In the spirit of breaking your goals down into bite-size pieces (see Today's Reflection) decide now what you want to have achieved by the time you sit down to relax tonight - and what it will feel like to have achieved it: that feeling could be one of exhilaration or excitement but it could just as easily be one of relief!

HOW BEST TO SET YOUR GOALS

I thought it might be no harm to revisit last year's video series on goals - seeing as how we're talking about setting and achieving objectives this morning.

Not only do our goals need to be framed in a way that provides us with speedy feedback, they need to be internalized... they need to be embraced by the part of our mind that creates our daily reality... our subconscious.

So, the link below will take you back to the last of the Ezine's in the "Goal Setting and Goal Getting" series and, from there, you can work through the series one video at a time.

Goal Setting and Goal Getting Video Series...

A couple of people have mentioned to me that last week's story - what I called a practical example in purposeful focus - was nothing more than an example of achieving a simple objective: in the case in point, renting an apartment in Paris. But that was actually my point: the objective was simple, it was known, it was fully understood by my subconscious mind and - most importantly according to the University of Chicago - I had a crystally clear outcome in mind which would be achieved in a short timeframe... we needed the apartment immediately! As a complete aside, David has since moved into his new apartment in a really nice part of Paris!

Note the individual components of what I've just said: the goal or objective is clear; it is something that the subconscious has fully "got its head around" and the outcome - whether or not I've succeeded in achieving my objective - both happens quickly and is easily measured or evaluated. These are the key points - explained by the University of Chicago and the University of Milan, following thirty years of research into "flow" - that enable us take action to get results and experience flow in our lives.

All too often, the big things that we want to achieve are "too big" - I don't mean in terms of magnitude or excitement or that they are "too way out" in comparison to the life we now live - they, all too often, are objectives that don't provide us with the immediate feedback of "you succeeded" or "you've failed" that a discreet, easily understood objective provides us with. Research confirms that those most likely to experience flow in their lives are those who most quickly receive this "feedback" on their efforts. Further research shows that, for example, surgeons are "happier" (I'm paraphrasing the research!) that lawyers - because the surgeon knows pretty quickly whether or not the patient died or recovered whereas the lawyer sometimes waits months or years to see if their efforts have borne fruit.

The point for you and I is this: when we set our goals - however large they might be - they need to be broken down into bite-size pieces which provide us with the kind of success-failure feedback that our minds need to keep fighting the good fight. Not just that, our minds need to be excited by or engrossed in the feeling that we'll experience when we achieve that next step to success. We need constant measurable objectives and the means by which to measure them - not only does this make for much more effective action, it means that we end up burning less brain-power (see today's video) because we're more in flow.