While doing my daily power walk, I listened to various podcasts. One is called "Hidden Brain". The host, Shankar Vedentam, was an NPR social science correspondent before starting his own program and production company to explore the influences of our awareness. In each podcast he talks with experts who can help shed light on various ways our brains are wired and how we are influenced by outside dynamics.
His guest for this particular podcast was psychologist Emily Balcetis, the author of "Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People View the World". She uses her own research along with case studies of various very successful people to formulate tips on how to set and meet goals.
I picked up a few great tips, one of which I want to share with you today.
Emily suggests narrow focusing to meet and achieve goals. This is laser-like focus on your goal. As an example, she told how Joan Benoit Samuelson, the elite marathon runner, focuses on her goals during races.
"She chooses a target ahead of her. It might be the pink shorts of somebody who's running up ahead. Or it might be a visual beacon that she can see up in the distance. And she narrows her attention. Again, like a spotlight is shining just on that target that she's selected, as if she's putting on blinders to anything that's around her. And she hones in on that target until she reaches it and passes it, passes that competitor or passes that mark. And then she sets the next goal for herself and focuses her attention there. So in a sense, she's taking this, you know, over 26 miles and breaking it down into many small little competitions with herself, encouraging herself to find the next mark and double down until she gets there and passes by."
This reminded me of a personal situation several years ago when I was a marketing manager for company. I was overwhelmed with so may details hitting me on each project. My boss saw how I was struggling. He told me, similar to Joan's strategy, to break down each task to smaller ones. One task/goal at a time. Good advice that has worked for me.
For more information about Hidden Brain: https://hiddenbrain.org
