Hypnotic Goal Setting Unleashed

For about a minute, as an exercise, I'd like you to focus only on what you might be eating for breakfast the very next day you finally achieve your #1 goal. Got it? Can you taste it? Goal setting can sometimes be like that...an intense imagination of future events. And it sure makes it a lot of fun!

It might seem unusual to mention hypnosis and goal setting in the same sentence but here we are concerned not with the showbiz version nor with the practices of professional psychotherapists. There is a much gentler version of hypnosis that I will call suggestibility and which can be used to reinforce the setting of goals and subsequent actions.

In this article we will look at four personality characteristics that lend themselves to the constructive use of this suggestive state. These characteristics are: curiosity, motivation, concentration and imagination.

It's a great shame that many people seem to lose their sense of curiosity as they move from childhood to adulthood because successful people often use an intense curiosity to not only set but also drive the implementation of their important goals. Just how curious are you about the most important goal in your life right now?

You can develop that curiosity further by copying what children do naturally - ask lots of questions! In particular, asking "what, when, how and where" questions will lead you to seek answers from yourself and, within reason, from others.

We've all been told or read many times that goal setting people must be motivated! And that can be so hard to find on occasions. I think the missing element here is a lack of curiosity. In other words your internal motivation to see your goal successfully achieved will best come from an almost insatiable curiosity.

Therefore, if you are feeling unmotivated about some aspect of your goal, then find a quiet spot and begin to ask yourself some of those "what, when, how and where" questions -- without any expectation of answers at this stage. Remember you are trying to enhance your curiosity about your motivation for taking on this goal in the first place. Somewhere within you lie the answers to those questions.

With the addition of 'concentration' to the two characteristics described above, you will begin over time to feel more open to suggestions - your own suggestions. Concentration is no great mystery if you recall ever having been so interested in reading a book that you lost track of the passage of time. The same thing with watching a very exciting movie. While you are still aware of your surroundings, you can sense an intense concentration or focus on the screen or the words on the page. Even if your concentration is sometimes interrupted, you normally find it easy to get back into it. This is a very useful state for you to be in when you want to give yourself suggestions relating to your goals.

By the way, it is not necessary to watch favorite movies or read books for this state to show itself. By simply sitting quietly in a natural setting and concentrating on say the appearance of a flower or on the ripples on the surface of a pond as a breeze blows over it, you can naturally learn to apply curiosity, motivation and concentration in a matter of minutes.

Imagination is the fourth and final element we wish to add to this practice. One of the reasons you are probably interested in goal setting is because your imagination helps you to see what it might be possible for you to achieve. If you faithfully practice the simple exercise given in the previous paragraph for a few minutes most days, you should find it very easy to slip into your own imaginative state.

And from that relaxed and suggestive state you can simply say to yourself a few times the following statement: "my goal is my own and I create it." Then bring your awareness back to where you are at the moment and go about your normal activities. That's all there is to it.

The cultivation of the four characteristics mentioned in this article may lead you to a deeper appreciation for the likely impact of the goal you have set yourself. At the very least you will be developing a deeper awareness of why you are doing what you are doing. And if you like what you see, then carry on. And if you don't, well you now have within you the power to start changing it.

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