Have you been suckered by the LOA?

The first month of the new year is already half over. How’s it going for you so far?

January is typically a time for planning and setting goals, and a lot of people are probably relying on the Law Of Attraction to get them to their goals. (Just as a quick recap: The LOA states that you bring into your life that which you focus on.)

There’s only one problem with using this law as THE way to reach your goals: It doesn’t work.

I claiming there’s no value to the LOA? No. Do I think it may even be a scam? Absolutely not.

What I am saying is that dwelling on your desired outcome, clearly visualizing it, and experiencing the associated emotions are all necessary but not sufficient steps to create the year you want.

It’s easy to get caught up in either/or thinking when it comes to the LOA and its relationship to goal achievement. Some people figure all they have to do is vividly imagine their goal; then they can kick back and wait for it to manifest. Others figure that the only way to reach the goal is to figure out all the steps themselves and just keep plodding through one step after another until they reach the goal.

But there’s a third, more effective, “both/and” way to kick butt in the new year: Picture the desired outcome AND take action.

If you’re ready to set the intention of having your best year yet, here are three simple steps you can take to get there.

Step One: Picture your desired outcome.

While most people think this means to think about how things will look when you achieve their goal, it’s actually more important and beneficial to focus on how you will feel.

In other words, one of the most important aspects to super-charging your creative abilities is to tap into all the positive emotions you’ll experience as a result of achieving your goal.

When I look at both my personal and professional goals for this year, they run the gamut from giddy to serene, smug to humbled, relieved to excited. Having experienced all those emotions at some point in the past, it’s easy for me to recreate those emotions in connection with my 2016 goals.

The other component of picturing your desired outcomes — focusing on how things will look — is a bit trickier.  (At least it is for me.)  That’s because you get to focus on the sensory details of your experience without getting caught up in worrying how you’ll create that experience (what Mike Dooley calls “the cursed hows”).

Even if you’ve had some difficulty in the past with visualization because you’re not a particularly visual person, you can still take advantage of this crucial first step by “visualizing” different sensory details: hear the thunderous applause that follows your presentation, feel yourself endorsing the $5000 check, smell the salt air as you take your well-deserved island vacation, taste the fine food and wine served at the banquet in your honor.

Dreaming + doing = outcomes you adore.

Step 2: Meet the Universe half-way.

This is where many people fail to take full advantage of the LOA: They think that the only work they have to do is mental, and the Universe/LOA will take care of the rest. In reality, they get to start by picturing their desired outcome, then follow up by taking action.

It’s crucially important to remember that the most important step is the first one, even (or maybe especially) if you’re not totally sure what you’re doing. Why is this so?

To realize why that first step is so vital, think back to high school physics and Newton’s First Law of Motion: An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion…unless acted upon by an outside force.

In other words, once you’re in motion – even if your progress is slow and measured in teeny-tiny increments – you’re much more likely to stay in motion…all the way to your goal. But if you stop, you have to get yourself geared up all over again. Can you say “inefficient, time-wasting, and success-sabotaging”?

The beautiful thing about action plans is that you only have to figure out the first step or two in order to get started. Once you start taking action, you’ll get input from the Universe about the next step you have to take. So don’t use the excuse of “not being ready” or “not having it all figured out” to weasel out of starting on the road to your goal.

Step 3: Acknowledge and celebrate successes along the way.

If you’re going after a BHAG (a Big Honkin’ Audacious Goal), it may take you months or even years to get there. You’ll find it hard, if not impossible, to keep motivated and stay the course if you don’t celebrate milestones on the way to the final goal. If you remember to look back on all you’ve already accomplished, rather than focus on all that’s ahead of you yet, you’ll build your confidence, maintain your energy, and bolster your determination to keep moving – no matter what obstacles may appear.

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Does this make you feel like revisiting your goals with renewed energy? If so, yay for you; go for it!

Or do you find yourself listening to some old tapes that warn you to be content with what you have, to just handle what’s in front of you now, to not get your hopes up? If so, I may be able to help.

I not only show overwhelmed entrepreneurs how to get unstuck; I also show those who have gotten into the habit of thinking small, how to think and act bigger. Is this something I can do for you? Probably. Would it work well for both of us? Maybe…

The best way to figure out if we’d make a kick-ass goal-achieving team is to get acquainted by phone. By asking and answering some questions, we’d both be confident of whatever decision we reach – whether that decision is “Are you kidding?” or “Let’s revisit in two months” or “I wish we had started yesterday!”

If it makes sense to invest 30 or 40 minutes making that decision, it’s easy to set up our get-acquainted call: Just grab an open spot on my calendar, and we’ll see what shakes out.

In fact, clicking on this link could be your first tiny action step toward your best year yet.  Just sayin’…

(BTW, thanks to Elizabeth M for posting the image of the Picasso quote in the Creative Commons section of Flickr.)

One Response to Have you been suckered by the LOA?

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