The ONE Thing That Prevents Success in Goal Setting

The ONE Thing that Prevents Achievement in Goal Setting

Have you ever had a desire or a goal and instead of it giving you hope or joy it causes all kinds of doubt and fear to rise up? You doubt you'll ever see it manifest and you feel extreme jealousy when others do succeed in developing their desires.  That never feels very good does it?... and it certainly never gets us anywhere either.

No matter what your goal if your belief about it is negative you most likely will not see results.  At least I know that has always been my experience. What I believe about it, will end up being what I experience and I usually just give up and forget it. A grumbling and negative mindset is like an annoying detour that slows down our arriving at a desired destination every time.



















Getting specific... this is what happens 9 out of 10 times with people who set fitness and wellness goals, myself included. However, the last several years I have been looking more closely at my attitude regarding my goals whether physical goals, job-oriented goals, friendship goals, family relationship goals etc... and I am convinced attitude is EVERYTHING!


When we have a desire and our beliefs and emotions and mindset do not "match" the desire, or in other words the goal does not bring eagerness, excitement and hope but instead brings frustration, anger, a stressful striving after or irritating impatience because we fear we will never achieve our goals then we end up defeated before we even get started...we are way "off" and we don't even realize it. In that dreary senario we most likely will never achieve anything. That's why I think most of us never see answer to prayer. We go into our prayer saying the right words but our heart and faith are far from matching those right words. We say for example, "Dear God, Would you please help me figure out how to pay all these bills?" but at the same time our hearts are no where near to believing he even hears let alone would actually answer and show us what to do. We focus on frustration rather than joyfully looking around to see how he might already be answering. I can't help but think about the Scripture that says.. "When you ask for anything in prayer believe that you have already received it and it will be yours." and other verses say...  "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." And then also there are ideas in Scripture that talk about doubting and how we should not think that we will get anything if we doubt.  What in the world does that mean other than God really cares about our mindset, our faith and our belief about what we are asking for and setting goals for.  If it's that important to him it should be that important to us!!

So how do we get there? I'm no expert but here are some ideas I have tried and am happy to say they seem to be working.

1. Act like the goal or desire I have is already a done deal and it's easy and already on its way... just like other things that are already manifest in my life that I didn't stress about getting... Like the beautiful home I live in or the awesome job and family I already have. I just choose to believe it's already mine. Right now I'm hoping for a flatter belly...LOL...  I know it's kinda vain but it's also about my health. When our gut is bloated something's up and we should desire to change it. I'm already on my way... down 5 pounds this week and feel less bloated. Woooo Hoooo! Gonna keep good feeling thoughts about it and even if I see the "pooch" on any given day I won't stress and go psycho about it. I will choose to see something different.

2. I match not only my belief but my emotion. I think through what it would feel like to have what I desire and then practice those happy feelings as I go through and pray/meditate over my list of current desires.  I know that might seem weird but the alternative is for sure no better. If I can practice things that help train my brain to be more positive why wouldn't I do that?? So much better than wallowing around and reinforcing negative thoughts and habits. I don't want to be about complaining and being negative.

3. I ask... I believe in prayer and I believe in the Scripture that says... "Without faith it is impossible to please God and that anyone who comes to him must believe he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." and again... "When you ASK... BELIEVE you have already RECEIVED.

4. Visualize the goal as reality. I did this a lot while I was training for my marathon in October. I not only try to feel the emotion of it being real but I also visualize myself experiencing the success. It never failed to usher  me into a deeper place of peace, contentment, joy and excitement for what would for sure become reality in my life. This is an amazing practice for getting yourself out of a slump or depressed place. It really works.

5. Root yourself into the present moment and enjoy the journey. This is the place where life is lived... We cannot bring back the past or experience the future so why stress about it? Whether or not my goals are reality right now I can practice getting centered and breathe right here right now and appreciate everything around me and where I am in life right now. Be thankful. I think being thankful  helps root us deeper into life and life that is in this present moment. I have things going on later today that keep trying to rob me of THIS wonderful moment of writing this post. I love writing and am practicing right now the joy of this moment. When it's time to enter into what's going on later I will embrace it in the now.


I help people set physical goals for themselves and I know and have seen the ones that are successful are the ones who believe they can do it. They are content about their goals and don't stress if the results are not quite there yet... they KNOW the results are on the way... how could they not be? And they celebrate every success whether it's choosing and apple over chips at lunch or getting through a challenging workout. They train their minds to think positive and are convinced the good choices are doing them good!!  It's never an unpleasant effort or striving to achieve. If that is what is feels like for you I challenge you to get easier and lighter about it in your thinking. See yourself now as beautiful and wonderful and the amazing miracle that you are.  Wake up and get a ritual going of asking and believing and feeling good emotion about your desires. Know that what you are doing, the steps you are taking... eating good nutrition and getting activity WILL make a difference. Don't say things like "What's the use? I'm too far gone." etc... because what you say and believe will be.

YOUR MENTAL TRAINING IS JUST AS
IMPORTANT AS YOUR PHYSICAL TRAINING!