70 Part I: Introducing NLP
The end of a year is always a good time to gather yourself together, review
your whole life, and set yourself new outcomes for the coming year. You can
become even more focused by carrying out this activity in conjunction with a
dream diary, as we describe in the next section.
Keeping a Dream Diary of Your Goals
Have you ever agreed to an appointment and forgotten to write it down? Did
you make the appointment anyway? If you did, thank your unconscious mind
for its vigilance. If you missed your appointment, did you learn your lesson
and do you now always write down your appointments?
Think of a goal as an appointment with a desired outcome and write it down.
The most important message to take away from this book is the following:
make sure that you write down your goals, commit to actions to achieve them,
and work on your plans every single day.
In Chapter 3, we tell you all about your Reticular Activation System, or RAS for
short. The RAS is a network of nerve cells that operates like a radar, directing
your attention to what’s important to you. For instance, for survival your RAS
draws your attention to the car speeding towards you when you’re out driving
and your mind wanders. Your RAS works like an antenna, honing in on oppor-
tunities, people, and resources that you need to meet your goals. Your RAS
also keeps you alert to opportunities connected to your goals. Crucially, the
act of writing down your goal switches on your RAS.
For this reason, in her goal-setting workshops, ‘Going for Goal™’, Romilla
recommends that delegates buy or create a ‘dream diary’. The idea is to have
a journal that’s attractive to look at and touch so that the delegates find them-
selves drawn to handling the diary regularly. They are then more inclined to
record their dreams and aspirations, and so better positioned to realise them.
Create your dream diary simply by buying a diary that appeals to you, per-
haps one of those discreet black leather bound ones or a gorgeous, vibrantly
coloured one with magnetic clasps.
If you’re feeling really creative, cover an ordinary ring binder with material
that entices you. You can even put some light padding between the covering
material and the binder to make your dreams a really sensory experience.
Pick some areas in your life in which you’d like to have goals. This process
may be a little involved and so take your time and savour each stage, because
what you’re really doing is designing the future you want to live. Basically,
