In the final 4 weeks of the year, we’re going to explore 4 critical steps to achieve the goals you have for the coming year.

Here’s facts: you can’t achieve anything without the actions to produce the desired outcome. You also have to mentally prepare and clear the mental hurdles to take those actions.

We’re going to set up your mental game to take the actions next year to actually get all the things you want. If you’ve had difficulty achieving the big goals in the past, it’s probably due in large part to your thinking. Big goals require big action. Big action requires clear thinking.

We’ll breakdown the elements of goal achievement to the following: 1) Goal Clarity; 2) Current Reality; 3) Goal Context; 4) Discovering Resources

Let’s dive into Goal Clarity:

Goal Clarity

It’s wildly difficult to accomplish anything if you’re not acutely aware of what you’re doing or where you’re going.  I was recently reminded of the scene in Alice in Wonderland when she asks the Cheshire Cat for advice on the path she should take. Cheshire Cat asked where Alice wanted to go, to which she replied it didn’t matter. The Cheshire Cat quipped: “Well, then it doesn’t really matter which way you go.”

How often do we have vague notions as to where we want to go? You might say you know what you want. After all, you’ve written down your goals. You’ve made them SMART (simple, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound). You’ve even backed them into activities. That’s all well and good.

However, none of those tell you WHERE you want to go. Specifically, you’ve not clarified what it looks like when you have it. The metrics might be solid, however, metrics don’t paint a clear picture of that future. You can’t see yourself in those numbers.

Clarify the Vision

The best athletes have been using visualization for decades. Michael Jordan says that he visualized how he was going to play against each opponent as part of his pregame prep. Michael Phelps swam races in his mind months before the meet.

They knew what the outcome looked like. They saw themselves not only going through the event, they pictured what winning looked like.

We must do the same for our goals.

Think about what it will look like when you achieve the goals. Like Phelps winning the race, what will you see, what will it feel like when you achieve the goals you have? What is that picture?

As you visualize, make it as clear and compelling as you can. Pretend that you experience this scene in 4-D. Bring in rich color and really feel the positive feelings like you’ve already accomplished it.

State the Positive Outcome

To take this a step further, you can journal exactly what you’ll have when you achieve your goals.

Do this, simply write an entry like it’s a date 1 year from now. Use present tense in your writing like “I am” I have” I do”.

Be sure to only write your goals and vision in the positive. That means, only write about what you want, not what you don’t want. Refrain from saying or writing something like “I don’t want to come-up short” or even “I’m glad it didn’t miss the goal.” Keep everything in the positive.

With these two exercises, visualizing what the goal achievement will look like and seeing yourself achieving it and writing it a short narrative about what all you want as if it’s already that future date and you have in fact accomplished it – you’ll have shown your mind what the goal actually looks like and further convinced yourself that it’s achievable. When you believe – really believe – that something is achievable, you’ll more naturally take the steps necessary to make the achievement happen.

If you’re interested in walking through a goal achievement visualization, book a complementary appointment with me HERE.

Keep tuned to these articles for the next step in our goal achievement series. The next article will dive into understanding your current reality as it relates to your goal. Looking forward to continuing this conversation to help you actually get what you want in the coming year.