There is one thing which is constant in life no matter whether you stand still or take action - change. If you to do nothing all day then you'll experience the negative effects of change which will include some or all of the following - weight gain, fitness loss, unemployment, etc because change is automatic. If we decide to do nothing, the world will continue to spin around us and we will get left behind. So the question that arises then is if things continue on around us then how do we get ahead? The answer is goal setting.

Now, to a lot of people this is something that only highly motivated individuals engage in when running their business or organising their personal life however we all set and achieve goals every day whether you realise it or not. It's a part of life. Getting your weekly shopping done, getting the washing machine fixed, meeting your friend for a coffee, all of these things are the product of goal setting. What you've done is envisioned in your mind what you wanted or needed to be done. Then you've compelled yourself to commit to the goal by identify reasons that you need/want it to be achieved. Finally, you've compelled that need/want for achieving the goal by reinforcing those reasons why it must be done. When these steps have been achieved, whether over a period of hours or days, then the goal will be achieved.

I have no doubt that we can all identify with this whether we realise it or not. One obvious example that the vast majority of us have experienced of not following through on the three steps is when we set New Year's resolutions. I'm confident of this because it's reported that 95% of us break our resolutions by January 15th. If we were to honestly name it then we would call it a New Year's wish because we generally hope for it's success but very rarely set out a plan to create it.

Conversely, there are numerous times in our lives when we've set a goal and followed it through to a successful conclusion. Buying a house, getting married, securing a new job, etc are all rather large goals that we've set but have achieved regardless of the obstacles that were thrown in our path. I would put this down to following certain specific steps but I didn't quite understand the mental process until I heard it explained by personal development guru Tony Robbins.

Robbins explains that first of all we must have a vision and we have to make it compelling so that by thinking of it, you want it to happen. It shouldn't be something that needs willpower to complete because willpower is temporary. We know this to be true because we've all had experiences where we were really motivated and then someone or something came along and upset us and suddenly the willpower deserted us. It needs to be a vision that drags us towards it rather than us having to push ourselves. So it must be compelling in order to overcome the eventual willpower failure. If you want to take the island then burn the boats. Nothing will compel you towards a goal more than taking the option of failure off the table.

Next, you must identify your reasons for wanting/needing to achieve the goal regardless of whether they are positive or negative. For example, the three Scottish Junior Cup success that I achieved had different reasons behind them. The first in 2006 was, as I explained in an earlier column, because I had held the competition in such high esteem and it was the pinnacle of the Junior game. The second in 2009 was because it would be an honour to join a small group of players to lift the trophy as captain. The third in 2011 was very different as I was desperate not to be in a losing Auchinleck team in a final because Auchinleck didn't lose finals. It was the fear of failure which drove me on for that one. So these reasons are what will compel you to work towards your goal. It's just about working out what your reasons are.

The last step is to reinforce your reasons for wanting/needing to achieve your goal on a daily/regular basis. Why is it a must that this needs to happen? This will help you to internalise the goal in your brain as a certainty. This is where the science takes over.

In the brain, there is a very small part called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). Out of the millions of pieces of information that you take in on a daily basis, the RAS is the part of the brain which determines what you notice in the world. In essence, it is the filter which lets the important information into the brain and discards the rests. So when you have internalised the goal and your reasons for achieving it, the RAS will notice anything that relates to the progression of your goal and will gravitate you towards it. Not linked to goal setting but a very simple example of the RAS at work, which most of us can relate to, is when you have bought a new car. Suddenly everywhere you go, you start to notice the same car as yours when you hadn't seen it before. So the RAS is already built in to your brain to push you towards your goal if you can only internalise it.

The one thing that we need to be aware of though is that the joy of reaching your goal will only sustain you for so long, so how do we ensure that the progression lasts on a consistent basis? The answer to that is by raising our standards.

Even by following all the steps, goals can still be snatched away from us by an external influence but by committing to raising your standards to another level, you will redefine your parameters to an extent that your wants/needs become musts and will become instantly internalised. We'll delve into that another week though.

For now at Largs Thistle, I'm trying to evaluate what stage we are currently at as we resume for pre-season training. We will sit down as a squad and speak about our goals over the coming weeks and our reasons for achieving them both collectively and personally. This will mean that from that point onward, the players can then regularly work on envisioning and internalising the goals on a daily basis which will help us on our way.