Who reading this hates when asked to make a list of personal or professional goals? Like writing it with a pen/pencil on actual paper?
I used to despise it. I couldn’t narrow big ideas, didn’t know how to articulate others, and felt a few were just unattainable fantasy.
But the truth is the more you do this the more you’ll see your busyness fade into the sunset. Also, guess what? You end up creating your life by design — one that you truly love. Most people go through their whole lives never discovering their true desires because of some falsity that it’s wrong to have or want, and that if you do it means you don’t appreciate what you have. But it’s not “either or mentality,” but a “both mentality” that’ll create true joy, abundance and success.
You can be appreciative of what you have and want for more —which is different than “needing for more,” which comes from scarcity.
Practicing wanting from abundance is a totally different ballgame. Study after study show the the biggest determinant of success (as YOU define it), is not one’s education, intelligence, cultural background or family or social standing— but whether or not you’ve got long-term goals. Makes sense because if you’ve got goals in mind at least the right path’s illuminated. You takes steps towards an end game.
Just like you wouldn’t put a ladder up a wall you didn’t want to get to the top of, you wouldn’t make goals for somewhere you don’t really want to go. But how many times have you or someone you’ve loved experienced this? That’s why goals are the first step in getting you out of the busyness trap and into realizing those dreams of yours. Maybe you were like me…
I felt ashamed—like how dare I have the audacity to want more?
But there’s something magical about how getting it all down in ink stirs motivation. It may feel like a silly exercise, or even a chore, but focusing on your goals, even when you don’t understand exactly what they are or how you’ll ever meet them, truly lights a fire.
Because really, even though you may’ve been like the old me and felt ashamed to want more, who do you think you are shrinking from flourishing as a human being in anyway possible to you? The rest of humanity (and your true self) is waiting for you to break free from the chains of this scarcity mindset and contribute your full glorious self so we can all marvel and share in your unique gifts. AND— no pressure, it’s different for everyone, what’s in your hearts true desires.
You don’t need to be a superstar, a billionaire, or a Mother-Teresa type… unless of course that excites and motivates you— to be your best self. YOU get to be and do what’s most important to YOU, it can be on any scale you decide.
Anything goes, but if you’re not dreaming big ask yourself if you’re avoiding putting yourself out there because of fear.
If the answer’s yes, and be honest with yourself, then I suggest spending more time “practicing wanting.” We’re not super good at wanting from abundance and belief. I’ll teach you specifically how to do this next week. Now I want you to focus on seeing how important written goals are in organizing your mind, your thoughts, your feelings and actions, and therefore the results you’ll ultimately get in life. And don’t we all want a life filled with meaning? That’s an important enough reason to have goals written out.
This may sound like a ridiculous example, but I think we can all relate, a friend of mine, after having been single a long time, once made an informal “goal list” of qualities she’d like in a partner. She quickly scratched important personality traits and #relationshipgoals on the back of an envelope—then promptly forgot about it.
Many moons later, after having been with her now partner for almost 3 years, this friend came across her goal list in an old journal. As she read through it, she realized her current partner had almost every trait on the list, and some in spades!
And if this can happen just by writing down things you want and never doing anything about the goals (consciously), can you image how much more magic you can create if you write it all down and put your back into it?! The power of the subconscious brain’s massive, but using your prefrontal to help with your goals, is a human’s biggest asset and a privilege. To start you can scribble on a the back of a napkin, tattoo it across your forehead, or perhaps you’ll choose to write in a journal. I don’t care but for the love of all things wonderful, do it!. Back in the day, we etched em’ into stone in our caves. So, it’s not so foreign after all— but now instead of having the excuses of getting eaten by wild animals, we suggest we are too busy!
Excuse me miss, you have a phone call, it’s your life calling and she’s sick of being on hold. All you have to do is answer the call. It’ll take you all of 10 minutes. Go to it, nothing’s more important!
It’s time to manifest some dreams, y’all, so locate some paper and something to write with!
Write out 10 goals for the coming year—but take no more than 10 minutes to do so. This’ll help you cut through your own bull-oni and get on with what your brain already knows. Most of us know our top 10 goals—but give ourselves too much time to decide if they’re “just right.” There’s no such thing as right when it comes to goals. Just trust and write.
As you build your list be specific, then go back through and get as specific as possible in outlining where you want to go. [Also, write it in the past tense—just like it’s all already happened.] Zeroing-in on things in detail can get you psyched about how things could be. An example may be, “I joined a hot yoga studio, have gone 4 days a week (with glee :! ) and am in the best shape of my life.” Do this with all 10 goals.
Which one of those 10 goals would make you happiest if you could achieve it in the next 48 hours? Pick that one as your top priority. Happiness matters ladies. Not because you shouldn’t feel negative emotions— you’re human after all. But allowing yourself to focus on what unabashedly makes you happy fuels your momentum, cuts out the busy and increases productivity which equals dreams coming to life— and I mean stat!
Now, write that chosen one down with a deadline (i.e. by December 15, 2019), and then brainstorm all the ways you could move toward it. Even if an idea sounds weird, is more than scary, or makes you flush with excitement—get it on the page. If you vow to do at least one thing on this action list every day, you’ll be blown away at how fast you get where you’re going.
And to drill down further, let’s also evaluate and breakdown your action steps. What’s most important? Urgent? What can wait?
Organize the list into a sequence you’d like to follow, and tick items off as you’ve tackled them. Getting things done never felt so good!
I’m not saying this is the only way this can work. You may hate lists, even now. Even after seeing their power for yourself. But when you need to cut out the busy and get to the real stuff you want life to be made of this is your golden ticket. A lot of people really hate lists and learn better graphically. No problem.
Want a flow chart? A handy tree? Handmade graphs are all the rage! You can draw shapes and connect things, draw a map with squares, circles, triangles, and arrows, and really make it your own. The visual allows you to see how one steps flows into the next and coupled with written goals are a sure knock out of the park.
Try this springboard for yourself! Bye-bye busy, hello sexy future you’ve always dreamed of. I think you’ll quite like it there. Actually, I know you will.
This is dedicated to one of my bestest, my goal guzzling, can’t-stop-me-pal, Lizard, happy birthday honey!!! Love to you and to all the rad women who read this! You inspire me. Thanks for that! XO
