A really great article I recently read called, “What Are the Odds of Becoming a Black Belt?” by Steve Pavlina. What can first be said is that if you haven’t already, you should really check out all the stuff this guy, Steve Pavlina, has to say, because when it comes to personal development, he certainly has a great idea of what he’s talking about. The article itself refers to the sort of attitude you should have to pursuing your own personal success. When faced with an opportunity, it is always surprising how many people will take one glance at it, give up, and then move onto something else without even really getting into the thick root of it. The goal might be the destination, but the focus is on how you get there, and that of course goes with that classic saying, “It’s not about where you go in life, it’s how you get there.” The same could be true for virtually anything you’re going to achieve.

The first thing you should really do, in any situation, is to make a goal. And goals are interesting. The first moment that you create a goal is the first moment that you are forming an intention; that you are setting your mind on a point that you will achieve on a certain scale. When you make a goal, do not just say the goal out loud, or think the goal silently to yourself – take action by writing the goal down. Make sure that once it’s down, it’s practically like a signed, written contract, but stronger. If it is a major goal for some particular project, it will form the centerpiece around which your life is now modeled. For me, I have a goal of generating $100,000 in income over the course of next year, and now on my computer’s desktop are the words, “$100,000 by the end of 2007.” While it might sound kind of funny, there are lots of people putting their goals in picture frames and hanging them up on the walls of their home. Sound pointless? It makes a huge difference, namely for the fact that your goal is then staring at you every moment of every day you walk into a room.

After forming a goal, you have to make a decision. Are you going to continue following that goal? Are you going to let yourself stray from it? Well, depending on the goal, you certainly will have different attitudes towards different things. If it is something that is very important to you, you must be able to realistically decide that you are going to pursue the goal relentlessly, without wavering, without procrastinating, until the goal is completed. Setting a goal and then proceeding to complete it is a great, wonderful, and incredible accomplishment. The sense of pride you can feel afterward is well earned, and well deserved. I know of many people who are willing to run miles and climb mountains, just purely for the natural high of achieving accomplishment.

Attitude is important to goal setting, and goal achieving alike. A lot of people who write down an affirmation, and then erase it are often saying by this very action no, this is ridiculous, I am simply not capable of that. This entire behavior is self defeating, and is also a pinnacle for how much neglect of one’s own potential will happen based purely off mindset. Perhaps one of the most important parts of accomplishment is that of an ideal mindset. Without the right mindset, our behavior will not likely reflect a probable outcome, and the things we are able to recognize as solutions will not likely last. If it is at all possible, we should always try to avoid negativity in any form. Do not say, to anything, this is not possible, because anything truly is possible. There are many skeptical that I will earn $100,000 over the course of 2007, but does that mean I won’t? And if I won’t, does that mean I should not try? Logically, the optimistic choice makes sense, and it is said that the entrepreneurial spirit requires you to have a great deal of optimism. The requirement of optimism is significant, because this states that optimism is the right choice in attitude, because the favorable outcome often exists, you need only to find it.

I talk about a concept called the “Work Hard Programming” in another article. The Work Hard Programming is a concept that refers to the common American cultural and societal attitude towards “working hard,” and how often this concept is visualized with kinesthetic feelings of difficulty, thickness in overcoming a barrier, and so on. People do not often think about “working hard” as any kind of a joyful activity because for many of them, it simply is not joyful, yet if you are doing what you love doing, or simply finding a better way to perceive a laborious task, the ‘work hard’ part of it can tend to disappear. Some people use the expression ‘play hard,’ but it is interesting how often ‘play hard’ is paired with ‘work hard.’ Always stay away from those feelings, and always keep in mind that whatever it is you’re completing, you’ve simply got to maintain persistence and handle the situation the best way possible. If one way of tackling an approach is not working, forget getting frustrated, as frustration does not usually lead anywhere, but instead try to simply find another approach to the problem.

I’m a big fan of Paul Scheele, the author of PhotoReading, and more specifically, the creator of something called the ‘Natural Brilliance model.’ Scheele likes to refer to goals using an acronym, NOPS. NOPS is outlined as follows:

• Notice it.
• Own it.
• Play with it.
• Stay with it.

Very briefly, we can run through the steps of this process. To notice it, is to recognize that it is there, and this can be challenging within itself at times. To own it, is to accept the responsibility, to place it where it is ideal for working through it. To play with it, is to continuously try different possibilities, and staying with it is self explanatory – do not give up. Perhaps the greatest difference between playing with it and working with it is that in one, failure is feedback, and in another, failure is failure.

Another very interesting concept in this entire area of goal setting might be ‘the Law of Attraction.’ The law of attraction simply states that whatever you focus on grows, and this translates to what we call the intention-manifestation model. I’ve known about the Law of Attraction from a few places, where the very first place I learned about it was from the stuff Learning Strategies had put out, and their Abundance for Life course, but the one who really got me interested in the whole idea was certainly Steve Pavlina. My first experiences on the law of attraction have been interesting, to say the least. After seeing some of the first initial results of simply having a powerful change in thinking, I can certainly say things have improved. Almost immediately I saw a jump in sales and income, where just a dollar or two extra per day has begun to appear, and while it might just be contributed to the holiday rush, the sales for the Dirty Mechanism store this month soared in comparison to previous months. The Law of Attraction is easily a topic all its own, but if you are interested in goal setting and especially goal achieving, I would highly recommend at least reading up on the subject a bit.

A lot of people will get frustrated when their attempts in achieving their desired goals are falling short of their original expectations, and at times it is easy to point the finger and blame someone. “This new system I’m trying to learn just doesn’t work,” people might say to themselves in regards to some method of operating. Is that true? Does it really not work, or are you simply not putting yourself into it with enough effort? ‘It works if you work it!’ Also amusing is how often people tend to complain when they are continuing to try the same things over and over, and it simply isn’t working for them for a goal. Granted, of course, most people are unaware they have options that they are not readily aware of. If you always do, what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.

The key thing to remember, with any of this, is ‘the first rule of behavioral psychology,’ which is whatever you reinforce, you will get more of (Einstein Factor). This very rule is important, because it highlights a principle the majority of the people on this very planet ignore. If you are angry all the time, you’re likely to continue being angry all the time. If you’re happy often, you will often continue to be happy. Similarly, if you are seeing yourself as ‘failing’ with everything you do, or something else equally miserable, you will continue to fail. On the other hand, if we develop this other beneficial perspective that there is no failure, only feedback, that we are only playing with different options and possibilities, and that anything truly is possible – we enter an entirely new world of success and abundance.