Before You Set Goals, Read This

Have you felt frustrated because you have things that you want out of life, but they just aren’t happening for you? Have you listened to a lot of advice about goal setting, but it hasn’t gotten you any closer to realizing your goals?

If you feel that you’re stressing and struggling to achieve success, and if you feel frustrated because all of the goal-setting strategies haven’t worked, don’t give up. You may just be making it harder than it has to be.

In this case, a simple piece that you’ve been missing that will change everything for the better, forever, is that the way we typically engage in goal-setting is the very reason why we don’t achieve them.

Take everything you’ve ever heard about setting and achieving goals and set it aside. Even if you’ve achieved some level of success in your life, you have no idea how much more you could achieve once you understand these surprising secrets.

I was just like you when it came to stress and struggle. I’d been in the corporate world in very high-pressure, high-powered positions in two Fortune 500 companies. I was a super high-achiever, but the stress and pressure took me down until I landed in the hospital with an illness I couldn’t understand and couldn’t control. Not long after recovering, I hit another wall when my husband walked out on me, leaving me heart-broken and on the brink of financial disaster.

To overcome these struggles, I began searching for answers. I studied with world masters in success, achievement, abundance, positive thinking, and high performance. Each idea helped me in certain ways, but I kept finding myself feeling stuck and frustrated because I wasn’t reaching the levels for my life that I knew were possible.

Has that ever happened to you?

And then I discovered something that’s nothing short of dramatic. Now I’m living the life of my dreams. I have a thriving speaking and coaching business, and I’ve developed an incredibly successful real estate investment business that includes my farm, SanaView Farms, which is both dear to my heart and the most successful venture of them all. Now, I want you to enjoy success through this same winning approach.

Here are the key secrets to actually achieving your goals:

1. Feel comfortable with your goals from the outset.

It’s possible that you’re thinking about what you want from a place of lack. You think, “I want to lose weight,” or “I want to be healthier,” or “I want the new job (or the promotion).” But you’re stating with the “want,” which emphasizes the lack of what you want. Wanting comes from deficiency, and the feeling and energy it generates aren’t going to get you what you want. Instead, your goals should inspire you and make you feel expansive. Find aspects with which you can readily identify. Tell yourself, “I have the potential to do great work,” or “I can feel improvements happening with my health because of my positive intentions.” Try stepping up the rungs of a ladder toward your goal gradually with thoughts that feel comfortable all along the way.

2. Frame goals so that you can visualize their attainment.

You may have heard that it’s important to write down your goals in the present tense as if you’ve already achieved them. So you write, “I’m thin,” or “I am healthy,” or “I’m the new vice president.” This is fine, but there’s one additional step that’s extremely important to make these goals a reality: You must think about why you want the goal. Keep peeling back the layers of your reasons until you get to the “feeling place.” For example, if you want a new house, it’s because you want the feeling of comfort. When you sit down to write your goals, include next to each goal the feeling that you imagine you’ll have once you achieve that goal. Spend time in this feeling place each day when you revisit your goals. Experiencing the feeling of having already achieved your goals will elevate and expand your energy.

3. Develop happiness habits that raise your energy.

In order to successfully make progress towards your goals, you must adopt healthy habits that will dramatically improve your energy and your physical and emotional well-being. Lay the foundation for creating an energized mind and body that will attract what you want into your life more easily. Learn to love the life you’re living and experience thoughts and feelings of gratitude for what you do have. Isn’t feeling good what you want for your life? With this mindset, you can have that now!