Life Goals – Above the Noise

Humans are born with two ears, two eyes, one mouth, one brain and a bunch of other bits. The parts of us that interface with the world are our senses and normally noise is transferred by the ears from outside the body to the brain via electrical impulses. The brain interprets and then decides whether to use the information or ignore it. In the natural world this is crucial to survival. If you don’t hear a predator coming then you are on the menu. We are going to look at how to increase focus on your goals by reducing the noise levels in your brain.

It seems that these days we live in an increasingly noisy world. If you are from the country side and you walk down a major city street like London’s Oxford Street or New York’s Fifth Avenue for the first time it can be overwhelming and even scary. All those people and all that noise, traffic, hustle and bustle. For some people it would be too much. If we lived and worked there then we would walk down those streets every day and not even bat an eye lid. This is because we learn to tune out the background noise. Our brain is very good at this because if it wasn’t we would become very tired very quickly under such stresses and then our decision making would become impaired. This could threaten our well being and even our survival. Nonetheless; it is good to get some peace and quiet now and again and in my opinion it’s essential for your well being as well as the achievement of your goals.

If you are like most people then every day you have dozens of things competing for your attention. There is the radio in the kitchen, the TV in the living room or bedroom, your iPod, newspapers, emails, Facebook, kids, friends and colleagues. Then there is advertising everywhere you look when you go out, other cars when you are driving and other dogs when you are walking your dog and other people on the street. The amount of information we process each day is absolutely astounding. Most of it is processed sub consciously and in the background but even that still takes energy and drains us. This is why it is sometimes heavenly to just get away from it all and go to a quiet place of peace and tranquillity. Somewhere nature can recharge your batteries. It’s the main reason we take holidays in the sun or in a log cabin in a quiet mountain area. All this noise is also a reason that we become distracted and lose focus on our goals. The daily grind, the rat race keeps us busy looking out for it rather than looking out for our goals. For this reason I am going to suggest two things to you. First, take 10-20 minutes each and every day to visit your goals to ensure that you are on target and second, take a goal holiday every now and then, preferably once a year.

How do you visit your goal? First you need to find a quiet place with no TV or other distractions and insist that you have at least 10-20 minutes completely uninterrupted. No phone, nothing. Then if you have some nice relaxing music that you like, preferably with no singing as this is a mental distraction, then play that at a mild volume. Take a few minutes to settle down into the mood and relax a while. Next; you need to have a clear picture of your goal inside your head or written down on paper. You need to visualise your goal in your mind and feel what it is like to achieve the goal and believe that you have actually achieved it. Imagine how your life would be different by achieving the goal. What effects would it have on your life? Write this down and over time refine the picture that these words paint in your mind. By doing this you will be imprinting the image of the goal into your sub conscious mind and your goal will become reality faster and with greater purpose than ever.

How do you take a goal holiday? This is a time when you get away from everything and I mean everything. Go somewhere that there are absolutely no distraction; rent a log cabin in the mountains for a few days. Take some light reading of a motivational or spiritual kind and read sometimes. Go and sit in a nice spot and contemplate your life, your goals and how you are doing. Write down your thoughts and plans and in the evening relax and sleep the sleep of a baby with not a care in the world. If you can’t afford to go away for a few days, find a nice spot nearby your home that is quiet and spend some time there doing this kind of deep contemplation. Take a notebook with you to write down your thoughts. What you will find is that by tuning out the noise you will have a greater and clearer focus on your life goals and a renewed energy to automagically achieve them. Good luck.