The ability to become a high achiever, a super star, was considered innate for years.
Now we know it is not.
Talent is achieved, not innate.
It is all based on goals and how we pursue them.
We are all very aware of the importance of setting goals.
We are also very aware of the fact that most goals are never achieved.
That is not so much because we don't want to achieve our goals, it is much more the fact that we don't know how to achieve a goal.
Neuroscientists have focused on goal achievement for the last 20 years and have come up with a much better understanding of why some people are high achievers and others are not.
And it has nothing to do with innate abilities.
You probably have figured out that since it involves neuroscience, we must be talking about the brain, and you are exactly right.
Most of us don't set our brains correctly for our goals and that has been the problem.
When we do the research, we find how relatively simple it is to achieve a goal.
Simple yes, easy, not so much.
As you know, our brains literally control everything about us and are a very complex organ.
Here are some facts about our brains that we must understand as we start the goal achievement process.
Our brain is about 2% of our body weight, yet uses almost 25% of our bodies energy.
That means that all the other 98% of our body, uses only 75% of the energy.
That should get you thinking that our brains are by far the single most important element in goal achievement, and you are absolutely correct.
Another fact you must know is that our conscious mind is able to focus on 7 things at a time.
However, our subconscious mind is able to focus on 20MM things.
Wow! That means it is imperative that we utilize our subconscious mind in order to become a high achiever.
How do we do that? Good question Allow me to introduce you to something you have done for years and years and never thought about.
And you are an expert at it - automaticity.
This is one of the first and most important factors we must use when pursuing a goal.
Automaticity is the ability of our subconscious mind to take over an action so we can focus our conscious mind on something else.
For example, when you pick up a fork and eat your spaghetti, you don't think about the fork and how to use it.
You did as a child when you were learning to use silverware, but now it is automatic.
The same with driving a car, turning a door knob, picking up keys, we have trained our subconscious mind in all these things so we can use our conscious mind for learning new things.
And that is automaticity.
Now why is that so important? Good question.
Here is why automaticity is so important.
Any goal that we want to achieve simply requires us to learn a skill.
That may sound too easy, but it is true.
Think about it.
If you want to become a concert pianist, you need to learn the skill of piano playing.
An artist, art, etc.
The way we learn skills is to break the skill down into small steps, learn them one at a time, and, if we stick with it, we put them together and soon we have the skill.
The more we improve our ability with that skill, the closer we become to being a high achiever.
That, of course, is a gross simplification of the process, but that is basically how all skill development is achieved.
The key to skill development is to move new skills as we learn them from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind - automaticity - that frees our conscious mind to focus on a new step in the skill development process.
Remember, the conscious mind can't handle much, so if there are 32 steps for our goal, automaticity is critical.
Without it, we will never get past step 2 or 3.
So for today, automaticity is the key element we must understand.
Automaticity is created through practice.
Practicing the skill steps that are needed.
You and I have done this all our lives, we just didn't know the neuroscience behind it.
This gives us the power to continue to pursue a goal.
Next time, The perfect scenario for goal achievement.
Now we know it is not.
Talent is achieved, not innate.
It is all based on goals and how we pursue them.
We are all very aware of the importance of setting goals.
We are also very aware of the fact that most goals are never achieved.
That is not so much because we don't want to achieve our goals, it is much more the fact that we don't know how to achieve a goal.
Neuroscientists have focused on goal achievement for the last 20 years and have come up with a much better understanding of why some people are high achievers and others are not.
And it has nothing to do with innate abilities.
You probably have figured out that since it involves neuroscience, we must be talking about the brain, and you are exactly right.
Most of us don't set our brains correctly for our goals and that has been the problem.
When we do the research, we find how relatively simple it is to achieve a goal.
Simple yes, easy, not so much.
As you know, our brains literally control everything about us and are a very complex organ.
Here are some facts about our brains that we must understand as we start the goal achievement process.
Our brain is about 2% of our body weight, yet uses almost 25% of our bodies energy.
That means that all the other 98% of our body, uses only 75% of the energy.
That should get you thinking that our brains are by far the single most important element in goal achievement, and you are absolutely correct.
Another fact you must know is that our conscious mind is able to focus on 7 things at a time.
However, our subconscious mind is able to focus on 20MM things.
Wow! That means it is imperative that we utilize our subconscious mind in order to become a high achiever.
How do we do that? Good question Allow me to introduce you to something you have done for years and years and never thought about.
And you are an expert at it - automaticity.
This is one of the first and most important factors we must use when pursuing a goal.
Automaticity is the ability of our subconscious mind to take over an action so we can focus our conscious mind on something else.
For example, when you pick up a fork and eat your spaghetti, you don't think about the fork and how to use it.
You did as a child when you were learning to use silverware, but now it is automatic.
The same with driving a car, turning a door knob, picking up keys, we have trained our subconscious mind in all these things so we can use our conscious mind for learning new things.
And that is automaticity.
Now why is that so important? Good question.
Here is why automaticity is so important.
Any goal that we want to achieve simply requires us to learn a skill.
That may sound too easy, but it is true.
Think about it.
If you want to become a concert pianist, you need to learn the skill of piano playing.
An artist, art, etc.
The way we learn skills is to break the skill down into small steps, learn them one at a time, and, if we stick with it, we put them together and soon we have the skill.
The more we improve our ability with that skill, the closer we become to being a high achiever.
That, of course, is a gross simplification of the process, but that is basically how all skill development is achieved.
The key to skill development is to move new skills as we learn them from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind - automaticity - that frees our conscious mind to focus on a new step in the skill development process.
Remember, the conscious mind can't handle much, so if there are 32 steps for our goal, automaticity is critical.
Without it, we will never get past step 2 or 3.
So for today, automaticity is the key element we must understand.
Automaticity is created through practice.
Practicing the skill steps that are needed.
You and I have done this all our lives, we just didn't know the neuroscience behind it.
This gives us the power to continue to pursue a goal.
Next time, The perfect scenario for goal achievement.
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