing that.” or “I don’t get it. . . “
Lesson
The lesson is surprisingly simple: align your conscious goal-setting with how your unconscious mind actually works. Set ONE clear parameter instead of multiple measures.
Rather than saying “My next mastermind group will have X people paying Y dollars by Z date with specific features A, B, and C,” simplify to: “At this point in (future) time, I will have eight people in the next mastermind group to launch” or “At this point in time, I will have X dollars in my bank account for the efforts I’m putting out.”
Then visualize that single achievement vividly – see yourself looking at your registration page with eight people signed up, or viewing your accounting software with that specific dollar amount. Imagine the celebration and impact that achieving this goal will have for both you and those you’ll serve.
Apply
I believe my Holy Spirit and unconscious mind may have been giving me detours and redirections rather than leading me straight to my over-complicated goals. By simplifying and creating alignment, I’m working with how God designed my mind to function most effectively.
This reminds me of the biblical story where God reduced an army to 300 men because He didn’t want them to think they’d achieved victory through their own power. Similarly, simplifying our goals helps us maintain alignment with God’s guidance rather than relying solely on our detailed human strategies.
So my question for you today: Have you been setting simple goals that your unconscious mind can process and work with the Holy Spirit to deliver? Or have your longer-term goals been so detailed and structured that your unconscious mind might be derailing them?
Try simplifying your next important goal to just one clear parameter, visualize it vividly, and see if this alignment creates more powerful results.
You be blessed!
