How to Create any Goal
A lot of times when we set a goal, we kind of sort of know what we want, in a vague sense. For example, we know we want to lose some weight.
I can’t tell you how many times I wrote that down as my new year’s resolution: “January 1st: Lose weight.”
That’s great and all but it’s pretty vague and it doesn’t leave the brain much to work with.
Creating a goal is like building a house
Let’s say you decide you want to build a new house. How well would it work out if you hired a contractor and the only instructions you had for him or her were “I want a new house”.
That wouldn’t work out so well would it?
The contractor could definitely build you a house, but it may not be the house you want.
In order to build a new home, we have to do a few things:
First, we have to know specifically what we want. How many square feet, bedrooms, bathrooms, and garages do we want? What color do we want it to be? Do we want a brick house, stone house, siding, or stucco?
All of this happens in our imagination first. We dream up the house we want first in our mind.
We’re told in the scriptures that all things are created spiritually before they are created physically (Moses 3:5).
If we’re going to build a custom house, we create it first in our mind, and then we take what’s in our mind and we hire an architect to put it down on paper in the form of a blueprint.
Then the blueprint goes to the construction workers so they can build you exactly the house you want.
The construction workers have to be able to see what’s in our mind before they can build it.
But once they have a blueprint, they can easily build it.
Same with our brain.
Our brain is like the contractor of our goals.
If we just tell it I want to lose some weight without first creating a vision of what that looks like in our mind, and then making a blueprint to create it, it probably won’t work out that well.
One of the reasons we don’t end up achieving our goals is because we don’t take the time to fully create them.
Here’s How: 4-steps to Creating Any Goal
Step One to goal creation is to create it spiritually- dream it up, and make it specific. Picture in your mind exactly what it is you want to achieve.
Along these same lines is step number two, which is to picutre who you will be once you’ve achieved your goal.
A lot of us look into our past to see what we’re capable of achieving. Just because you didn’t achieve it in your past doesn’t mean you still can’t.
Instead of look to your past, look into the future and picture your future self, the you who has already achieved the goal. What are you like?
Now this might be challenging for some of you because your brain can’t even imagine it. If you’re struggling to picture your future self, you can picture someone that’s already had success with the same goal you’re wanting to accomplish.
Ask yourself: What is her health like? What are her relationships like? How does she dress? How does she act? What is her home like? What does she do for fun? What does she spend her time thinking about or not thinking about? What kind of parent is she? What does she do for fun? Where does she get her joy and pleasure from? What does she think about herself and her body?
Think about these things and then write them down so you have a blueprint you can reference throughout the process.
Step three is to tap into your future self.
This is a really powerful exercise.
Your future self, remember, has already figured everything out. She knows it’s totally possible, and she knows exactly how to get there.
Use her wisdom.
Ask her what she believes about the “current You’s” ability to do this thing.
Your future self is like having your own personal mentor.
You can ask her anything and let her wisdom guide you.
Try This:
Take out a sheet of paper and grab two different colored pens. One color represents the current you and the other color represents your future self.
Current self writes a question or a complaint for Future self and then Future self writes back.
When you do this exercise, you’re using the power of your brain to tap into both of these identities.
This is a powerful exercise and it works.
Your Future self knows exactly what you need in any given situation. She’s there to cheer you on and to give you wise advice.
If you’re unsure what to do, ask her. She knows the answers because she’s been there before and she figured it out.
If this exercise is too weird for you, then you can ask yourself:
What decision would my future-self make in this situation? Or what decision would someone that’s already accomplished this goal do in this situation?
Step Four is to emulate your Future Self.
Mimic her. Pretend you are her.
Think like her, dress like her, act like her, eat like her, work like her; whatever she does, you do it too.
Because all those things your future self believes and feels and does are exactly the things you need to believe and feel and do in order to achieve your goal.
I like to start with the basic stuff, like clothes. When I had a weight loss goal, I was always wearing stretchy pants, sweats, or squeezing into sizes that were too small for me. I didn’t want to go out and buy new clothes that actually fit because what was the point I was going to lose weight.
When I tapped into my future self , the me that was at my ideal healthy weight to see what she was wearing, she wore clothes that fit and were cute and stylish and looked good on her.
So, I emulated her and I went and bought a few new things that were cute and that fit my body.
Same went for food. What did my future-self’s relationship with food look like? Did she give up all her favorite treats? Did she obsess over every single bite that went into her mouth?
You know what the answer was? She didn’t. She didn’t obsess over food. She ate when she was hungry, and her body needed fuel and she stop when she was satisfied. She even still ate treats. The difference was she ate them slowly and deliberately sitting down savoring every bite, and sometimes not even finishing them.
My future self might be different than your future self so tap into her wisdom, ask her, and then try to emulate everything she does, thinks, and feels.
Let me let you in on a little secret: If you want to achieve your goal, you’ve got to be operating from the emotions that you think you’ll have once you get there.
You have to be thinking the way you’ll be thinking once you’ve achieved that goal.
And you’ve got to be living the way you’ll be living once you’ve achieved that goal. You have to become your future-self right now.
Doing so will help you achieve any goal, even the ones you think might be impossible.
