When you have a goal in life, it’s always good to know why you want what you want, and what you will do when you have it.

As I work through the paperwork to get started on my new business, I have come across a page where I’m asked to write down 100 dreams. These are 100 things we would see, have, do, become or support if time and money were out of the equation.

Luckily I had already started this list some time ago, although I am finding it extremely difficult to come up with 100 and have only listed 35 so far! Eeek!

Isn’t it funny how we tend to only focus on the main things, but when we sit down and break it down and try to come up with a larger number, it becomes more difficult!?

It’s easy to say that I’d like a new house, a new car, an overseas holiday every year, but what about the little things? These things might include spending a day with my babies (ok, they’re not really babies anymore but they’re MY babies!), or taking my dog for a walk in the middle of the day… small things that seem insignificant. But wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do them if and when we want?!

So why not grab some paper now (or even load up a spreadsheet), and see how many dreams you can come up with. Hopefully you’ll get a lot more than my dismal 35!

It’s all well and good to have goals and desires, but what are you actually doing each day in order to achieve them?

You can look at your list every day, several times a day, but will this activity actually move you closer? I’m thinking not!

What you must do is take action!

Sometimes though, looking at the big picture of what you want can seem overwhelming. So can thinking about the things you need to do to get there too!

So here’s a little process you can follow each day to start you moving towards achieving your desires:

1. First thing in the morning – check your diary. Is that’s in your diary for today going to get you closer to achieving your desires? If so, great! If not, change what you see in your diary!
2. Every night, plan the next day. What will you do tomorrow for one of your 6 major areas of life? Only choose one to focus on tomorrow. This can’t be too hard right?

Here are the 6 major areas of life, if in case you didn’t know:

1. Spiritual
2. Health
3. Business
4. Personal Development
5. Family
6. Social

It takes between 14 and 21 days to form a habit, so why not commit to following this process for a month, to see what a difference it makes to your progress and your eventual results.

I’m pretty sure you will be surprised!

If you’ve ever read up on the Law of Attraction and other principles relating to attracting what you want, you will understand that in order to manifest what you desire, you must believe without any doubt, that you will achieve your goal, in order to actually achieve it.

On the other hand, you can pretty much guarantee that you will experience failure if you don’t believe you will achieve your goal.

This is true and is something I’ve seen time and time again. But there’s another factor that comes into play here, that many people overlook.

And that is “detachment”.

Detachment is when you believe you will achieve your goal – but your life and happiness does not depend on it.

You’ll be ok whether you achieve it or not.

Trying to become detached is hard though!

Do you ever remember being so caught up in your desire, that the thought of it being ok to not have it is just not an option??

Several years ago when I was still with my former husband, we decided we wanted to buy a house. I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, and at the time we were living in a rented house that was freezing in the winter, and like a sauna in the summer – it was awful! And not a good place for a pregnant woman to be!

So that was the driver in our desire to buy a house of our own – with air conditioning and heating!

So we started on our search and eventually found the house of our dreams! I then started looking for a home loan and eventually found the perfect loan for us.

We applied, and we were told that upon initial review it was looking really good. Yay! We were EXCITED!

And that’s when things turned bad.

All of a sudden the bank was finding “issues” with our application, there were more hoops we had to jump through, and it seemed that they were just making things difficult for us, just for the hell of it! I was very stressed and upset by this but chose to do what the bank wanted, jumping through hoop after hoop (not a good look when you’re pregnant! haha!), but one day I finally snapped.

I decided that I would rather NOT have the house if I had to put up with any more of this rubbish! In fact, I even started looking at other rental properties and had noted down a couple for us to look at the following weekend.

So I was now at a point where I would be happy if we had the loan approved, but I’d also be ok if we didn’t (even if the alternative wasn’t my preference) – I had a Plan B forming, and I was ok with Plan B!

Later that day, I received a telephone call to tell me that our loan had been approved. Hooray!

So as you can see, the moment I decided I would be ok despite the outcome, was when things went our way. Prior to that, I was totally attached to the outcome – I didn’t want to live in my rental house any longer, and I just wanted this loan approved like my life depended on it!

What happens when you’re so hung up on what you want is that you’re sending out a feeling of “lack”. It’s like you’re thinking (often without even realising it) that if you don’t receive what it is you want, your life will suck!

And we all know what happens if we think our life is going to suck, right??? That’s right – it’ll suck!

No matter what it is you want to achieve, have a Plan B in place that you are ok with.

This doesn’t mean you can’t 100% believe you can manifest what you desire. You just need to do what any astute entrepreneur would do when setting up a business; you will have contingency plans in place to allow you to deal with any unforseen events which may get in the way!

So what is it that you desire right now, and if for some reason you could not have that desire, what is your Plan B?

What are your core values?  What do you value most in life?  And why is it so important to know what these are when you’re working out your goals and objectives?

What often happens when goals and objectives are being identified is that they may look pretty impressive, and they may also get you quite excited, but if they’re not aligned to your values, you will very quickly lose momentum and eventually give up.

Here’s an example:  Sandy has a goal to become an executive manager in the company she works for.  She’s really excited about this prospect and of course the benefits and perks that come with being in such a senior position.  

Sandy then sits down and works out her top 10 core values from the list below, and what she finds is that “Having a family” is right up there in her top 10.

Now, can you see that there could be a conflict here?  While Sandy would like to be promoted to an executive position which could require a LOT of focus on her work, possibly working long hours and of course being under a lot of pressure, she would really like to start a family too.

Anybody that has a young family would understand that maintaining a balance between work and family can be difficult at the best of times, and Sandy may struggle with her climb up the corporate ladder if she also wants to focus on having children.

This is not to say that it is not possible for Sandy to have both, but she will really have to think hard about what sacrifices she’s prepared to make, if she truly wants to achieve her goal.

Here’s a little exercise for you!

1. Go through the list of core values below, and identify your top 10.
2. When going through this list, eliminate or choose items as you go, until you only have 10 left.
3. Review this list and compare it to your list of goals (I am assuming you have some goals written down or at least have an idea of what you want to achieve!), and determine if any of these values conflict with your goals.

Never skip this step when establishing your goals, because when your goals are aligned with your core values, you’re much more likely to succeed in achieving them!

What is on your bucket list?  Hang on…what IS a bucket list??  The best description I can give of what a bucket list is, is to say it’s a list of goals – a list of things you want to do in your life.

So let’s take a look at what your bucket list could look like…

First, I suggest you grab yourself a notebook, or even create a spreadsheet where you will write down a list of all of the items you want to see on your bucket list.

And now it’s time to start writing!

Your bucket list can consist of anything, from learning how to ride a horse, to flying to the moon.  It can include things you’ve always wanted to do, such as visiting the pyramids of Egypt to running your first marathon.  And there is no limit to the number of things you can have on your list!

If your confidence is low, then it’s possible that even thinking about running your first marathon is going to cause you to break out in a cold sweat.  So start small.

Your list may start with smaller items such as having your first facial, manicure or pedicure, or making a commitment to buy one personal development book per month, or even losing 10 pounds.

To boost your chances of success, write in a “due by” date for each item too.  When will you achieve this by?  When will you start?

And then as you begin to complete each item, cross it off your list, and note the date you achieved this.

There is no better feeling than to know you have achieved something, and as your confidence grows, then your bucket list can consist of bigger, more exciting things!

Here’s some items from my list:

• Visit the pyramids in Egypt
• Visit a castle
• Swim with dolphins
• Ride a Harley
• Go on an African safari
• Compete in a triathlon (Done!  I actually crossed this one off my list over a year ago!  Woohoo!)

Ok, so what are you waiting for! Start that list!!  :D