Think of your hopes and dreams and all you’d like to accomplish.
Do you get a warm, contented glow inside as you imagine living your perfect life?
Or do you have a smidgen of doubt about whether it’s possible to live your dream?
Well, I’ve good news for you. It really is possible to accomplish what you’ve set your heart on.
All it takes are three simple steps:
- Set clear goals
- Visualize the outcome
- Take action
Setting Clear Goals
The great thing about goal setting is that it clarifies your hopes and dreams, and gives your mind something clear to focus on.
Start by writing down all the things you want to accomplish. This may include physical, mental, spiritual, family, social, career, financial or recreational goals. As you go through this process, make sure your list reflects what you want, and not what someone else expects of you.
When deciding on your goals, don’t be constrained by what you’ve achieved in the past. And don’t cross something off your list, simply because you can’t figure out how you’re going to achieve it.
Then select the goals that are most important to you. It doesn’t matter how many goals you have, although the number must be manageable, (say, around 6-10), and capable of being worked on at the same time. Ideally, they should also provide some balance in your life rather than just being focused on one area.
In practice, some of your goals will be big, long term objectives, while others may be smaller, short term desires that will be accomplished much quicker.
The dos and don’ts of setting personal goals
The reason for writing down your goals is that it helps imprint them on your mind, and also allows you to re-read them regularly.
When you’re phrasing your goals, you need to follow four rules.
Rule No. 1
First your goals are very personal and so must begin with either the word ‘I’ or ‘my’, such as:
- I abound with good health and wake with new energy every day.
- My ideal man is part of my life.
Rule No. 2
Secondly, they must be very specific and, where appropriate, should include a date by which you want to achieve your goal. So, rather than saying I earn a lot of money, say I earn $50,000 by December 2017.
Rule No. 3
Thirdly, your goals must be written in the present tense. This is because your subconscious mind, (which is responsible for attracting what you want into your life), can’t distinguish between imagination and reality. So, as you write down, for example…
- I have great strength of character, or
- I have a beautiful lakeside home by June 2022,
…this part of your mind will set about bringing this desire into reality. But if you word your goals in the future tense, there is a risk they will always remain in the future, unfulfilled.
Rule No. 4
Finally, your goals must focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. So, you must say:
- I have savings worth $25,000 by December 2021, rather than I’m no longer in debt, or
- I’m slim, healthy and weigh 9 stone rather than I’m no longer over-weight.
When phrasing your goals, it’s important to use positive rather than negative wording. This is because your subconscious mind will always set about bringing into your life whatever you focus on.
So, if you focus on slim and healthy, it will start attracting all sorts of ideas and activities that will help you become slim and healthy.
Similarly, if you focus on no longer over-weight, it will do its best to ensure you stay over-weight. If this doesn’t quite make sense think of it like this. Your subconscious mind can’t distinguish between being over-weight and no longer over-weight. It knows you’re thinking about over-weight, but it doesn’t appreciate it’s what you don’t want.
So, always using positive wording; in this case, slim and healthy.
Visualization: A Daily Commitment to Achieving Your Hopes and Dreams
Once you’ve written down your goals, effective goal setting doesn’t stop there. To draw your hopes and dreams into reality, you need to spend time visualizing them as though they were already part of your life.
So, read your goals out loud at least twice a day. First thing in the morning is ideal, because it sets you up for the day. And then last thing at night, because it ensures you drift off to sleep with your goals on your mind. But if these times don’t suit you, just make sure you re-read your goals at a convenient time twice a day.
When you do this, choose a place where you won’t be interrupted. And if you can’t say your goals out loud, then mouth them silently to yourself.
After you’ve read each goal, take a little time to visualize the successful accomplishment of your goal in your mind’s eye. And most importantly, as you visualize, feel what you would feel like if you’d already achieved your goal.
This isn’t some wacky idea.
The feel-good emotion you generate triggers the Law of Attraction. And this in turn creates a force field which helps draw your hopes and dreams into reality.
To help increase the effectiveness of your visualization and speed up the time needed to draw your hopes and dreams into your life, try the following suggestions:
- Increase the length of time you spend visualizing your hopes and dreams.
- Increase the number of times you visualize each day.
- Enhance the clarity of the picture in your mind’s eye.
- Increase the intensity of the emotion you bring to bear.
- Imagine a sound in your head to complement the picture in your mind.
Take action
Finally, you must take action.
While it’s essential to clarify your goals, write them down, re-read and visualize them every day, your hopes and dreams will not be fulfilled unless you take the first step towards making them happen. The first step then leads to the second step, and so on.
And before you know where you are, you’ve gained momentum and are well on the way to accomplishing your first goal.
Start by taking action to achieve one of your smaller goals. Once you’ve accomplished this, focus on taking action to achieve another small goal.
As you do this, your mind begins to realize that you’re serious about setting and achieving goals. You can then turn your attention to your big dreams, taking steps to bring these into reality as well.
At this point, you’ll quite likely be working on several goals at the same time.
The important thing is to keep moving forward. So try to take at least one step each day – no matter how small – towards the achievement of your hopes and dreams.
Click here to discover your true purpose in life
Resources
Brian Tracy: Law of Attraction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTqdMdLkJKU
Bob Proctor: The Ultimate Secret Beyond the Law of Attraction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IovpBgq5BsA
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