It’s a brand new year, and for many people, that means making New Year’s resolutions.
If your clients fall into that category, then this article is perfect for them.
It’ll help them get serious about their career or personal goals.
Not only that, but it will give them the tools they need to set and achieve those goals.
And that includes one specific tool in particular…namely self-hypnosis for goal setting.
But why self-hypnosis? And what’s that got to do with New Year’s resolutions?
Simple: get the unconscious mind working on whatever your goals might be, and there’s a better chance that those goals will be reached.
And since New Year’s resolutions are so notoriously difficult to stick to, you need a little something extra in the mix.
Something that will help your clients make the changes they want to make from the inside out.
A technique they can learn and then apply by themselves to make sure they stay on track – and ultimately succeed.
A technique just like self-hypnosis.
But what exactly is self-hypnosis, and how can it be used in a goal setting sense?
What Is Self-Hypnosis & How Does It Help With Setting Goals?
Self-hypnosis, in a nutshell, is hypnosis that you do to yourself.
Instead of using a hypnotist or hypnotherapist to put you into a hypnotic trance, you put yourself into one.
But whether someone else is doing it to you or you’re doing it to yourself, it’s still your mind that’s doing the work. And that’s important, because it means that you can guide yourself through the process and still get tremendous benefits from it.
Self-hypnosis is a way of connecting with your own unconscious mind so that you can find solutions to problems, break bad habits, boost your confidence, get rid of outdated beliefs, and much, much more.
It’s also incredibly effective at helping to achieve goals.
But how might someone go about it?
Here are 5 scenarios where self-hypnosis could be used to help your clients achieve specific career goals. If they’re trying to climb the corporate ladder, self-hypnosis could enable them to:
Overcome their fear
Includes the fear of speaking in public, the fear of giving opinions during meetings, or the fear of failure, which can be enough to prevent them from even trying.
Reduce their anxiety
Which includes the anxiety they might feel before a job interview, before an employee review meeting, or before giving an important presentation.
Restore their confidence
Which works by reminding them of the confidence they obtained from jobs or projects done well in the past.
Increase their focus and concentration
Which will work to improve their memory and organizational skills, helping them become more efficient and effective.
Enhance their all-round business skills
Which include things such as their ability to communicate with people at all levels, their preparation skills, their motivation, and their determination to succeed.
Using hypnosis to achieve career goals in this way is often called corporate hypnosis. It’s the same process with self-hypnosis, of course, except it probably falls under the more general umbrella of self-help.
You’ll find more information about corporate hypnosis by reading this Hypnosis Training Academy article.
Using Self-Hypnosis For Goal Setting
One of the reasons that self-hypnosis works so well is because of the imagination.
The brain can’t tell the difference between something imagined or something remembered. Using self-hypnosis, it’s possible to re-remember an event from the past or pre-remember an event from the future.
And that means that events from the past don’t have to hold you back anymore.
The truth is that the human mind works in a simple way. Whatever you give your attention to, that’s what tends to happen.
For instance, if you’re riding your bicycle over a rocky path and you start concentrating on the rocks on the ground, instead of on keeping your machine on track, then you’re probably going to end up on the ground yourself.
Likewise, if you’re rubber-necking a road accident as you pass by in your car, you’ll feel your vehicle start to drift over towards the scene of the accident.
Why do these things happen? Because where your attention goes, your energy flows.
Horse riders understand this concept extremely well. They know that getting the horse to do what you want it to do depends on a continual act of biofeedback.
So to go forward, you have to lean your body forward. You can’t just yell giddy-up and hope for the best.
When you try to force the horse to do something, they can be stubborn and refuse because they’re getting the wrong signals from you.
Self-hypnosis for goal setting is all about sending the right signals to your unconscious mind. To do that, you simply have to think about what you want.
Thinking about what you want sends a signal to your unconscious, which starts working to help you achieve it. The only complication is that, as soon as you realize what you want, then you begin worrying about how you’re going to get it.
That’s the conscious mind kicking in. Since you don’t yet know how you’re going to get it, there’s the possibility that doubt will creep in.
And once you begin to doubt it, the chances of achieving it are slim.
So what should you do?
Here are a number of self-hypnosis tools that can be used to keep doubt out of the picture and help you get whatever you or your clients want.
>>Related Article: Is Meditation Or Hypnosis Better For Goal Setting, Success & Stress Relief?
6 Self-Hypnosis Tools That Are Perfect For Goal Setting
1. Mental Rehearsal
This is when you rehearse something that you want to have happen. It’s a technique used a lot in sport psychology.
Athletes rehearse a success routine to prepare for competitions. They always have their eyes on the prize, the gold medal. They know that if they let doubt creep into the mix, they’ve got no chance of winning.
They see themselves outperforming everyone else in the field and taking the trophy. And if they doubt that outcome for a second, then winning just won’t happen.
Mental rehearsals can be used for inspirational purposes as well. An inspirational rehearsal is where you tell yourself the result you want. You’re giving your mind an instruction and allowing things to happen in your life that will take you there.
2. Physical Rehearsal
This is when you rehearse a skill. Research shows that when you mentally rehearse doing something, when you immerse yourself totally in that activity, it helps to develop your muscle memory for that particular activity.
It’s a great technique to use when you have a mental block, like if you’re trying a certain dive at the diving board, or taking on a specific opponent in the boxing ring. It can also be used in creative pursuits, such as where an artist or musician is struggling with a new technique.
Mentally rehearsing the physical movement, seeing yourself doing it perfectly over a period of time, will help you to perfect it more quickly.
3. Emotional Resourcing
This refers to the emotions you need to be able to acquire what you want to have or to get. There are two kinds of emotional resourcing, namely outcome resourcing and the process emotion.
Here’s a classic example of how outcome resourcing works.
Suppose you think you’ll be happy when you have a house. To emotional resource getting a house, tell yourself that you’re happy now and can get a house later. If you’re happy now, then you’ll have the resources in place that you need to be able to get the house later on.
In other words, you start with the end state, the emotional outcome (being happy) that supports the inspirational outcome (getting a house).
The second kind of emotional resource is the process emotion. This refers to how you need to feel to achieve your goal day by day, one step at a time.
Each day and each step is motivated and supported by a certain mindset. If you’re grumbling and complaining every step of the way, you’re not going to reach your end goal.
If on the other hand you’re enjoying each step for what it is, there’ll come a time when you’ll realize that you’ve reached your destination. Instead of worrying about the outcome you’ll have simply enjoyed the process and let it happen.
As well as these techniques, there are 3 other tools that can help when using self-hypnosis for goal setting. These might be described as inner journeys or internal experiences that let you learn what you need to learn to get where you want to go.
3 Tools To Use When Using Self-Hypnosis For Goal Setting
1. Transformations
This refers to bringing to mind a person that represents the ideal of the goal you want to achieve. For a great public speaker, you might bring to mind Martin Luther King. As this figure takes you through what you expect them to take you through, you resolve something inside yourself and are transformed.
2. Automatons
The word automaton refers to something that operates by itself. When you imagine a goal with enough power and clarity, it takes on a life of its own. In other words, it seems to work outside of your need to consciously pay attention to it.
3. Talisman
This refers to a symbol that is extremely pleasant to think about and that means a lot to you, and so you keep dwelling on it. And the more you dwell on it, the more it leads you towards a certain kind of reality and closer to your desired outcome.
6 Simple Steps For Setting Goals With Self-Hypnosis
According to an article on using hypnosis for planning and executing goals, there’s an easy way to kick-start the process. This technique might be useful for new clients or those who want something more concrete to focus on between sessions.
The article lists 6 steps for using self-hypnosis for goal setting, which are summarized below:
1. Write your specific goal down on paper. For example: “I want to be more confident when speaking to colleagues.”
2. Stimulate your unconscious mind by stating how you will feel when you reach your goal, such as: “When I can speak confidently to colleagues I’ll feel (great or proud or fantastic or self-assured or important or successful etc.).
3. Set yourself a small but achievable mini-goal that will help you move closer to your main goal, such as: “I will practice speaking and recording my voice for a few minutes each day.”
4. Work through a self-hypnosis session as soon as you complete steps 1 to 3.
5. Carry out the mini goal in step 3.
6. Repeat the steps until you reach your goal.
Key Takeaways
If your New Year’s resolutions aren’t helping you establish new habits that allow you to reach your goals, then you need to try something else.
One effective technique involves using self-hypnosis for goal setting.
Because it works with your unconscious mind, it helps you set goals from the inside out, meaning that your unconscious is constantly working to help you achieve them.
Self-hypnosis is the same as ordinary hypnosis, but instead of a hypnotist guiding you into a trance, you do it yourself.
It can help you find solutions to problems, break bad habits, boost your confidence, and set reasonable and attainable goals.
So if you want to improve your career prospects and progress up the corporate ladder, for example, self-hypnosis can help you to:
- Overcome your fear
- Reduce your anxiety
- Restore your confidence
- Increase your focus and concentration
- Enhance your all-round business skills
Self-hypnosis is a powerful tool for goal setting for a number of reasons. First, the human brain can’t tell the difference between something imagined and something remembered. That means it’s possible to remember an event from the past or project an event into the future, without past events holding you back any longer.
Second, it’s a fact that where your attention goes, your energy grows. If you give your attention to the things you want to achieve instead of things you haven’t, then you’re more likely to reach your goals.
There are at least 6 potent self-hypnosis tools you can use to make goal setting easier:
1. Mental Rehearsal – mentally rehearsing something that you want to have happen, like an athlete seeing themselves winning the gold medal.
2. Physical Rehearsal – mentally rehearsing performing a skill, which helps to develop muscle memory so you can learn the skill faster.
3. Emotional Resourcing – the emotions you need to be able to acquire what you want to have or to get. These emotions become resources that help you ultimately achieve your goals.
4. Transformations – bringing to mind a person that represents the ideal of the goal you want to achieve, which helps to transform the way you think and act.
5. Automatons – imagining a goal with enough power and clarity that it takes on a life of its own and works for you without the need to consciously pay attention to it.
6. Talisman – a pleasant symbol that means a lot to you, and that you dwell on, which leads you closer to your desired outcome.
Finally, here’s a simple 6-step system for setting goals with self-hypnosis:
1. Write your goal down on paper.
2. Stimulate your unconscious mind by stating how you will feel when you reach your goal.
3. Set yourself a small mini goal to help you move closer to your main goal.
4. Work through a self-hypnosis session upon completing steps 1 to 3.
5. Carry out the mini goal in step 3.
6. Repeat the steps until you reach your goal.
And remember that when you teach your clients self-hypnosis, you’re using your skills as a force for good and empowering them to make positive and lasting changes in their lives.