When most business owners set goals, they fail before they’ve even begun.

It’s because your brain doesn’t come with a user’s manual. The way you tend to naturally think about your ambitions isn’t the best way to make them happen. In fact, the mindset that most entrepreneurs approach their goals with is practically destructive.

The user’s manual has arrived. It’s the cheat sheet on goal setting that, when used, will move you inexorably toward your ambitions. Without you even trying. Read on. 

Understand the Unconscious 

The secret to seemingly magical goal setting (really) lies in understanding your unconscious mind.

Your unconscious mind, the part of your brain that (somewhat obviously) is responsible for everything you don’t conscious think about, is a powerful ally in the business of goal setting.

Your unconscious doles out your motivation juice. It’s also the primary source of any self-sabotage – if it thinks a goal isn’t right for you, it’ll make sure it doesn’t happen!

Your unconscious also has a monopoly on serendipitous synchronicity (i.e. luck) – a dollop of which is always needed for big achievements. Your conscious mind is a laser – it can only focus on a few things at a time. Your unconscious, meanwhile, is paying attention to billions of experiential “data” around you (everything you see, hear and feel). It lets you know when you need to notice something, like when someone stops short in front of you while you’re driving – your unconscious shuts off autopilot and screams for your conscious mind to come back from outer space and deal with braking and whatnot.

Your unconscious mind tells your conscious mind what to pay attention to.

You want your unconscious mind to know and really “get” your goals. That way it’ll make sure you pay attention to the things you need to, to get those goals accomplished. Anyone who has achieved really huge things knows that serendipitous luck is essential. Your unconscious mind creates it. Period.

How to set the goal

Start where most people consider their goal-setting to be finished: By asking yourself what you want.

Then, ask the question that makes the goal real in your unconscious mind:

What will you see, hear and feel when you achieve this? 

Specificity wins. You’re trying to paint a picture of your future, that your unconscious mind can latch onto and start working toward.

Think about what happens when you buy an expensive international plane ticket. At the moment you commit to the payment, a vivid mental image of you getting on that plane starts to form. If you’re not conscious of this, believe me, it’s happening unconsciously.

The certainty around boarding that plane comes from the vivid, real and concrete nature of that mental image. It’s just happening. It’s a future fact. No one misses flights like that. You’d move heaven and earth, overcoming any bullshit obstacles, to get to the airport on that day.

Yet when most entrepreneurs commit to shipping their big new product or project, they’re far less certain than they are about taking a vacation flight. The concrete, bright and vivid mental image doesn’t exist. It’s not a future fact, and they start creating all sorts of narratives as to why they can’t make it. Reasons why they couldn’t.

Most wannabes create reasons, not results.

Don’t be one of them. Set goals with concrete psychological certainty in your future. You do it all the time, with holidays, vacations and social commitments. Notice how you never get too swamped at work to actually miss christmas?

What will you see, hear and feel when you achieve your goal?

When I first used this process, I visualized the exact moment in time I knew I’d win a big corporate consulting account I was working on – the moment that the first juicy retainer fee hit my bank account.

Not the moment I signed the contract with them. Certainly not the moment the CEO verbally agreed. No, I focused on the moment in time I would sit down at my computer, log into my online banking and see a five figure deposit had been made.

I can still remember the exact image I imagined. And, the identical reality that I created.

By searing a vision for a specific moment in time into your mind, you effectively rub a genie’s lamp. You’re creating your own future.

This tactic is just one of nine different questions I use to clarity my (and my clients) goals. The entire process is a mini workshop that turns a fuzzy ambition into a rock solid goal and game plan. Goals that simply make themselves happen.

I’m breaking down the entire tactic in a webinar today at 4pm Eastern Time. If you want to get in on it, you have to sign up for Commit Action here. Side effects may include phenomenal increases in your personal productivity and bottom line results.