Sometimes the "how to" of doing things can blur you vision and get in your way. "You cannot see the wood for the trees" is a saying which sums up this phenomenon quite nicely. If you want to achieve something it is more important to make a commitment to achieving that end result than to focus upon how you will do it.

Focusing upon the "how to" will in fact more likely lead you astray and distract you from your goals. In contrast, as you focus upon your desired end result your mind will find a way in which to get there, so long as you are committed to that aim. Your mind is in fact naturally designed or hard-wired to resolve conflicts and it will do so providing you give it the opportunity and do not get in the way.

You see the effect of meddling in the "how to" arena very vividly in golf. If you stand on the tee box, club in hand, and allow your mind to go over thoughts about your grip, stance, and so on you are far more likely to hit a bad shot than if you were simply to visualize the spot where you want your ball to end up and allow yourself to swing the club naturally.

Once you have passed your driving test and have been driving a while you will be aware that sometimes you seem to drive without even thinking about the road or what you are doing at all. Sometimes you cannot even remember driving home. If you were however to intentionally think about the process of changing gear you are likely to stall the car. Your mind really is hard wired to reach your goals so long as it knows what your goals are.

This is where commitment comes into play. If you are committed to achieving a goal you will naturally spend much time thinking about your goal and imagining your success and in this way you keep your mind clearly focused. As you clearly picture the end result which you are aiming for your subconscious mind will naturally find a way in which to get there. If, you take your mind off your goal for too long and your subconscious mind will also lose its focus.

Yes, I do know that the how to part is important as well. But it should never be allowed to take over and hide to overall goal from your vision. Knowing that this is how your mind works, what can you do to ensure that your focus is upon the right thing and not allow the "how to" part to take over?

I would recommend a daily session of intentional visualization upon your end goal. Sit back, close your eyes and relax and then picture what you want to see. Make that picture as clear and as vivid as possible, so that you can begin to feel the associated sensations; make sure that you can really feel it. A thought without an emotion has no effect. You have to feel it. These emotions animate your brain and create a better commitment, a burning desire to achieve your goal.

An easy way in which you can enhance your visualizations is to use hypnosis. You can listen to a hypnosis recording and allow it to relax and guide your mind to the place in which you want to be. The state of hypnosis allows access to your subconscious mind, the part which acts automatically and spontaneously, the part which acts instinctively. Thus by learning to use hypnosis you can embed your goals in your subconscious mind and thereby employ a greater power of focus and intent. In hypnosis you access greater powers of creativity and so your visualizations will be more vivid and therefore more effective too.

The key to success is to not focus upon how you will do it, but instead that you are committed to it and hypnosis is a very powerful tool in helping you to do just this.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis recordings to help you to achieve your goals.