“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them”.

Those words are not new. Forged from the pit of personal struggle, Augustine “OG” Mandino rose to be a highly celebrated author, selling over 50 million copies of his book, The Greatest Salesman in the World.

His book, and his own personal success was built upon ten simple scrolls:

– Scroll I – I will form good habits and become their slave.

– Scroll II – I will greet this day with love in my heart.

– Scroll III – I will persist until I succeed.

– Scroll IV – I am nature’s greatest miracle.

– Scroll V – I will live this day as if it is my last.

– Scroll VI – Today I will be master of my emotions.

– Scroll VII – I will laugh at the world (Keep perspective)

– Scroll VIII – Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.

– Scroll IX – I will act now.

– Scroll X – I will pray for guidance.

Each scroll contains a principle created to defeat the bad habits one built up over their lifetime which “threatens to imprison my future” (Scroll I) with good habits developed through a ten-month process of studying the scrolls. Mandino believed adherence to his 10 scrolls over 10 months would “seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend.

As the words of these scrolls are consumed by my mysterious mind I will begin to awake, each morning, with a vitality I have never known before. My vigour will increase, my enthusiasm will rise, my desire to meet the world will overcome every fear I once knew at sunrise, and I will be happier than I ever believed it possible to be in this world of strife and sorrow.” (Scroll I).

Now, I can hear you say, what the hell does this have to do with me getting a sub 4 minute Fran or a double bodyweight overhead squat?! Well, we are all too aware of the tremendous power goal setting allows us to harness. Mandino knew this too, using his scrolls to form habits that allowed him to be consistent, happy, and most importantly, taking action on a regular basis.

I recently had the pleasure of conducting a goal-setting review with one of our members, Paul. Paul had set himself some ambitious goals, and through taking action created some tremendously good habits in the shape of regular attendance at the gym, cleaning up his nutritional intake and persisting with his efforts, he aced his six-monthly goal-setting catch up (click here for some gratuitously celebratory Facebook action).

So how can this help you?

The importance of having goals can not be understated so here’s what to do:

– Grab a pen and a blank piece of paper

– Write down where you would like to be on 21/08/2018

– Write down what you are prepared to do to get there

– Tell one or two trusted people what you want to achieve

– Get after it

Yes, it’s that simple.

The more you complicate the matter by overthinking or trying to rationalise the things you want to achieve, the less likely you’ll be to achieve your goals.

If you need a hand or are short of someone to talk to, book a time with me.

We are proud to operate on a Help First basis, and have given away 000’s of hours of time, freely, to help others.

We’ll happily listen and see if we can help you get some structure around what it is you want to achieve.