This is a great technique taught to me by my friend Dr. Will Horton. He calls this the Logical Levels technique. This is how it works.
Pick one of your most important goals.
Imagine that on the floor on front of you are six sequential squares in a straight line. This might look like a large ladder lying on the ground or a vertical hopscotch pattern. Each square represents a required level in reaching your goal.
When you have all six levels in line, your life is congruent with your goal. As you will see, if any level is not aligned, your life will be incongruent with your goal which will create conflict. Any incongruence creates obstacles for moving towards your goal.
In the first square in front of you is the Environment Level.
Take a step into the:
1. Environment Level
Is your current environment conducive to reaching your goal?
If you have to study, do you have an environment to do so? Do you have the books, CDs, manuals you need? If not, how can you get them? Who is your teacher? If you are trying to lose weight, stop smoking or drinking, have you eliminated those substances from your environment?
Are the people in your life supportive of your goal? Do they encourage you or try to discourage you from growing? If they are discouraging, is there a way to get them to allow you the space to try? Is there a way to get away from them? Do you need to change your circle of friends?
Do you need to make changes to your environment? Can you create an environment that is supportive and conducive to you achieving this goal? If so, what changes do you need to make? How will you make them?
When you have either determined that your environment is conducive to reaching your goal or you have figured out what steps you have to take to get it to that point move into the next Level.
II. Behavior Level
What behaviors do you need each day and are you willing to do them?
Are your patterns of behavior supportive for reaching your goal? Your patterns of thought and behavior define your life. Are you behaving in a manner that is congruent with your goal? If study is required, are you studying? If applying a certain skill is required are you applying the skill? If abstinence of a certain behavior pattern such as being drink, smoke or drug free is required, are you adhering to that pattern? Are you doing what you need to do each day in order to reach your goal? If not, why not?
As an example, I had the idea for this book exactly 15-days ago. The title came to me at 2:30 in the morning Monday, February 12th. I set a goal to write at least one chapter per day in order to have the book completed by the end of the month. In order to accomplish this goal, I instantly associated massive pain with not writing. If I had any free time, I had to be in front of my MAC banging out chapters. Had I just “had an idea for a book” and left it at that, the book would never get written. The world is full of great ideas, it’s the ability to take action and make an idea a reality that separates the best of us from the rest of us. As a side note, my first karate class was on February 12, 1974 and I got married on February 12, 2000. I don’t know what that means but I think it’s interesting.
Some behaviors will need to be replaced. If you want to stop drinking then you will want to replace the pattern of stopping by the liquor store with a new pattern of driving past it without stopping.
Are you rationalizing poor behaviors? Sometimes we get caught in an analyses paralysis where we spend more time thinking than doing. This level is all about what you are doing not thinking or planning. This is not about what you will do once you have reached your goal. This is about doing the behaviors necessary right now to move you towards your goal.
Sometimes clients will confuse this with the rationalization that, “I’ll do that once I get this done.” For instance, I’ll start exercising when I lose weight. I’ll stop smoking when I get in better shape. I’ll approach a woman after I’ve lost ten pounds. I’ll start studying to get a new job after I get a raise at this one. All of these examples are stall tactics to delay taking responsibility for your actions.
That is not acceptable behavior and you are too smart to let your mind play those kinds of tricks on you. Let the rest of the people in the world deceive themselves, not you.
Once you have defined the behaviors and committed to doing them, you can move to the next square. If you can’t define them, do more research to figure them out. If you are not willing to commit to doing them, your goal stops here.
III. Capabilities Level
Do you have the capabilities required to reach your goal? In order to reach your goal, you may have to develop some new techniques, strategies, mind-sets, or skills. You may already have all that you need to move forward or there may be something that you need to learn or adapt into your life. For instance, a friend of mine has decided she wants to become a court reporter. She has to learn how to use a steno-writer and the fascinating, but challenging methods of phonetically short hand skills. Once she learns the theory for the machine she has to build speed and accuracy up to 225 words per minute. She spends a few hours per night working on her lessons through a home study course.
Maybe the new capability you need is not as easily definable as a new career but instead requires a new mind-set or strategy. For instance, if losing weight is your goal, you’ll want to adapt new strategies for eating as we explored in the chapter on Setting New Strategies. If getting out of debt is your goal, then you will want to create a mind-set that spending money, especially on interest, is very painful. Associate massive pain with spending money. Associate massive pleasure with having money in the bank and a shrinking debt load.
Once you have defined the capabilities and determined that you have them or outlined a method of obtaining them, you can move to the next level.
IV. Belief Level
Do your beliefs support this goal? What beliefs do you need in order to make this happen?
If you believe that money is the root of all evil, then setting a goal of saving $100,000 may be incongruent with your belief. If it is your belief that in order to be attractive you must be wealthy, drive a cool car or be in perfect shape, then setting a goal of meeting someone special may be inhibited if you don’t have these attributes. If you believe that there are no opportunities for someone who has not finished high school, then your belief is going to seriously limit your possibilities if you didn’t graduate. Not only will your belief systems change over time, but you can also accelerate the change process and target specific beliefs that you know are holding you back.
Do you believe you deserve the rewards this goal will bring you? If no one in your family has ever graduated, or made a six-figure income, or had a relationship with someone they believed to be “out of their league,” or led a healthy life, then it may be hard for you to believe achieving any of these or your own goals is possible. It’s important to understand that your ceiling of potential is not determined by anyone else but you.
When your belief systems are aligned with your goal, you may move to the next level.
V. Identity Level
Does your identity match that of the new version of you that will reach this goal? Much of the inner dialogue we engage in is with younger versions of ourselves. This helps us to understand how such conversations can create massive self-doubt and negative patterns of behavior. For this exercise, imagine instead what it would feel like to have already accomplished your goal. Project your mind into the future and feel what it will feel like to be the person who accomplished that. Rather than identify with a version of you from the negative past, create an identity of yourself having already accomplishing this goal. This goal projection process is a great way to kick start that process.
I did this exercise once with a woman during a hypnosis session. She had a goal that would make her a celebrity in her field which would generate significant income for her. When we got to this level, I asked her if her identity matched the identity of the person who achieves the goal she wanted. She said, “No.” We then explored this issue and it came down to her being afraid that if she made more money than most men, she would not be attractive to them. This was a beautiful blond athlete whose’ identity was not matching that of the person who would reach her goal.
I walked her through a scenario where she was arriving at an event on the arm of a man who was so insecure that he had to make more money than his girlfriend or wife. I had her feel the feelings of what it would be like to be with someone that weak. I had her imagine what her future would be like under the control of someone else’s insecurities. I had her associate tremendous pain and disappointment with this scenario.
I then had her walk through the same scenario but with a man who was confident and didn’t care how much money she made. He only cared about her and wanted the best for her. I had her imagine what her future would be like with the sincere love and support of someone like this. I had her associate tremendous pleasure and joy with this scenario.
My goal was to help her create the identity that would support her goal. Did it work? It’s too early to say, but when she emerged she said that she had not previously been aware of how money and men played into her identity. That alone is a positive step.
When your identity matches that of you on the other side of your goal, you may move to the next level.
VI. Spiritual Level
If you believe in a higher power, does that higher power support this goal? With few exceptions, in order for a spiritual belief to be aligned with a goal, the goal has to be honest, ethical and positive for everyone involved. For instance, if you goal is one of revenge on someone who you feel has wronged you, it would be a bit of a stretch to say that your higher power supports such a negative goal. Of course, the best revenge is success and that is usually aligned with a higher power.
I like the Logical Levels because it really walks you through the various dynamics that will affect your ability to accomplish your goals. When these six elements are in place, there is nothing to stop you. If any of them are out of place, you are bound to have a more difficult path towards improving your life.
In a sense, the Logical Levels work like a reality check for your goal setting. They give dreams and aspirations a concrete foundation and pathway to becoming reality.
John Graden is the author of The Impostor Syndrome. The Impostor Syndrome is the feeling you're not as smart, talented, or skilled as others think you are. It's the feeling you've been faking it and are about to be found out. Learn more about the book at:
