Sometimes there can be a mindset of "Well I've set my goal so now all I have to do is wait for it to happen." And yes, setting the goal is vital, and to guarantee its achievement you need to do stuff (technical term :)). To know what to do and when planning is the difference that makes the difference. 

What are your tips for planning the steps of your goal?

Repetition is a powerful tool that helps you learn and master skills. Just look at our rugby team. You can't turn on the radio or open a paper, digital or otherwise without reading about the possibility of our team (Ireland) winning the Triple Crown, the Grand Slam and we already have the Six Nations. Isn't it just fantastic? Fingers crossed and everything else as well.

But how many of us mere mortals consider the hours, days, weeks and years of repetitive practice drills that have gone into building our players to reach this level. We just see the team out there performing. What we don't see is the commitment of our lads going out on the pitch, hail, rain or shine (believe it or not, they are humans too) and no doubt some days they would just rather take the easy way out and say to themselves "Ah sure, I'll just dodge practice today, one day won't make any difference". But they know it would make a difference. It could make the difference between losing or winning. Just one little thing, can make all the difference. Like Sexton's kick against France. Can you imagine how many kicks he has taken in his life ( I know I can't) until it has become second nature and he goes into the zone automatically?

Now we all know that no one is perfect and sure sometimes there can be a misfire. But that's not important, what is important is to let that go, put it aside and get back into the zone, the zone of confidence in your ability, so the next time you are up for it.

Now you might be thinking to yourself all this talk about rugby leaves me cold and that's okay too. But just think about it, professional sports people are in the top percentile of their chosen skill. So there is a lot to learn from them.

As you think now of something you want to master, whether it is delegating, presenting, leading your team, communicating with colleagues, friends or family, managing your healthy weight and exercise or even learning to knit. What small tasks or drills can you set yourself to practice in both your mind's eye and in 'real' life.

Let's clarify; the goal of the repetition is when you are presented with a similar situation you automatically perform the new skill without even thinking. This is mastery.

Come on Ireland!
​Oh! And Happy St Patrick's Day.

​You want to improve your performance at work but you start noticing your energy or motivation is slipping and its getting in the way of your high performance.  When you drive your car there is a fuel gauge that lets you know how much fuel you have left in the tank. How about you, what lets you know it is time to stop? 

Thinking is like a bit like writing; it is a process. A lot depends on the order in which you do things either on the page or in your head. So if you were to write, “The dog bit the man” I suspect you would expect your reader to have a different experience, than if you wrote, “The man bit the dog” even though you have used the same words and only lightly changed the order. So as you can see the order and sequence is important. 

Also if you were to add colour to your to writing by using adverbs and adjectives – you do remember those, don’t you – by saying “The big black dog charged the man and grabbed him by the arm…?” now you have even more of a response from the reader, possibly even a slight quickening of the heart rate (an unconscious physiological response) and a more detailed picture in the mind’s eye.  

In your mind you can also adjust the quality of your thinking by adding or removing colour or other details. Now that may strike you as a bit odd. But just think about it for a minute – let’s pretend you have decided to buy a new barbeque and you want to get a gas barbeque but definitely not a charcoal one because you think they are slow, smoky and often don’t deliver a great result. As you think about it now, notice the pictures you are making inside your head....I suspect the picture of the food from the gas barbeque looks bright, big and maybe even a movie, in other words attractive, while the food from the charcoal one looks less appetising. Or think about ordering food in a restaurant, you possibly have a picture in mind of what the food will look and taste like. Now of course if the served food does not match your imagined picture - depending on the qualities of your reference pictures - you will be either disappointed or delighted. Of course this may be just my mind’s eye talking. 

You might be thinking, so what? Just think about it, as you discover you can change the picture qualities in your mind’s eye you can learn how to change your motivation, make your goals more compelling and generally make it easier for yourself and others to achieve their goals and ambitions. So as you think about a future event now and if you discover you are feeling a bit unsure about it, just ask yourself are you seeing it completing the way you want it i.e. successfully? If not change your outcome picture until you are seeing the best result for you and notice how it feels. You might find any anxiety you had been experiencing simply dissolves and you have positive anticipation now.

Experiment Alert :-)
As you choose to begin noticing your anticipatory pictures more I would love to hear what you discover, so do comment below.

You started your business, it has been growing and where are you now? You may find now you are very busy fulfilling all the roles in the company. In fact you might have no free time. You are working all the hours that God gives and it still doesn’t seem to be enough. Maybe business has plateaued and even beginning to slip backwards. Maybe you want to step up a gear but can’t find the time or the resources to make the gear shift. You know you are working in your business with no time at all to be able to step back and make decisions for the next stage of business development – to be able to work on the business.

Some questions to ask yourself for the future:

There was a time when the scientific community thought the brain was hard wired. They believed once connections were made inside, that was it and there was no going back or changing. In fact they had surmised that over time the connectivity deteriorated.

Happily for us in the last 10 to 15 years there has been a revolution in the thinking about the brain, akin to the discovery that the world is round and not flat! Through new imaging techniques it has been discovered the brain is highly plastic. 

What does this mean to you and me? Well it means that change need not be arduous or slow, it can in

Written by Julie SIlfverberg

According to a recent survey 90% of executives in UK organisations work with a coach. I suspect it is not nearly as high here in Ireland…..yet.

In the UK coaching is used to fast track potential stars. It helps the executive recognise their strengths and build on them. Acknowledge their weaknesses and discover how to mitigate them. All the while paying attention to the path and holding the focus.

Written by Julie Silfverberg