We’ve all read the books about how to craft the perfect goal. We write our goals down, we make them specific, seemingly reachable, we attach deadlines and benchmarks to them, we perform periodic reviews and we work diligently toward our goals and yet, too often, our goals feel hard – even impossible – to reach. New Year Resolutions are a perfect example. We craft these wonderful seeming goals, get really excited, work diligently toward them for a few weeks and then we get this feeling of futility and let our goals fizzle out to nothing.
It isn’t that there is anything wrong with our processes, calendar systems or even the goals themselves. The problem lies in our relationship to what we say we want. Believe it or not, feeling good about your goals is the most important thing you can do in order to achieve them. The reason for this can be explained by the Universal Laws of Attraction.
The Laws of Attraction, quite simply, are that like attracts like. This means that the thoughts you focus on most and the emotions behind them draw more of the same to you. The thoughts and feelings that we have around our goals have everything to do with making them a reality. Before I explain why that is, let me tell you what “The Secret” and many articles on the Laws of Attraction leave out, and that is that there are two other laws that make up the Laws of Attraction in addition to this idea that like attracts like. These are the Law of Deliberate Creation and the Law of Allowing.
Deliberate Creation is your choice to think about what you want vs. what you don’t want. By this I mean that if I want to earn more money in my business, I want to focus deliberately on what “more money” looks like for me. I DON’T want to focus on the fact that I am not yet where I want to be. Take driving as an example, you don’t watch the ground under your car as you drive along the road, you look at the space where you want to go. When we focus on where we are, we are highlighting the lack of what we want.
The Law of Allowing is the least talked about and perhaps the most important aspect of the Laws of Attraction because it says that you must allow your goals to manifest. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? What trips most people up here is getting to a place where you truly believe the goals you have set for yourself are possible. For example, perhaps you have set a goal to earn six figures this year and you state your goal deliberately and positively as per the Laws of Attraction. If your very next thought is “but people in my industry just don’t reach those levels of income” you are not allowing this goal to manifest.
Imagine that the universe is your fairly godmother and wants to grant you all your wishes. You say, “Universe, I want to earn six figures this year” and the universe says, “OK, I’ll get right on it – six figures coming up.” In the next moment you say (with your thoughts), “but people in my industry never earn six figures” the universe says, again, “OK, I’ll get right on that – no six figures for you.” That’s the Law of Allowing. If you don’t believe it is possible, it won’t happen. The good news is that you are fully capable of changing your beliefs around any issue so not being in a place today where you believe your goals are possible doesn’t mean you can’t get there.
The way to do it is through the emotions you feel around your goals. The Laws of Attraction are all about feeling good. When you don’t feel good (i.e. you don’t believe you can reach a goal you want) reach immediately and consistently for a thought that feels a little bit better. Our emotions are a guide that tells us where we are in relation to our goals. Feeling good about your goals is a sign that you believe they are possible and can allow the realization of those goals. The feelings must be real – don’t just tell yourself you feel better. Get to those better feeling thoughts one step at a time. Using the “people in my industry don’t earn six figures” example, a better feeling thought would be, “well, there is that one person who managed it so I know it is possible” or “I bet there are people in my field who at least come close to six figures” or “I know that I could raise my income by ten percent this year anyway.” Step by step you can get to a place of feeling good about the goal and then allow it to happen.
In case you are looking for a more action oriented approach to staying motivated, you will find that doing this “feeling” work will lead you to actions that are inspired by feeling good about your goals. Inspired actions are much more effective than forced action that just seems to be what you should do to reach this goal. As you continue to focus your thoughts on where you want to go (vs. where you are now), focus on feeling good about your goals, reaching for thoughts that are believable and following through on the inspired actions that will automatically come to you as you do the work of feeling and believing. You will see results, remain motivated and ultimately reach your goals. Then you can set great new ones and continue on the journey.

Author's Bio: 

Ruth Hegarty is the founder and president of Leap of Confidence, a Life Design and Self-Empowerment company. Ruth provides classes and coaching that teach the Law of Attraction and how to implement it in your life in a way that works and feels great. Ruth works with people who want to design a great life based on their values, goals and dreams that is prosperous, abundant and on purpose.

Ruth coaches individuals, duos (business partners, couples and pairs of friends) and groups who want to implement the powerful Law of Attraction strategies and design a life/business/career/relationship that is successful and delightful.

If you or someone you know is interested in exploring how coaching can revolutionize your life, schedule a free 30-minute coaching session with Ruth by calling 617-846-3824 or email ruth@coachruth.com.

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