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May McCarthy at Fast Company

7 STEPS TO FINALLY MEETING YOUR GOALS

BUILDING THESE THINGS INTO YOUR DAILY ROUTINE WILL HELP KEEP YOUR GOALS AT THE TOP OF YOUR MIND.

BY MAY MCCARTHY

Good leaders know that holding regular planning sessions and reviewing goals is vital to running a successful company. It’s important that mangers set specific goals, consistently review them, focus on their skills, and act on opportunities to achieve our goals.

We all want to be consistent in focusing on our goals, but that can be tough when life presents us with unexpected situations. Your boss might ask more of you at work; your children or spouse might need you to be home more often and available to attend important events; you might even feel like you don’t have enough time for yourself to relax, have fun, and plan for the future. Before long, consistency can seem like an unobtainable dream.

Over the past 32 years, I have had the privilege of growing six profitable companies and in that time I’ve learned that the most effective way to keep your goals in the forefront of your thoughts is to wake up 30 minutes earlier each morning to hold a meeting with your inner self.

Treat your morning meeting with your inner self seriously. Hold your meeting in a space that is free of disruptions, and create an agenda that you’ll follow. Make sure that you also have the necessary tools available: an uplifting book that describes successes of others achieving their goals, a pen, and a notebook for you to write in.

Spend five minutes reading something uplifting to put you in a receptive mood. As you read about the successes of others, your mind will look for ways to make those kinds of successes familiar and normal for you.

Spend up to 10 minutes writing a gratitude letter. Be grateful for the good things already in your life, as well as the things that you hope to have soon. Psychologists agree that gratitude and happiness help you to be more focused and able to solve problems.

Express gratitude for what you have—in this example, health and family—and what you want as though you have already received it, in this case, increased sales at work. The subconscious will then search for ways to help make this goal a reality.

Spend up to five minutes reading your letter out loud with emotion. Studies have shown that when we read something out loud, we anchor it into our subconscious, which will help us to notice more possibilities to make our statements true.

Spend up to five minutes with your eyes closed imagining what it will be like to have your goals realized. What will you be experiencing, and how will you feel? Who will be celebrating with you?

Olympic athletes use this technique as part of their training. They see themselves making the shot, winning the competition, celebrating with teammates and family. If you want to win and achieve your goals, see yourself doing so first.

At this point, you’ve spent 25 to 30 minutes with your inner self establishing your goals and giving your subconscious directions on what to focus on attaining. Now, go ahead and get your day started. Your subconscious will begin to do its job.

Throughout the day, be on the lookout for leads, intuition, directions, and opportunities that will point you in the direction of goal attainment. Some of these leads might not make sense, but as Steve Jobs said, "have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

Take a step to do something, call someone who comes to mind out of the blue, or follow up on a gut instinct to go to a particular location. I once followed a gut instinct to drive 15 minutes out of my way in Cleveland and ran into a potential customer who later gave me a new contract worth over $400,000.

Acknowledge your successes with someone who you value and trust. Celebrating and happiness activate the frontal cortex of your brain, which helps you to see more possibilities and create proof.

Give up anything that could be subconsciously holding you back. If you are angry or feeling any resentment toward another or yourself, give it forth. This may be one of the greatest characteristics of successful people. They release anything that is not consistent with the life they want to live. This can be tough, but it is possible.

To start, commit to saying the following each night before bed: "I release anyone and anything from my past or present that is not serving me well, whether I remember them or not. And if there is anything that I have done in my past or present that needs to be released, it is now done and everyone is free." Do this for a minimum of 30 nights, and you’ll feel lighter and more at peace as a result. You’ll also be able to notice more possibilities to help you to attain your goals sooner.

Practice these seven steps on a regular basis, and enjoy realizing your goals in a more consistent and enjoyable way.

May McCarthy has cofounded and helped to grow six successful companies over her 32-year career, with the largest growing to over $100 million in annual revenues. She is the author of The Path to Wealth: Seven Spiritual Steps for Financial Abundance, and she firmly believes that financial success and freedom are available to anyone who is willing to apply these principles.

[Photo: Flickr user Jeff Turner]

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