Land of Oz Workshops Blog: Using the Imagination Wheel for Success

Land of Oz Workshops Blog: Using the Imagination Wheel for Success: According to the University of Scranton. Journal of Clinical Psychology, the 10 most important New Year resolutions are: lose weight, g...

Using the Imagination Wheel for Success

According to the University of Scranton. Journal of Clinical Psychology, the 10 most important New Year resolutions are: lose weight, get organized, spend less & save more, enjoy life to the fullest, get fit and healthy, learn something new and exciting, quit smoking, help others, fall in love, and spend more time with family.

As we all know, it is a lot easier to make New Year’s resolutions than to actually achieve them. It is estimated that half of the adults in the USA make New Year’s resolutions but only a fourth of that number stay the course with what they have set out to achieve.

Making a resolution to change is a big step towards self-improvement, but the important thing is to make resolutions that are actually achievable and which allow you to be successful. From my own counseling practice in California I found that change is possible when the person making the goal is absolutely certain that this is what is desired. For a goal to be reached, you have to have a ‘desire’ rate of at least 90%. What this means is that when  you make a New Year’s resolution, in order to insure your success, your yearning for change must be, on a scale of 0-10 (with 10 being the highest level of motivation), 9 or 10 out of 10!

To make sure that you are successful, I suggest you first draw a big circle on a piece of paper and write your New Year’s goal in the middle. Then draw lines from the circle out so that it looks like a picture of the sun with rays projecting all the way around. On each ray, write a word or words that describe the benefit you will receive from achieving the goal in the middle of the circle. In addition, write words on each ray that describe what you will lose achieving your identified goal. For example, if your goal is to stop smoking, what are the benefits and what will you be giving up? Perhaps greater health will be achieved but you might have to give up that feeling of inhaling and what seems like instant relief of stress. All goals have pluses and minuses. Hopefully you will have a lot more pluses than minuses.

Next, look at the words around your circle and pick one positive word or words that seem to resonate most with you. On a scale of 0-10, how motived are you to achieve your New Year’s resolution as you focus your attention on the word or set of words you have chosen? If you don’t immediately feel it is a 9 or 10, choose another goal and start over again. The most important thing is to choose a goal that you feel passionate about achieving.

Louis Pasteur, French microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the causes and preventions of diseases wrote, “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my success in achieving my goals. My strength lies in my tenacity.”

Choosing a goal that you feel passionate about, desirous of, and committed to will ultimately lead to your success.