Accomplish

Your Goals

Theories:

Manifestation is the process of transforming what you want/need into reality. You manifest through your actions, which have consequences. The consequences of your actions are either:

  • Successful - you get what you want and/or need; or

  • Unsuccessful – you do not get what you want and/or need

We increase the likelihood of success by conducting research, setting goals, making decisions, developing routines, and solving problems.

Conducting Research

As life coach Tony Robbins says, "success leaves clues." In addition to learning from our own successes and failures, we have the opportunity to learn from the successes and failures of other people who have taken actions that resulted in consequences. When we see consequences that we want to have in our own life (e.g., love, happiness, health, etc.) it can be useful to incorporate their strategies into our lives. When we see consequences that we do not want to have in our own lives, we can potentially identify actions to avoid. Learning from other people can also save you the time and pain of trying to figure it out on your own. Additionally, you can potentially get what you want/need faster, more efficiently, and/or more effectively by learning from others.

Research is essential to accomplishing any goal. The purpose of research is to gather information. You can conduct research via observation, communication, experimentation, and data collection. Research can look like a simple Google search, reading books, scrolling through social media, listening to a podcast, talking to people, taking classes, conducting a formal experiment, watching movies/shows, etc. Please note that research can include both qualitative and quantitative data. It is also important that you consider the bias, reliability, and validity of your sources.

Setting Goals

Well-defined and articulated goals allow you to better focus your efforts. To learn more, I encourage you to read the following articles:

Before setting a goal, research and contemplate the work necessary to achieve success. Set goals that require mostly work you don’t mind doing, or even better, work that you love doing.

I also recommend that you talk about your goals with other people, especially people with similar goals or interests. You can brainstorm together, which can help keep the inspiration flowing. Additionally, when people validate your ideas, it can make your vision seem even more possible and increase your motivation. According to this article by Cory Steig, sharing your goals specifically with someone more successful than you can help you stay committed to accomplishing your goals. Additionally, as you describe your goals to other people, you can finesse the language you use to better capture what you aim to do.

Making Decisions

Once you have clarity about the goals you want to pursue, you must make carefully considered decisions that move you closer to achieving those goals. You must take calculated risks and investments. You must analyze the possible consequences:

  • Beneficial - “favorable or advantageous; resulting in good." (Oxford University Press, 2019).

  • Insignificant - “too small or unimportant to be worth consideration” (Oxford University Press, 2019).

  • Detrimental - “tending to cause harm.” (Oxford University Press, 2019).

This can look like a formal cost/benefit (risk/reward) analysis or a simple pro/con list. You can even flip a coin, and reflect on how you feel about the outcome. In addition to determining if a consequence is beneficial in one area of your life, you must also think about how it impacts the other areas of your life. Ask yourself, how the decision will affect your ability to self-actualize, in consideration of the following key factors:

  • Happiness & Fulfillment

  • Health & Wellness

  • Love & Community

  • Activism & Altruism

It is also important to pay attention and actively seek opportunities that align with your goals. Remember, by choosing to pursue certain experiences, you will also incidentally choose experiences not to pursue. Here are some helpful articles relevant to decision-making:

It can sometimes feel scary to make those “big” decisions, but it can also feel exciting. Choose the best options after careful consideration, research, and communication with the folks most impacted.

Developing routines

Next, you must take effective action to achieve your goals. I recommend that you develop routines (habits, schedules, etc.) to ensure you are consistently and intentionally making progress toward your goals. Developing a routine takes time and consistent effort to establish new thought and behavior patterns.

I believe that productivity involves eliminating the feeling that you should be doing something else:

  • Start by scheduling any planned events, appointments, meetings, deadlines, and other major endeavors in your calendar. Schedule work blocks. Schedule breaks. Schedule fun experiences.

  • Create morning and evening routines.

  • Use accountability systems to keep track of tasks (e.g., calendars, to-do lists, etc.)

  • Don’t transition abruptly. Get to a stopping point and prepare for the next activity.

  • During unscheduled periods of time, review your list of tasks and do what makes the most sense in the moment. Spend less time trying to figure out what to do and just do what needs done based on priority, timing, logic, and/or whatever you feel motivated to do at that moment.

  • If it’s feasible, complete a task immediately so you don’t need to determine an accountability system to remember to do it later.

Routines cut down the decision time in figuring out what you “should” be doing. If you don’t complete a task during an allotted block, identify another date and time to complete the task and determine an accountability system. To learn more about routines, I recommend that you read the following articles:

Go with the flow. Find your life’s rhythm and melody. If you aren’t going to do something productive, at least do something fun and enjoyable. And if you aren’t going to have fun, do something that brings you closer to accomplishing your goals.  

Problem Solving

If your actions don't result in success, it is time to problem-solve. Remember, you can't change the past. You must accept the consequences, learn, and move forward.

The first step to problem-solving is anticipating problems BEFORE they occur. You do this by planning ahead 😊. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.  As much as possible, try to be proactive rather than reactive.

Inevitably, problems will occur that you can’t anticipate. You are a flawed human with a limited perspective living in a world with other flawed humans with limited perspectives. You will make mistakes. Other people will make mistakes. When those challenges, problems, or mistakes occur, don't react - respond. Take a moment. Stay composed and follow these steps:

  • Analyze - Accurately assess the situation. Reflect on how you feel. Maintain focus on your goals and values. Think about how the mistake affects other people. Identify a next step - I recommend some form of communication. Strategically determine which people to alert and check in with them. Explain the situation and invite them to brainstorm solutions with you. Try to maintain a solutions-oriented attitude and actively participate in troubleshooting. Conduct research and consult experts as needed.

  • Synthesize - Incorporate new findings into your schema (mental framework), as well as any plans, documents, systems, etc.

  • Revise - You can't change the past, but you can do better next time to increase the likelihood of a successful result.

Mistakes are inevitable - that's how you learn. We learn by making new connections. Make the best of the situation, laugh at yourself, reflect, and identify lessons and takeaways. Use the embarrassment, inconvenience, and frustration in a productive way to create systems and practices to ensure that it never happens again. Make amends, make it right, and move on. The key is really to try not to make any mistakes that are significantly damaging and/or irrevocable.

Other people will also make mistakes. It is important to give other people the same understanding and grace you would appreciate from them. Remember, no one knows anything except what they’ve learned. No one has an innate knowledge of the world. No one has all, or even most, of the answers. But we all have this awesome ability to learn - to figure out what works, and what doesn’t work.

That’s why the saying “one way or another” is so common — if you really want to accomplish your goal, there is always a way; and most likely, there’s more than one way. If a certain approach doesn’t work for you, pivot and find another one. If a task is taking too long, re-evaluate your approach and make adjustments. Learn better, more efficient ways to accomplish your tasks. Here are some helpful articles relevant to learning and problem-solving:

The moment you stop learning and growing is the moment you fail. If changing your actions doesn’t result in accomplishing your goals, you may need to change the goal itself. It is okay to quit something that is making you miserable and having a detrimental impact on your life. Sometimes it's just not the right fit.  Try to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Every experience (good or bad) is an invaluable opportunity to learn more about yourself – what works for you and what doesn’t work for you. If you go back in time to before something bad happened, you are not only erasing the event, you are also erasing the lessons. Furthermore, some of the most creative and innovative ideas result from problem-solving.

What do you do after you accomplish a goal? Take time to celebrate and move on to the next one.

Here are some inspirational quotes:

  • “Confidence isn’t ‘I’m so perfect.’ Confidence is ‘I believe in my ability to figure things out’.” - Brendan Burchard. 

  • “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundation under them.”  - Henry David Theroux

  • “Sometimes you have to stop being scared and just go for it. Either it will work or it won’t. That’s life.” – unknown

  • “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference” - Reinhold Neibuhr

  • “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles L. Swindoll

Remember this mantra: DON’T HOLD BACK. For more, I highly recommend the book Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual by Luvvie Ajayi Jones.