It seems to me that if you want to achieve anything in life you must do the following:-
Identify a goal clearly and specifically.
Focus on that goal regularly - but not constantly.
Focus on moving towards a goal - not moving away from somewhere undesirable.
Forget about the goal intermittently while you enjoy the journey.
Repeat numbers 2 - 4 as often as you can.
Let’s have a look at these points in a little more detail.
If you haven’t identified strongly with something that you really want to achieve, then there is no clear direction for you to achieve anything. Every little obstacle will deflect you and send you in a different direction. Nothing worth achieving comes easily and there will always be something that makes achieving a goal difficult. It is a little like a passenger ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no idea of which port it is heading for. It will drift with the wind and tide. A destination needs to be decided on. It is your choice. Tokyo or Honolulu or Auckland or Brisbane, or anywhere else you like.
Once a goal has been decided upon, you need to focus on it, think about it, Imagine yourself having achieved it, and tell yourself that you really want to achieve this. Otherwise it is like the captain of the ship knows where they are heading, but they haven’t told any of the crew to start moving in that direction, so the ship continues to drift.
If you focus on your goals, part of your mind will drive you there at an unconscious level. This will ensure that you do your utmost to overcome obstacles in the way, and not give up without a struggle. I often jog on the beach before going to work, 2 kms each way. When I start to jog, i focus on the headland at the far end and set that as my target.
There are many times that i feel like stopping early, because I’m tired, or it’s windy , or I’m feeling lazy, but something always drags me to the very end. It is almost impossible to give up without getting to my target.
Have you ever looked at a framed painting on a wall that is hanging slightly skew-wiff or squint? What do you do? I know for a fact that the vast majority of you will be unable to help stop yourselves from straightening it immediately. I know, because I used to do this deliberately to a painting in my office, to demonstrate this point. Some people couldn’t help themselves and straightened the painting immediately. Some people were more restrained and waited until they asked me if they could straighten it, but nearly 100% of people were uncomfortable until the painting was straight.
That’s because a part of your brain needs to have everything balanced and matching up. If a painting is supposed to be square and it is not, It will push you to ensure everything matches.
If you are focusing on a goal and you are not yet there, this part of the brain will work out ways to get you there, at an unconscious level, so that everything is balanced and matching. This also helps to drive you to overcome any obstacles which seem tough at a conscious level.
For this reason, make sure you are focusing on something that you want to move towards, not something that you want to get away from.
If I say to you “whatever you do, don’t think about an elephant wearing a tiny pink ballet dress and holding an open umbrella in its trunk above its head.”
I bet you can’t get that image out of your head.
It’s because part of your brain doesn’t understand “don’t”. It can only focus on what you have suggested.
So you need to focus on what you want to achieve or where you want to go, like a new job which you enjoy, instead of focusing on getting away from your present job, which you don’t enjoy.
If you are focusing on your present disliked old job, your unconscious mind correlates your focus - (your present job), with your present state - (your present job) and decides you are balanced and nothing needs to be done to drive you elsewhere.
if you are focusing on a new liked job, your mind must drive you towards that for balance.
So focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. Imagine it as vividly and brightly as you can, as though you have already achieved it.
That is also why you focus on a goal and forget it. Let your unconscious mind get on with achieving the goal and enjoy the journey with your conscious mind, then intermittently refocus and you may be surprised how much closer to your goal you find yourself. When I am jogging on the beach, I look at the ocean and the sunrise and the way the sand is changing and the water rippling in the shallows and look out for whales and dolphins and feel the breeze and smell the salt air. There are many things to enjoy in the journey. Then a take a moment to refocus and then go back to sightseeing.
Finally, once you have achieved a goal, set a new goal for yourself , otherwise you tread water again. I have made that mistake in the past.