burdens

Discipline – Goals Part 2

/ bjstagner / Leave a comment

 

graphic design

Click Here for the fully formatted version

Goals Part 2

“You cannot reach what you cannot see, goals must be achievable, attainable and applicable.”

Striving for excellence isn’t a hobby, it is a lifestyle.  It is a lifestyle shaped through habitual living of daily repeated processes which require labour to overcome the temptation of following choices leading us away from the success we so greatly desire.

So, what this means is the temptation to quit and follow the status quo of a sedentary society will come, it will be a battle we face, sometimes every day.  Just remember, don’t sacrifice the permanent, upon the altar of the immediate!  

Goals – Attainable & Applicable

Our goals, as mentioned before, must be achievable, whilst at the same time they are also to be Attainable and Applicable. 

Attainable in the fact our goals must bear a realistic purpose within your daily walk.  Say for instance we set a goal to walk on water.  Well, the reality is we will fail in reaching this goal; gravity in conjunction with the solid v. liquid equation will win every time. (There was only One person to ever do this and none of us are Him).  Why? You may ask.  Because there is no PURPOSE for it, walking on water was a sign, and we are not living in an age of signs.  The same holds true for our goals, in every aspect, they need to be attainable, not so much as making them so simple they are without labour; there must be a ‘cost’ to reaching goals based upon our plan encouraged through the vision.  Attainability does not remove the sweat and pain of the victory.  It does in fact, insert the purpose for setting the goal which will in the darkest of moments assist in pressing us forward to reach beyond our assumed limitations.  Once we see the goal and realise its attainability, then we see clearly the third requirement… which is applicability. 

Applicable is much the same, whereas the attainable portion of our goals asks “to what end?” (i,e. purpose), the applicable part addresses the question of “why such an end?” (i.e.product).  Asking oneself, ‘what is the end goal?’ at the outset is vital.  It will determine the strategy, the requirements, the price one is willing to pay in order to produce the reward at the end.  This method of evaluation allows us to count the cost and assess whether or not the end is worth the means.  

Sometimes, within this functionality we are faced with a greater cost than worth.  This does not always mean an instant ‘redline’ through the goal, but rather a separation of the two.  Meaning, maybe your goal is to increase your earning potential by 50%.  This is a great goal, but when measured through the lens of applicability, you find it will cost you too much time away from family, friends or other aspects of your life.  Instead of removing the goal, you extend the time limit.  Rather than striving to succeed in eighteen months, you extend the date to thirty-six months and all is well.   

So, what goals do we have and why? To what purpose are they going to serve and why?

Attainability and Applicability,  two key avenues working seamlessly within the goals of a disciplined mindset.  Just remember, these latter two are pointless without the first one of Achievability being accomplished.   Without recognising the Achievability of our goals, we will never understand their attainability and applicability,  much less meet them.

“We don’t always see the victory, even when it is there.”

Goals Part 1

/ bjstagner / 1 Comment

graphic design

Click here for the fully formatted version

Goals

“You cannot reach what you cannot see, goals must be achievable, attainable and applicable.”

Finally, it’s time to pull the pin, nothing trumps execution.  Without executing the plan by setting the goals everything becomes smoke and mirrors.  Too many will set goals with aspirations of grandeur without having the proper foundation to make a difference in the end.  What this means is when we set goals, there must be a method behind the madness.  Everything leading up to this moment has been precise, the vision and the plan are set in motion and are practical in all aspects, therefore there is no reason why establishing and completing goals should be any different.  Don’t sell yourself short in establishing goals so low they will require no labour or discomfort.  The reality is, at this point in our endeavour we need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.  This is especially true in setting and reaching goals.  Not only should they NOT be too easily reached, they must be able to be completed nonetheless.  

Goals – Achievable

Achievability, a word often used, but seldom fully understood.  It is defined as “the ability to be brought about or accomplished successfully.”   As mentioned in the opening section, “You cannot reach what you cannot see, goals must be achievable, attainable and applicable.”  Here we find our three point outline to establishing goals, which before they can be attainable and applicable, they must be achievable.  The latter two are pointless without the first one being accomplished.

We see it every New Year, people throw out a list of goals (aka resolutions) for the up coming twelve months.  Yet by the end of January, the new has worn off and the zeal of becoming the ‘new you’ has dimmed.  Most will now, settle for mediocrity and forget the list of changes desired.  The reason this occurs so often is because the goals may have been good goals, in theory, but the actual achievability was never considered.  This is a repeated process by hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world, the reality is things must change… we must change because if you make no changes you get the same results.

Think about it using the S.M.A.R.T. principle of goal setting (I am not advocating this system only using it as an example), many goals fit the qualification of S (specific), M (measurable) and T (time-bound).  Rarely do we find, even the worse goals fail to meet the criteria within these three.  Yet, the most overlooked and most severe of them all is the A (achievable).  Friend, goals worth setting are going to place you in the position of discomfort and this is okay.  Goals which place you in the position of delusion is not okay, as a matter of fact they are unhealthy as they set you up for failure.  There must be a visualisation of the victory, every NFL quarterback visualises the confetti falling upon their head whilst hoisting the Super Bowl trophy above their teammates shouting “we are the champions!”  The truth is there are only five active NFL QBs who have won a Super Bowl, 6 of which have been won by one person (Tom Brady).  This does not mean every Quarter Back in the league does not have aspirations or for that matter even the vision, plan and goal to win the championship at the start of the season.  When August rolls around, having a goal to win your division and the final championship is a great goal to have which will require loads of discomfort.  Now, if your team is 0-10 going into mid November, having a goal to be the NFL’s finest is pure delusion… and again, this is not okay, not in any reality.  

So, we must understand, proper goals, which are achievable and realistic will involve some struggle, some effort on our part and rightly so.  The nature of discomfort should not be avoided, as matter of fact, it should be pursued in many cases even if  the journey does not always go the way we want.  With that said, don’t be afraid to set big goals, remember you cannot reach what you cannot see; and don’t be frightful to face the obstacles needed to claim the victory, if it means clawing your way to the podium.  But, be realistic, set goals which are achievable based upon your vision and plan, once you reach them, simply re-set, place the baton further than before conquering the day in achieving another goal based upon the vision and plan you have established through the mindset of discipline. 

“Don’t sacrifice the permanent, upon the altar of the immediate!”

Stop Complaining… For Your Own Good And For Those Around You.

/ bjstagner

 

ED081B8E-A8DF-4C01-B6BA-F9E09531FDB5

We have all been around those people who love to complain… as a matter of fact you may even be someone who chooses to find the negative in any situation as oppose to the lighter side or many times even the truth.  People assume they know why they complain or perpetuate negativity, they will make a statement like, “I know I am a cynic” or “ Well, I’m just a realist”.  Whether or not this is just an opinion or a true and faithful statement is beside the point, continual negativity not only is habitual and counterproductive to any situation, it is in fact a detriment to one’s health.

Clinical research performed at Stanford University revealed complaining actually shrinks the area of the brain critical to problem solving and intelligent thought called the hippocampus.  Damage to the hippocampus is frightening, when one will consider it is one of the primary location of the brain destroyed by Alzheimer’s.

Complaining not only is damaging to our brain, but has further ramifications to our body as well.  As a person complains, the body releases the stress hormone cortisol, which is the hormone directly associated with the fight-or-flight response.  It is also responsible for directing oxygen, blood, and energy away from everything except the systems essential for immediate survival.  As cortisol releases the blood pressure and blood sugar are raised in preparation to either escape (flight) or defend (fight).  This may sound inconsequential, however the excessive cortisol release, due to habitual frequent complaining results in impairment of the immune system, which results in an increased susceptibility to heart disease such as myocardial infarction, hypertension, heart failure among others.  It has also been linked to diabetes, high cholesterol, and even obesity. Several studies revealed too much cortisol has been connected to raising venerability of cerebral vascular accidents (CVA aka “stroke”), which when described as its simplest level, is a brain attack.

You may be wondering why does this occur and why does complaining have such an effect on the body but especially the brain.  In all fairness, it is quite simple… neurologically speaking.  Neurological science has shown neurons are a close knit family.  The more they fire the closer they grow together allowing permanence to develop.  As this action is repeated, just like many negative behaviours, the brain literally is rewired to encourage such action to be easily repeated.  The brain is the greatest supercomputer ever created functioning with efficiency.  Thus, as a person complains, physiological and neurological responses occur in order to enable the crossing of information through the communicative network easier. 

Complaining is not an innate quality, but rather a learned action.  It happens to be the physical changes which makes complaining such an easy habit to develop.  But is it worth it?  There has been many articles and ‘studies’ claiming the benefits of complaining, in an article from 2 February 2018 in Forbes states, ““Constructive wallowing” is the term author Tina Gilbertson uses to describe the power of accepting and releasing negative feelings. It’s not that people aren’t capable of being positive, it’s that we are so backlogged with suppressed emotions, they are flaring up to get our attention. She argues that we need to clear our consciousness before we can allow new experiences in.”. Whereas, at face value, this may seem like a justification to complain, to “clear our consciousness” in a release of “backlogged” and “suppressed emotions”, the hard truth of the matter is greatly opposite.  Not only has neuroscience proven exorbitant complaining unhealthy for those committing the act, but it is always deteriorating to social communication.  On the sociological level, complaining is contagious and it presents an environment for others to absorb the negative without realising it, project the same in other circles (picture someone complaining about a complainer).  So not only is repeated complaining detrimental to your health, but it also has an debilitating effect on people’s ability to communicate with negative aspects.  Whereas, there are many types of ‘complaints’, the truth is, it is a conditioned response to areas of our life we are unhappy about and often the subject of the complaint is a separate subject altogether.  I can remember being around an individual who complained about everything.  This particular person constantly complained about everything, but when I asked for a solution, the answer was always “I don’t know.”  It became very evident the complaints were not only invalid, but actually were a reflection of their own unhappiness in life.  It was a sad situation, made even more so when there was nothing I could do to help.  In the end, the separation as acquaintances became the obvious, and might I say only option.  

By no means am I suggesting if and when a person is dealing with situations in their life causing them displeasure they should just suppress them into compartments within the mind.  If anyone is dealing with circumstances in their life, by all means speak to someone.  Let me reiterate, no one should suffer in silence, speak and speak loudly to those who can help and will listen.  Outside of personal struggles, we all know complaining is different and typically for reasons other than psychological help.  It is proven to be dangerous to one’s health and when we considering the ease of spreading at epidemic rates, it endangers those close by as well. 

What should be done?

It is easy to say, just stop, however by incorporating a little acronym into our cognitive response we may be assisted in deterring our addiction to complaining.  Before we speak, think…or in other words, before we speak T.H.I.N.K.  Ask yourself, is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Needed? Is it Kind?  Sure, this may sound simple and no this isn’t anything new.  Most of us, who are parents, have taught this to our children.  Yet, simplicity is often the best option and the most overlooked.  Consider the outcome of your outgo.  Try to find the positive in the surroundings in your life and if you cannot, change the environment in which you are complaining about.

So, before we decide to unload and let go, think… and stop complaining for your own good and for  those around you.