Overview 

“What do you want?” How many times have we heard this from others, as we were trying to figure out what to do or where to go next? The answer to this question, whether it was our dreams or aspirations, or what we needed to get a project off the ground, turned out to be our goals. Goals come in all shapes and sizes, short-term or long-term. But they have one thing in common: they all answer the question, “What do you want?” 

Objectives 

By the end of this unit, I will be able to: 

• describe two instances from the past where I set a goal and achieved it. 
• describe one instance, in the past, where I set a goal, but did not achieve it. 
• define two goals for myself, that I intend to achieve within the next 90 days. 

Key Points 

• A goal is something we want. Goals can be short-term, like preparing for a party this weekend, or longer term, like being able to buy a house or watch our grandchildren graduate from college. One thing these goals have in common is an end, something that lets us know we have achieved them.
• For every goal, there is a picture of it we hold in our minds. How clear, how vivid that picture is determines how strong it is. The more real the picture is in our minds, the better the chance of figuring out a way to make the goal realized.
• According to Gestalt psychology, humans are always looking for order in our minds. The world outside of us must match the picture we hold inside. If it doesn’t, then we have a problem. Goal-setting is purposely causing a problem, creating that gap between what is and what we want. We make ourselves “out of order” to allow our Creative Subconscious to restore order, but in the new direction we want.
• Psychologists have discovered that we cannot hold two opposing thoughts at the same time. We can flip back and forth between them, but we can’t hold them at the same time. This is called Cognitive Dissonance and another reason why our Creative Subconscious is constantly working to maintain sanity, or reality, for us. When we make the new picture stronger than the old, the Creative Subconscious also unleashes our RAS to find what we need to achieve the new goals.
• If we don’t have any new goals, our creative subconscious only releases enough energy and creativity to maintain the status quo. No new goals, no new energy. No new goals, no new ideas. We probably wouldn’t see opportunity right in front of us, because our awareness has shut down. Just enough energy, ideas and awareness are released to keep today like yesterday, and tomorrow like today.
• Goal-setting is a powerful process, and one that we can use over and over again as we grow. If we are tired of the “same old” us, we need simply challenge ourselves with new goals. 

Key Concepts 

Cognitive Dissonance – an emotional state where two simultaneously held attitudes or beliefs are inconsistent; a conflict between belief and overt behavior; thought conflict. We can hold different attitudes without emotional disharmony as long as a situation does not occur where these two attitudes are brought into direct confrontation with each other. 

Creative Subconscious – the source of mental processes that leads to ideas, solutions, artistic forms, new or novel concepts and theories. 

Gestalt – human beings are always working to complete the incomplete, for closure; discrepancy production / discrepancy reduction; a view that psychological phenomena could only be understood if viewed as organized wholes (Gestalten). 

Goal – a sought end result that may be actual and objective, or subjective and internal. 

Goal-Setting – the act of establishing what we want. 

Out of Order / Into Order – discrepancy production/discrepancy reduction. 

Reticular Activating System (RAS) – a network of neurons in the brain-stem involved in consciousness; a primary alert to awareness network that transmits sensory stimuli to higher brain centers. 

Reality – all that forms what an individual believes to be real. It is our perceptions and assessments of our environment and how they go together with our culture and values. We are aware of our environment and our need to accommodate to the demands of that environment. 

Sanity – soundness of mind and judgement. A mental state whereby we are able to function on a day-to-day basis with the world around us. 

Application & Review Questions 

Download the interactive PDF and save to your hard drive. Then, take time to reflect on the Application & Review Questions and answer them in relation to the concepts presented apply to your own life. 

(See Downloads) 

Natural Creativity 

We know that we have information stored in our Subconscious, from every movie, television program, book we’ve read, conversations and experiences that we have had. (Neuroscientists have proven that a single memory could have pieces of that memory stored in multiple parts of the brain.) When we give ourselves a problem to solve – otherwise known as a goal – the Creative Subconscious gets to work gathering information to solve the problem. This is called the “incubation process.” 

If the Creative Subconscious doesn’t find all it needs in previously stored information, we will find ourselves driven, almost intuitively, toward books, classes, internet searches, etc. to find more information to solve the problem. Our RAS starts working overtime, and this is all happening outside of our consciousness. 

Now, once the information is sifted and collated, and a solution found, it will surface to your Conscious level and, more than likely, wake you up in the middle of the night with an, “I’ve got it!” When we are not consciously struggling with a problem, our Creative Subconscious releases our creativity and the solution comes in the form of a bright idea, known as an “illumination.” 

By giving ourselves goals that are currently out of our reach, by throwing ourselves out of order, we unleash our natural creativity to find the solutions we seek. 

EXTENDED LEARNING VIDEOS – TBC  

Lou Stories 

Please find optional Lou stories in the download section. 

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