Goals – How Can I Really Achieve What I Want to in Life?

I am constantly asking myself the questions, “How can I…?”  How can I improve this or that?  How can I monetize this idea?  How can I convert this thought to something easier to understand?  The ‘how can I’ question is a very powerful stimulator for your subconscious mind.  I’ve recommended to my audiences (blogs, books and conferences) that when you have a problem trying to solve a problem, ask yourself, ‘how can I’ just before you got to sleep.  Let your subconscious mind think about solutions.

I write my ‘life’s goals’ and my ‘daily goals’ every day.  I want to connect between the written word on a page of paper through my hand and up to my brain through my eyes.  It is a powerful way to supercharge your subconscious mind to take action.  97% of people do not write their goals – they think about them at best.  3% of the people in the United States actually take the time to write their goals – whether it be daily, weekly, monthly or annually.  Over 90% of those people who routinely achieve their goals have them written down.

I’ve been studying the subconscious mind for a long time.  I know that it takes a special kind of language to communicate directly to your subconscious mind.  The standard 3-P’s – personal, present tense and positive are the minimum requirements to convert conscious thoughts directly to your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind does not understand the future.  Saying that ‘you will’ do something cannot connect to the controller of your life.  Your subconscious mind does not understand ‘negative’ words.  If you say, “I am not going to eat dessert today!” your subconscious mind hears “I am going to eat dessert today!

There are other details about wants, needs, desires and expectations that convert differently in your subconscious mind.  Additionally, promises convey a stronger impetus to get something done.  Adding the words ‘no matter what’ also increases the intensity to achieve a particular task.  Your subconscious mind does not know the difference between real or imagined.  This is the primary mechanism that you can use to erase a lot of personal baggage – negativity, failures, etc.  Your subconscious mind also understands pictures more than words.  That is why visualizing is one of the best tools to use to achieve your goals.

I just finished writing a goal book – goal setting and achieving.  I am in the process of reading it in order to convert the written book into an audio book.  By doing so I achieve two objectives – another product to sell (the audio book) and I get a better quality of editing done.  When you read something out loud you can hear exactly what you wrote. Sometimes you can read and see the words, but the nuances aren’t noticed till you actually say them out loud.

Even though I’ve completed my book, I’m going to add one additional chapter at the end to supercharge goal achievement.  I was running this afternoon and finished up around 3:00 p.m. (yes, it was a very delightful afternoon with the temperature in the Houston area at 100 degrees).  I was focused all morning on ‘how can I make this (goal setting and achievement) more functional for some one?’  I’ve had various iterations of that basic question that I’ve been cogitating on for the past couple of days.  During my run my brain came up with the idea about incorporating everything into one package – a personal book, so to speak.

What if you could take your life’s goals and write each one on a piece of paper.  At the top of the page would be a specific goal.  Let’s use something easy for a life goal – I am at my ideal weight.  Notice, I used personal (I) and present tense (am) and the actual goal itself.  I want that goal to connect directly to my subconscious mind.  I don’t want something to divert, obscure or reduce the importance of this goal to my personal control mechanism – my subconscious mind.

OK, I have the goal written at the top of the page.  I now need to add some pictures – visualizations of whatever can reinforce that goal.  I could have pictures of me when I was much younger, leaner and sexier.  Or, I could have some pictures of a physique that I prefer to have.  I can cut and paste several pictures in the center of this piece of paper.  I can add or subtract as better pictures come along.

At the bottom of the page I have two sections – the ‘why’ section and an ‘affirmation’ section.  You have to know why you want something – it’s important to convey that reason to your subconscious mind.  The why for many of us is difficult because your subconscious mind can grab a hold of something you are not even aware of and it will continue to thwart your achievement of that goal.  For instance, let’s say that you want to be rich.  That’s a nice goal.  But, if the underlying reason why you want to be rich is that you don’t want to retire and be poor – your subconscious mind thinks you want to be poor and it will help you to become poor in your retirement.

At the bottom of the page I would write the reason I want to be at my ideal weight – healthier, live longer, live better, lessen my risk of various diseases, able to do things with my grandkids – you can see where this is going.  Have a good solid reason or reasons why you want this particular goal that you defined at the top of the page.  Then, right below your ‘why’ statement, write at least three affirmations – one in which you use the ‘I’ term; one in which you use your first name ‘Red’; and, one in which your use your whole name ‘Red O’Laughlin.’  Those affirmations written in three different ‘personal’ forms attack your subconscious mind and give it slightly different interpretations.

I have preached about having balance in your life.  My life’s goals are broken into physical, mental, spiritual, time management, relational and finance.  If you were to take each of your life’s goals and create an individual page that represents the ‘what’ and ‘why’, along with visual stimulations and affirmations, you could reflect on each of your goals as often as you want.  It takes me more than a few minutes each day to actually write my life’s goals and think about each one as I’m writing them.  If I had a book (that could be changed as often as I want to change it) then I can see my goal, see a visual picture to reinforce that goal, remind myself why I want to achieve it and give my subconscious mind a tweak with a few affirmations.

If I also knew what my passions in life were also, I could marry passion statements and measurements of those passion statements to have a full package – the whole story of what I expect in life.  Many people have a dream board or goal board – this is a dream book or goal book for your personal future.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Travel – Prague, Czech Republic – Intriguing and Interesting

Prague, Czech Republic, is my favorite large city in Europe.  I’ve been to Prague at least a dozen times.  My first trip was by tour bus and the remaining trips were all in personal or rented cars.  The first piece of advice for anyone driving into the Czech Republic (and a couple of other countries in Europe) is to check the restrictions on the kind of car you are driving.  I was living in Germany in the 90’s and there were some insurance reciprocity issues between the Czech Republic and Germany.  It was not uncommon to have a German-made rental car confiscated at the border.  If I told my car rental company that I intended to drive to the CR, they would ensure that I did not drive there in a German-made vehicle.  It’s a good question to ask the rental car agency before you drive away.

The second most important piece of advice for someone driving is to ensure you get the highway toll sticker when you get to the border.  It’s not always easy to see, but ask – do not continue on the highway without one.  The cost is much more when you get pulled over by the police and do not have one.  I found out the hard way on one trip.  It cost me time and extra dollars that I had not dedicated to that expense.

The third piece of advice for someone driving into Prague is to park in a very secure parking lot.  I always parked in the Hradcanska area which is south of the government area and castle and just west of Old Town across the river.  I chose this area because the hotel (I didn’t stay at this one for day-trips into Prague) had guarded parking and was very close to local transportation.  I could buy a 24 hour transportation ticket from the concierge at the hotel for a very small amount of money, and it allowed me to travel on the metro, bus and tram.  I would walk out of the hotel and catch the tram and take it to the metro station, hop on the metro and get to the other side of the river.  I got off at the first stop near the Old Town and began walking to those special points of interest.  Most of the time I acted as a tour guide for a very small group of military Reservists who wanted to visit Prague.

The fourth piece of advice for those using the public transportation systems is to never use it without a ticket.  The ticket is seldom asked for by the ticket inspectors, but you don’t want to be caught without it.  In all my travels using the public transportation (and I used it a lot on some visits – in Prague and other cities around Europe), I was asked one time for my ticket.  It’s cheap insurance to buy it and keep it with you.  It saves a lot of walking.  The public transportation system facilitates a fast way to buy stuff, get it back to your guarded car quickly, and return to your shopping.

The tourist maps identify the sight-seeing points of interest.  One could spend hours on the Charles Bridge, or in Old Town and other places.  There is so much to see.  I like to take pictures just before sunset.  The sun high-lights the buildings and adds a photographic quality to it – especially if there are no clouds.  One place I always visit is U Fleku.  It is a pub and restaurant with a micro-brewery.  U Fleku has been brewing beer in that location since 1499.  I find it comparable to the beer tents set up in Munich during Oktoberfest, except that the rooms are obviously much smaller, and each has a unique theme.  There are restaurants around Old Town that have dates above their doors starting in the 1300’s.  I don’t know if they have been serving food in the same place for that entire time, but the building certainly has been there.  I find many of these places very interesting.  Oh, by the way, the least expensive beer that I found was actually in Old Town on the edge of the square – a place that I would not expect it to be inexpensive.

I found that there are a lot of Americans living in Prague and English is spoken almost everywhere.  I found it interesting that I could order a meal and change this item and that item without a problem in English, but if I asked a question about the weather, they didn’t recognize what I was saying.  They understand tourist English about their food.  The markets are different, they understand and lot and work with you to ensure you get what you want.  I have one place on the square in Old Town that I buy my glass crystal.  However, I drive to Karlovy Vary to buy chandeliers.  The price difference is worth the trip.

The prices have inched up over time.  It used to be Prague was a great place for food and trinkets.  A year and a half ago during my last trip through the Czech Republic, we stayed in Pilzen, CR near the train station.  It was by far, the best accommodation for the price and the cost of dinner was roughly half of what we had been paying all over Europe.  The only competitive place that I came across for food/drink was in the capital, Ljublijana, Republic of Slovenia.

I can’t imagine any place in Europe offering more for a tourist to see and do in a small area than Prague.  It is clean, safe and enjoyable.  As with any travel, you must always be on guard for your personal safety and that of your possessions.  I didn’t let my guard down in Prague, I chose to walk most everywhere I went and it didn’t make any difference regarding the time of the day.  Maybe it was because we were a group of middle-aged guys sight-seeing, but my last trip consisted on two couples and we enjoyed a perfect trip.  Bring extra money with you, because you will find something there you must have – and they will help you ship it home!

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin