Tools for Setting & Achieving Goals

Vision takes up more real estate & visual processing in the brain as compared to any of the other senses. We prioritise what we see because we believe what we see.

Narrowing our visual aperture changes the way we perceive time:

• Seeing the world through narrowed focus or spotlight is helpful when we need an extra push to get us to the finish line.
• When we are stressed or aroused in any way, pupils enlarge which equates to a narrowing of the visual aperture.

People with anxiety or depression have more attention captured by negative things or reinforcing of world view.

Goals most people struggle with are usually related to health, exercise, diet. Runners who use a narrowed scope of vision/attention in races have better outcomes than those who don’t.

Strategies to focus visual field:

• Look straight ahead at the goal/finish line;
• Set a target at some marker of significance;
• And move to the next as you hit.

Goal-gradient hypothesis: the closer you get to the goal, the harder you work to finish that goal.

Tip: induce an illusion of proximity that makes the goal look closer and keeps you pushing harder.

Creating a visual manifestation (e.g., vision board, lists) of your goal is effective for identifying what you want, but not necessarily effective in actually meeting the goal.

To put vizualization into action:

1. Plan - break into down into practical day-to-day;
2. Think about obstacles that stand in the way of success so they don’t surprise you along the way.

Foreshadow failure and plan solutions to set yourself up for success.

Visual experiences change in relation to different states of our body - people who experience chronic fatigue, elderly, and overweight perceive distances as farther, hills steeper.

Study findings: people when given a sugary energy drink, perceived their space as more constricted and the finish line was closer to them.

How to overcome: narrowing the visual field will help allocate resources in the right direction.

Tying vision to the process of learning a language helps enhance outcomes.

• Don’t count on your memory alone, write down your progress or record on your phone to accurately track
• Use tools for progress tracking.