Have You Had Your Eyes Checked?

As we inch closer to the official kick-off of 2017, we will all start to sense and see changes -- a change in the weather, a change in the days, a change in our energy and even a change in the promises we make ourselves.

Have you had your eyes checked?

None of us are alone in this change, since the new year is the time of year when most of us make a promises to ourselves: "this is the year I'll stop smoking", "this is the year I'll finally lose weight", "I promise, this is the year I go back to school to finish my education".

What are you promising yourself? More importantly, what are you doing to prepare? Have you taken the time to think about what success, this year, is going to take?

Next year, I'll again launch my Do It Yourself online course, #goDo: Success in Goal Setting, and as my team and I buckle-up and get ready to set out on this journey of accelerated success with you, let's take a moment to warm up.

DO YOUR STRETCHES

Similar to running a long distance race or pitching a new business venture, success is in the preparation, and our journey together is no different.

Have you ever run a half-marathon without stretching? Yeah, don't. Have you ever pitched a room full of venture capitalists without a business plan or rehearsed pitch? Yeah, don't do that either, because both of these achievements require preparation.

As you set sail to #goDo success in 2017, make sure you preparing for the road ahead -- before you start the tactical practice of writing down your goals, dreams and life plans, one of the smartest strategies that you can deploy involves the power of visualization.

Omitting this crucial step from your goal setting practice would be like buying a luxury car and forgetting to get car insurance. These two things work hand in hand to give you the piece of mind that you need to enjoy a new lifestyle.

When you buy a luxury item, you want the certainty that things will be ok in the event of an accident. In life, there will always be accidents, bumps and detours along the way. But when you gain the capacity and clarity for vision, truly being able to see life as if it has already happened, you gain a sense of confidence. Simply put, the visualization (or mindfulness) is the insurance policy you need to protect your goals.

MINDFULNESS MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER

There has been a good amount of research conducted to support the understanding of just how powerful the mind can be in its ability to affect the “real” world. UCLA has an entire research center dedicated to it: Marc.ucla (Mindful Awareness Research Center).

Visit: http://marc.ucla.edu/

Studies have provided us with the proof to encourage the activation of the mind before the activation of the body if we truly want to experience even more success; however, the two are not mutually exclusive. The power within our minds enables us to do so many things that our bodies cannot accomplish on their own, and when strategically combined to work in tandem, the results can be astonishing.

The mind-body connection shows us that our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes can positively (or negatively) affect our biological functioning. This means that not only can our mind influence the health and fitness of our bodies, but it can also be trained to positively affect the rest of our lives. It is the first resource we should be leveraging to create a fulfilling life.

Greg Flaxman and Lisa Flook, Ph.D., two researchers from UCLA, looked at how the brain responds to mindfulness practice in their Brief Summary of Mindfulness Report.

They looked at how relationships benefit and how physical and mental health improves just by activating the practice of mindfulness, and what they found was an overall enhancement of human well-being.

Flaxman and Flook looked at the benefits of mindfulness in a variety of fields from love and relationships to the education of 1st and 3rd graders. The benefits ranged from a decrease in anxiety to an increase in connectedness between lovers:

Loving-kindness meditation, which can involve positive imagery or wishes directed toward others or self, can affect how one relates to others. A recent study examined how individuals reacted to viewing photographs of strangers after lovingkindness meditation. The meditation significantly affected the positive values they attributed to those strangers, demonstrating a relationship between loving-kindness meditation and social connectedness.

Research has also proven that the brain cannot tell the difference between what has been imagined (or seen with the mind’s eye), versus an experience that has been lived in the real world. This is why meditation has become an important tool for successful people. I meet many entrepreneurs, business owners and busy professionals who all support the practice of meditation. But what exactly is meditation?

GET CLEAR & YOUR 20/20 APPEARS

There are a number of different ways to meditate, and the opinions on how to do it best can be overwhelming. But the benefits of meditation, however you practice, go far beyond a “quiet mind”. In addition to getting quiet, meditation affords you an opportunity to get clear. When you take the time to cancel out the noise of the outside world, what you truly want (what your true self wants) starts to reveal itself. What we truly want, and who we desire to become is within each of us. If we take the time to get quiet and listen, the vision appears.

Imagine what you can accomplish by using meditation and mindfulness as a resource to getting whatever the hell you want. Remember, if you can see it, you can have it.

I'VE GOT THE POWER & SO DO YOU

The power of visualization is relevant to goal setting because it forces you to first get clear on what you want. It asks that you take the time to first see a vision for what success looks like to you whether it be reaching an ideal weight or purchasing the dream car you have always dreamt of having.

The fact is that all successful people, when asked, will at some point share with you that the practice of visualization is one they implement on a consistent basis. Why? Because it works -- it works like a charm!

If you want to read more on the power of visualization and how to implement it into your goal setting practice for 2017, click here to receive my FREE eBook!

Now, #goDo!