Imprinting Your Goals For Success BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

Imprinting Your Goals For Success

BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

 

DECIDING to change your life, habit or attitude does not automatically bring about the change desired. The decision to make the change is only the first step. Further action is required in order to effect the change. Your goal is the mental picture of what you want. When it is written down, it becomes an affirmation. Affirmation is simply a statement of belief. For effectiveness, it must be written in present-tense form as though the goal were already a reality.

  When you write down your affirmations, you deliberately control the programming of your subconscious by directing the visual picture to the end result you want. This process is called imprinting. This is the deliberate control of goals through the vivid use of imagery to effect the kind of changes we want. Imprinting occurs when our subconscious accepts the new visual image of the end result. Imprinting is a three-step process. One, you affirm your goal, two, you picture the end result. And finally, you feel the emotion that goes along with accomplishing the goal.

  Repetition is essential in the techniques of imprinting. First, affirm the goal by writing it down, reading the words of your affirmation many times over, especially upon waking in the morning and just before going to bed at night. Secondly, picture the end result. Picture the accomplishment of the end result in your mind. See yourself actively involved in the accomplishment of your goal. This is called constructive visualization, which works on the theory of displacement. You are displacing your old self-image with the new. Thirdly, you should feel the emotion that goes along with accomplishment. The subconscious responds to feelings more than to words. The more emotional feeling you can put behind an idea, the better and faster the goal will manifest. Your affirmation will manifest in direct proportion to the frequency with which you visualize it with emotional feeling.

  All three steps are essential to successful imprinting. If you just read your affirmation, you can expect just 10 per cent success rate. If you read and visualize the end result, you can expect a 55 per cent success rate. If you read your affirmation, picture the end result, and feel the emotions behind the accomplishment of your goal, you can expect a 100 per cent success rate. The key to successful imprinting is the formation of affirmations that will support you in achieving your goal.

  A success factor in imprinting is that your affirmation must be personal. You cannot affirm for another person. Affirmations are most effective when you use them to change your self-image, because your self-image regulates your performance. You should understand by now that all change must come from within, from inside of you. This seems self-centered. But you cannot give what you don't have.

  The second point in affirmations is that they must be positive. Write them out, using a positive sentence structure. Emphasize gain, not loss. Do not describe what you are trying to eliminate. Rather, affirm what you are moving toward. Affirm your greatness even if you are still expectant. The third point is that you must frame your affirmations in the present tense. This is because present tense is the time frame your subconscious operates on. Get into the habit of feeling that whatever you are affirming and imaging is happening right now. This is how ideas are created into form. Such ideas manifest rapidly when accepted in the present tense. Thus, your ability to accept your affirmation determines how long it will take to manifest. Write out your affirmations as if they were done, for everything is created in the mind first. If you do this your subconscious will act on it immediately.

  Fourthly, your affirmations must be written as if they have been achieved right now. Do not make comparisons in your affirmations. All you need do is to strive for excellence. Never affirm you are as good as someone else, for in doing so, you are also saying you are not as good as another person. Your affirmations must use action words. Since the subconscious responds to feelings and emotion, your affirmations must be couched with words that trigger emotion. A most productive feeling is excitement. Cast your affirmations to create fun, excitement, happiness and joy. The rule is: the more emotion you pumped into the affirmation, the faster the change.

  Fifthly, your affirmation must be specific. It is essential to affirm only what your mind can accept. Have a clear picture of the end result. Write the exact pay cheque amount, or imagine it. Do not use such words as prosperity or abundance. Your subconscious does not understand such words because they are not specific. Write down the exact title you want to bear here and now. The power of affirmation is not to be taken lightly. So let your affirmations be balanced. When used correctly, affirmations drive you obsessively toward your goal. If you have balance, you have everything.

  Furthermore, your affirmations must be believable, you must be able to see your goal experientially, first person, present tense. Your goal must not create anxiety in your mind, since stress and anxiety are counter-productive to high performance.

  Your affirmation must conform to the secrecy principle. Keep your goals to yourself. If you tell others, often, they will discourage you or try to stop you. People tend to get upset when you start to grow and change. Your optimism makes their deadness more real! If you reveal your goal to others, it gives them an opportunity to work against you. Since we have a tendency to under-estimate ourselves, we may end up believing their negativity.

  Think of how many times you have been talked out of doing something good. Think also of how many times you were sorry for not listening to yourself. Only reveal your goals to those who can help you.

  However, you can share your team goals with your team. Cooperative goal setting is essential in a group, for you cannot achieve it all alone. You should always keep your personal goals and affirmations to yourself. Tell no one unless the person can help you. The time to tell them is after you have achieved the goal. Say, “This is what I have done,’ not ‘what I am going to do.” That way you become more productive and creative in the accomplishment of your ambition. Never mind other people. Jean Paul Sartre, the French philosopher said, hell is other people. The people around you already think you are crazy, no gain in disappointing them now. Just go the way of your ambition.