John:

In Jack Canfield's and Mark Victor Hansen's original Chicken Soup for the Soul, I am reminded of the short story called "Another Check Mark On the List." This is a story about a 15 year old boy named John who, on one rainy day, when it was too wet outside to play, decided to write a list of his goals. John continued writing until he had 127 goals. These goals included exploring the Nile River, climbing high mountain peaks around the world and learning 3 foreign languages. He also wanted to be featured in a Rose Bowl Parade and play several musical instruments.

Of the 127 goals that he listed over 60 years ago, John has achieved 108. If he lives to become 75 years old he will achieve 109 (he listed "live to see the 21^st Century"). How did John achieve all of these goals?
He wrote them down...

Objectives of Part 2.

Sometime during your self hypnosis training and working to achieve your goals, you may not feel sufficiently motivated. As a matter of fact, several times during your goal achieving exercises you may feel this way. You may be finding yourself reverting back to your old bad habits.

"My mission in life is to help you achieve your mission in life." 

Perhaps you have achieved some success using the self hypnosis principles I gave you in Part 1? Now its time to give you my 5-Step Goal Achievement Program. With the 5-Step Program you will incorporate techniques that employ little use of a formal self hypnosis induction but will achieve fantastic results for you just the same. You may work the plan independent of your self hypnosis exercises or combine the two. You will achieve amazing and quick, positive results. 

Step 2 Write It Down

Write it down, write it down, write it down! 

Have you ever got to a point where you were going to write down a New Year's Resolution or some other goal you thought you wanted, only to find yourself procrastinating? One year later, were you faced by the same New Year's Resolution or goal? Why does this happen? It happens because of that little voice inside of you that says, "I am not good enough or worthy enough to be in possession of the benefits derived from achieving my goal." You have been programmed for failure.

I recently read a motivational quote that said: "If you can't write it down, you can't do it." Let's think about that for a minute. Every day you may be compiling lists of things to do to run your household, perform your job, or plan your business trip or vacation. How many times do you really write down, exactly what you want out of life? How many long term or short - term goals do you write down?

When you hypnotize yourself, you want to focus your attention on specific words and ideas and give those words and ideas your complete attention.

Did you ever write a letter, business report or term paper and at times find your fingers flying across the keyboard or across the notepad or stationary? Since written words are symbols of objects, ideas or feelings, could the physical process of entering these words onto a page actually create the hypnotic condition? I believe it does. When you use language to communicate on paper, you need to process the information on a subconscious level. It's too hard to think of every single word, phrase, idea, and then try to put all of those ideas into a logical format, one letter or sound at a time. The help you are getting while creating is coming straight from your powerful subconscious mind. Why not take advantage of another chance to use your powerful subconscious mind, by writing down your goal? 

Write it down in your day planner, write it down and hang it on your walls, write it down on sticky notes and place them on your bathroom mirror or on your windows. Every time you write your goal down, your body is moving toward your goal. The goal is getting clearer and clearer. The road map you create by writing it down is projected straight to your subconscious mind and is being acted upon.

Picture this:

A popular syndicated cartoonist would writes down 15 times a day, every day that "I want to be a syndicated cartoonist." He does this every single day, even when he doesn't exactly feel like a syndicated cartoonist. Now, Scott Adams, the creator of the "Dilbert Cartoon" is a full-time, syndicated cartoonist, known the world over. Scott wrote it down.

One way to state that goal in a more positive and immediate context is to say, "I AM a syndicated cartoonist." Act as if you already are in possession of the goal. It takes a lot of pressure off you during your daily activities and also conditions you to feeling the role and getting comfortable with it. 

One day I found myself studying to become a hypnotist. I would write down each day, "I am a professional hypnotist." Now, I am a hypnotist. My subconscious mind was okay with me being a hypnotist long before my conscious mind was ready to accept the idea. It will happen like that for you too. What helped me expedite my career was by writing it down.

Write your goals down everywhere. The very fact that you are reading and listing this information is a great start toward overcoming the real obstacles and moving forward toward achieving all of your goals. Think about John, the 15-year-old goal achiever from Chicken Soup for the Soul. Now that he is 74 years old, what advice would John have for you when you ask him: "What was the most important thing you can do to achieve your goals?" John would say, just three words. 

Write it down.

Stephanie:

Stephanie was looked upon to as a picture of motivation. She used self hypnosis techniques in her quest to have the perfect weight. She only ate healthy foods and exercised 5 to 6 days a week. Then one day, she skipped her self hypnosis session. She decided that the weather wasn't good enough to go jogging. Stephanie decided that she would eat fast food burgers with extra French fries. The next day and the next, she continued to skip her self hypnosis, stop exercising and eat junk food. Stephanie was now feeling poorly and gaining weight. What could she do to get back on track?

Stephanie then began to cut out pictures of women in health and fitness magazines. She cut out figures of women who were approximately her height and weight. She then took a scissors and cut off the heads of these pictures and then pasted them on construction paper and hung them on her bedroom wall. Within three days, Stephanie was back to exercising. She was eating healthy foods and practicing her self hypnosis for relaxation. Stephanie was back on track!

Step 3 Create An Image Book Or Treasure Map

What would I say if you challenged me by asking, "If you have 10 minutes to come up with the most powerful technique of achieving a goal, what would that one technique be?" If I had only had one opportunity to persuade someone that they will be helped in life, this is the technique I would teach. I would teach them to create an image book or treasure map.

Have you ever heard how a picture is worth a thousand words? You will definitely shortcut your time in becoming successful by creating an image book or treasure map.

What is an image book or treasure map?

An image book is a page or series of pages or sheets of colored paper that you place pictures of items you wish to acquire. It may also include text of motivational statements or headlines that spell out the goals you wish for yourself.

For example, if your goal is financial success, your success may be defined by the possessions you purchase when you receive your money. Instead of writing down, "I want a new car," you would actually place a picture of the make, model, and color of your dream car on a poster board or in a notebook. In the earlier example, Stephanie cut out pictures from health and fitness magazines that were of women she wanted her body image to match.

Perhaps, you wish to own a new home. Place a picture of the home you wish to own or a copy of a blueprint on the poster board or paper. Continue in this fashion with all of your listed goals. The key is finding pictures that will reflect you already in possession of your desired goals. Just as writing down goals will help you crystallize success in your mind, so will visualizing through your image book or treasure map. Only you can control the images feeding your brain. 

Most people find it difficult to visualize using their mind. You will be successful by visualizing over and over again. Repetition will win the battle for you. Think of all of the advertisements you see on television, direct mail, and in magazines. Why will a company spend millions of dollars in television advertisements to sell a $2.00 hamburger? They spend that kind of money because they know, that by giving you images of that hamburger, and by repeating that image many, many, times, they can change your eating behavior, forever!

Marketing studies have shown that people will buy just about anything, if they are shown that image enough times. For one person that may be just one or two viewings or "impressions." For another person, it may be one thousand impressions. How many impressions will it take for you to achieve your goal? View your image book or treasure map often and you will be achieving your goals before you know it. Repetition always wins.

After you are finished creating your image book or treasure map, place it on a wall or by your desk and look at it each day. Study it. As you concentrate on these visual images of what you want, your subconscious mind is working overtime to help you achieve your goals.

Your imagination is so powerful that you will start achieving these goals faster than you could ever imagine. You may find after time that some of the pictures aren't really goals anymore, so replace them with new goals. After a session of practicing your self hypnosis, begin to recreate you image book. You will be surprised of the insights a session of self hypnosis will give you.

Each day when you get up in the morning and before you go to bed at night, pass your image book or treasure map, and study each of the pictures. Allow your subconscious servant to do its work. 

There are many magazines with colorful pictures to cut out and positive statements, (usually in the advertisements for products). Money Magazine, Kiplinger Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, have great financial goal pictures and copy. Health and Fitness magazines have great pictures of how you may want to look after you have gained or lost a certain amount of weight. Let you imagination be your guide. You will be in the hands of the best guide available!

After you have cut out the pictures, glue or paste them on your poster board. Look at them each every day. Cut out pictures when you don't want that goal anymore and replace them with new ones. When you achieve your goal, file it or place it in a prominent place to remind you of the power of your mind. Remember that you are the best hypnotist in the entire world, and also the best goal achiever you will ever meet!

Congratulations on your success.

Workshop:

Activity 1 - My List of Goals

Write down a list of goals. List your main goals then less important ones. No goal is too large or too small. Your powerful subconscious mind is a powerful, goal achieving machine. As you write down the goals and as you review them at a later date, see yourself in possession of the goals. See yourself enjoying the results of your hard work and dedication.

1. etc...

Activity 2 - Create Your Image Book or Treasure Map

Collect all the newspapers, magazines and photographs you can find. Cut out pictures and headlines that most represent the goals you have listed in Activity 1. Take colored paper or poster board and paste or tape the pictures and headlines all over it. If you have more than one picture or representation for each goal that is fine. Your subconscious is a goal achieving machine. It will enjoy achieving everything you give it. In addition, place a few of your main goal pictures and headlines below. Look at these pictures and headlines often.
 

Summary

In Part 2, you learned two methods of achieving all of your goals. Make sure you write down what you want in life. If you can't write it down, you can't do it.

You also learned how to create an image book or treasure map. Picture yourself with these successful images. They will enhance your self hypnosis improvement plan. You will achieve what you perceive!