Boot camp Melbourne

1. Visualise your goals

Athletes in training for competition are often actually mentally visualising seeing themselves cross the line in first position.

Just like an athlete, you need to see your goals, feel them and make the emotional connection with how you will feel once you’ve achieved your goal.

Think about it like this: it’s as if you were kicking a football towards goal posts covered in a blanket of fog. You’d have to begin by visualising the goal post through the fog. How high are they? How far are they away from you? Maybe you could even visualise the wind circulating around the point that the football would pass through.

2. Take ownership

Quite often in life we like to delegate our responsibility to other people, events or things rather than taking ownership and responsibility for our actions.

We now live in a society where any action can easily be attributed to others. It’s always somebody else's fault or influence – you have no control over what happened.

It might seem rational to exclaim, “It's not my fault I don't exercise. I'm working long hours to pay the mortgage.” However, when making resolutions to achieve a goal, you need to take some responsibility no matter how uncomfortable it may make you feel.

3. Ignore negative thoughts

During any given 24-hour period, whether unconsciously or consciously, there are literally thousands of thoughts that circulate within our minds. And not all of them will be positive.

We have two options. We can:

1. Interact and engage with our negative thoughts and so continue the perpetuation of more detrimental negativity.
2. Acknowledge our negative thoughts but let them pass by like a branch floating by while we stand on the riverbank.

Too often we’ll focus on our negative thoughts while ignoring the positive messages that help us get closer to our goals.
We may see our branches of negativity floating past and maybe we can even touch them. But we don't have to – we can leave them alone to continue on their merry way while we get on with more productive things.

4. Focus on positive thoughts

Surprisingly, there are as many positive thoughts swirling around in our mind during the day as negative ones. Excellent goal makers acknowledge and focus on these thoughts.

Too often we dismiss our positive thoughts without really taking advantage of how they can steer us towards the correct pathway. There’s an old saying, "You can view the glass half full or half empty.” The same applies to the thoughts circulating around our minds.

5. Reprogram your belief system

Focus on believing you can achieve your goals. Dismiss those underlying belief systems that only sabotage your success.

You need to positively reinforce the idea that you will achieve, be successful, and create/attract more success and happiness.

We all have limiting beliefs that, whether on a subconscious or conscious level, alter our pathways in life. But we can choose otherwise. . Think of Susan Boyle.

6. Never, ever give up

The road to achieving your goals can be a rickety, potholed and corrugated. It can be uncomfortable and unpleasant at moments.

But, remember, when viewed in their entirety, these moments pale into insignificance over a lifetime.

Maintain your positive thoughts and attitudes in every situation, no matter how tempting it may be to give up. It's a lot easier to throw in the towel, however the rewards of success will always outweigh the unpleasantness of doubt and disbelief, in every circumstance. A great example is shark attack survival with Paul De Gelder.

7. Create neurological pathways

Part of reprogramming your belief system is changing those well-trodden pathways in your mind that form your neurological roadmap.

Your interior roadmap directs and controls your underlying thought patterns. Consider that to create a longstanding habit, we must repeat an activity over 1000 times before it becomes second nature.

The process of changing (good or bad) habits doesn’t happen by modifying our behaviour on just one or two occasions. We must repeat an action over and over again until those tiny electrical impulses that race through our brain create a new network to travel along.

A great tip is to write down your desired goal and read it back to yourself regularly. Better still, create a sign and put it where you’ll see it everyday.

8. Remove attachment

Letting stuff go is something we all struggle with. We cultivate attachment throughout our entire lives, whether it's to things, people, ideas or emotions.

These attachments can influence your ability to achieve your goals by providing conceptual detours and dead ends that lead you further away from your desired destination.

Once you remove attachment from your life, especially emotional attachment, you are truly free to be whomever you want, or realise whatever you wish to achieve.

We’re confronted by situations that can lead to attachment every day. It’s often an emotional response to an activity – for example, someone cutting you off in traffic.

Having attachment to a negative situation means you can extend your anger and aggression into other parts of your life. We’ve all taken a bad day at work home to our families and friends – that’s attachment in action.

Removing such attachments gives you freedom from negativity. You are no longer compelled to react or engage on a more emotional or physical level and so free yourself up to focus on creating more positive outcomes in your life.