Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, “I find it fascinating thatmost people plan their vacations with better care than they plan theirlives. Perhaps it’s because escape is easier than change.” Success psychologists say that 95% – 97% of the people in the world do NOT have written goals and fail, while 3-5% have written goalsand succeed. If these statistics are correct, then Mr Rohn’s observation really ISquite fascinating isn’t it?

Unfortunately for most people, the odds for success are actuallyeven lower, because out of the few people who do set goals, mostdon’t take goal setting seriously, they don’t do it scientificallyand they only do it once a year.

Goal setting is so important, that I always teach goal setting and minddynamics first, and only THEN, do I teach nutrition and training second.

It doesnt matter how much you know about nutrition or exercise. Untilspecialized fitness knowledge is linked with goals and directions, theknowledge is useless and you won’t accomplish very much or keep thechanges long term.

In fact, I devoted the entire first chapter of my book, Burn the Fat,Feed the Muscle (www.burnthefat.com) to the subject of goals and constructive”mind programming” for successful, permanent behavior change.

I’ve also studied neuro linguistic programming (NLP) for many years andmore recently spent many months researching the latest information aboutneuroscience to see just how much of the traditional self help andgoal setting wisdom is actually backed by brain research.

As you start thinking about your goals for 2007 right Now, I’d like tohelp you start the year off right by sharing two very valuable, sciencebased tips on acheiving your goals:

TIP #1: Repetition is an effective way to “plant” a goal in the non-conscious mind

Why don’t most resolutions stick? Psychology and neuroscience today aregiving us the answers.

Thanks to new technologies in brain imaging, such as PET scans, SPECT scansand functional MRI’s, we can now actually see your thoughts as electrochemicalimpulses and we can see the formation of new neural connections in real timeright before our eyes.

We can also see where, geographically, in your brain, a particular typeof thought is occuring.

most importantly, we can see how long it takes to form strong neuralpatterns and what types of stimuli cause the patterns to form more quickly

Here’s what we’ve discovered:

Setting a goal once is a conscious activity. Willpower is also a consciousactivity. But research has shown that at least 5/6 of your brain power isin the non conscious mind and that the information and instructions thatreach the non conscious mind are responsible for your automatic behavior.

Some pyschologists believe that 95% of our behaviors are unconscious andautomatic… more commonly known as habits.

Long term behavior changes don’t take place when you set goals one timeas with most new years resolutions. There’s an old saying in “self help”circles that it takes at least 21-30 days to form a habit. This has nowbeen proven to be fairly accurate on a neurological basis.

New neural patterns begin to form only after they’ve been repeated enoughtimes. They continue to strengthen with further repetition. If you makeresolutions on January 1st and you don’t continue to repeat and reinforceyour desire for those “goals,” no new neural connection is formed, no newhabits are formed, no new behaviors are formed….

Your resolutions wither away and die and any results obtained throughwillpower (trying to force the new behaviors through conscious effort),are quickly lost when you slip back to your old ways.

What you repeat over and over again is programmed into the subconsciousmind and begins to take root. On a practical level, this means RE-writingyour goals everyday and thinking about them in positive terms and in mentalpictures, every day, repeatedly until the habit is formed and turned overto “auto-piliot.”

In 1956, when Earl Nightingale wrote “The Strangest Secret is that we becomewhat we think about most of the time,” we didnt know what we know now aboutthe brain.

Nevetheless, Earl was right.

You don’t change your body by trying to change your body. You changeyour body by creating new habitual patterns of thinking and visualizing.

Trying to force new behaviors with willpower while continuing with yourold ways of thinking will always fail because your automatic behavior ismostly under non-conscious control.

Its not the resolution you set once… its the goals (mental thoughts andimages) you focus on all day long that create the long term (and automatic)behavioral change… when you change your behaviors, you change your bodyand your life…

TIP #2: Emotion is a goal-turbocharger

Is there any way around this tedious process of “mental programming” throughrepetition? Not really. The fields of NLP and hypnosis have given us some toolsfor creating more rapid changes, but ultimately you have to begin to “run your ownbrain” and change your habitual way of thinking. No one else can do it for youand there’s no way around it.

there is however, a scientifically proven way to to speed up the process andthat is with the use of strong emotion.

Since modern imaging technology can see activity in the brain and scientistshave located the seat of emotions in the brain, we know that the strengthand number of neural connections associated with a thought or behavior areincreased when you’re in a highly emotional state.

The neuron connections are also stronger, longer lasting and it takes longerto lose a neural connection when it was formed with great emotion.

With this knowledge, we see another reason why new years resolutionsfail: They are set casually with no emotion and no strong emotional”reason why” that gives you the leverage to you need to make a changepermanent.

On January 1st, you may think you’re setting “real” goals, but if you’relike most people, you’re not only doing it a mere once a year and thenlosing focus, you’re also likely to be making flimsy, wishy-washy,emotion-less “resolutions.”

Zig Ziglar once said that, “A goal casually set and lightly taken willbe freely abandoned at the first obstacle.”

You might want to back up and read that quote again, maybe even writeit down or print it out, because this one hits the bull’s-eye!

This truly explains why New Year’s resolutions almost never work, andwhy so few people can keep off the pounds after they get rid of them.

Goal setting should not be casual or lightly taken. Goal setting is animportant and serious matter. This is not a game – this is your life,and you only have one life to live.

Goal setting is also not a one time event – it is an ongoing processof literally “re-wiring your brain.” With the discovery of brain plasticity,we now know that this is science fact, not self-help fiction.

Make the time to set REAL goals, today! Take it seriously, do itscientifically, re-write your goals every day, think about themconstantly, and then take massive action

Do it and this will be the most successful goal-achieving year of your life

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Author, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
www.BurnTheFat.com
www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com

—————————————-
BURN YOUR FAT IN 2007…
AND KEEP IT OFF FOREVER!
—————————————-

If you want to learn more about the real proven science of achieving goalsand getting the body you want, then going to www.BurnTheFat.com, gettingthe Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle e-book and starting immediately by readingchapter 1 may be the most important thing you do this entire year …

Why? Because you won’t just learn what fat burning foods to eat or howto exercise for burning fat, you will also learn how to set goals scientificallyand how to harness the awesome power of your mind to help you reach yourgoals and to put yourself in the top 5% of achievers.

www.BurnTheFat.com
If you already own the Burn The Fat e-book or if you want community support,motivation, and ongoing education to guide you along in your fat loss journey,be sure to visit the all-new, members-only Burn The Fat Inner Circle at:

www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com