Better and Better

"Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better." -- Émile Coué

I am so absolutely filled with amazement and gratitude today, that I can hardly stand it!!!

Here's what's going on:

THE STORY

The past few weeks, I have been working with an amazing goal achieving technique (which I'll tell you about later). This technique is so powerful that out of 50,000+ participants, 80-100% achieved goals that were seemingly impossible. Yes, that's 100%!

I was thinking this morning that I could describe the technique as a magnifying glass. Use it to magnify anything you want in your life. Use it to magnify your Beyond Freedom program, and the world is filled with incredible possibilities!

I have had some amazing success with just the "amateur" level of the technique and have been excited to apply it to something bigger.

One of the key aspects of the technique is setting your goals correctly. That means putting them in terms that are specific and measurable and have a deadline.

This last one has been really really really really hard for me. (Did I mention that it was really hard?)

Why? Because, as I wrote in a previous entry, I am challenged by a powerful fear of failure.

But I set the goal, I believed it was a really good one, and I applied the technique, and the deadline was yesterday...and I didn't achieve it. I didn't even come close.

As I predicted (can you say, "self-fulfilling prophecy"?), I was devastated.

I tried applying the enlightening things I learned in my conversation with Tony, but I just couldn't shake this huge sense of disappointment. Disappointment in myself (I suck!), disappointment in what I was trying to achieve, disappointment in this new goal achieving technique that I really really believe in...

What was I doing wrong? What could I do to fix it?

As I pondered these questions, I did a little browsing on the internet on the topic of goal achieving, and came across an article by personal development guru Steve Pavlina. I was familiar with Steve's work before, but I have never been all that impressed. He didn't seem to bring any new ideas to the table.

In retrospect, that was not a fair way to judge Steve. After all, there really is "nothing new under the sun." Everything that personal development gurus teach has been taught for thousands and thousands of years--Jesus, Buddha, Confuscious--it's all the same. It's just that we humans are too thick-headed to "get it," so people have to teach it and reteach it and try and put a different spin on it. But ultimately, it's all the same.

Anyway, Steve's article was called "How to Set Goals You Will Actually Achieve," and while I did not agree with much of what Steve said (in fact, it ran exactly counter to what I am learning with this new technique), he said something very powerful that I will quote here:

Many people set goals and then assume the path to reach the goal will require suffering and sacrifice – a recipe for failure. A better idea is to set a goal and pay attention to the effect it has on your present reality. Set goals that yield a positive effect on your life whenever you think about them, long before the final outcome is actually achieved. Treat goal-setting as a way to enhance your present reality, not as a way to control the future.

This sentence is worth repeating: Treat goal-setting as a way to enhance your present reality, not as a way to control the future.

I HAD felt great while I was pursuing the goal. My productivity increased. My outlook increased. My joy and enthusiasm increased. It was a worthy goal, and I was better because I had pursued it.

I went to bed last night feeling a little better about myself.

But the Universe was not through teaching me my lesson.

THE LESSON

I had heard of the law of attraction before I saw the movie The Secret, but I never really knew how to apply it. The Beyond Freedom program and participating in our community has been so eye opening, and once you open your eyes and begin to see it, you see it everywhere.

This morning I was online doing some fairly random browsing, when I happened upon (or attracted) a blog called "Creating Passionate Users." Since my WHOLE GOAL is to arouse in people a passion and enthusiasm for their own life, the website really struck a cord.

But I didn't realize how loudly the music would ring!

I randomly clicked on an an entry titled, How to Become an Expert, and was SHOCKED (by that a I mean I nearly fell over when I realized how applicable it was to me) when I read the following:

In the book The New Brain (it was on my coffee table) Richard Restak quotes Ericsson as concluding:

"For the superior performer the goal isn't just repeating the same thing again and again but achieving higher levels of control over every aspect of their performance. That's why they don't find practice boring. Each practice session they are working on doing something better than they did the last time."

So it's not just how long they practice, it's how they practice. Basically, it comes down to something like this:

Most of us want to practice the things we're already good at, and avoid the things we suck at. We stay average or intermediate amateurs forever.

Yet the research says that if we were willing to put in more hours, and to use those hours to practice the things that aren't so fun, we could become good. Great. Potentially brilliant. We need, as Restak refers to it, "a rage to master." That dedication to mastery drives the potential expert to focus on the most subtle aspects of performance, and to never be satisfied. There is always more to improve on, and they're willing to work on the less fun stuff. Restak quotes Sam Snead, considered one of the top five golfers of the twentieth century, as saying:

"I know it's a lot more fun to stand on the practice tee and rip your driver than it is to chip and ptch (sic.), or practice sand shots with sand flying back in your face, but it all comes back to the question of how much you're willing to pay for success."

Let me repeat: It all comes back to the question of how much you're willing to pay for success.

I read that sentence, and it was as if the Universe opened up and pointed at me. "YOU! Margie! How much are you willing to pay for success? Are you really going to let one setback get you? You must get good at setting and achieving your goals. And the only way to get good is to keep setting them and to keep working at achieving them!!!!"

So how good am I at setting and achieving goals? I don't know.

All I know is, each day I get better and better.

TAKE ACTION

• If you like what you read in this blog and would like to find out more about the Beyond Freedom program, please contact the person that sent you here. If you found this blog by accident (knowing, of course, that there are no accidents), you may contact me at beyondfreedom@theremmersfamily.com
• What are your goals? WRITE THEM DOWN. If you aim at nothing, you'll surely hit it.
• What one thing can you do TODAY to start working in the direction of your goals? Do it right now.