Setting Goals: Does Working Hard Really Work?

The following contains edited excerpts from The Sedona Method® Course. This course contains all the best of the latest advances in goal setting as well as lots of new material previously available only through our advanced courses. These excerpts will help you to get more out of your releasing for goals.

Society has perpetuated the myth that to get anywhere in life you have to work hard. My question for you is, “Have you ever worked hard?”

Your answer is probably the same as most people – “Yes!”

Well, has it produced the results you want in life?

“No. No it hasn’t. I’m tired, frustrated, angry, and just don’t believe “the little guy” can get ahead.”

Is the answer to work harder? Is the answer to create even more stress in your life by taking bigger risks and spreading yourself even thinner?

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.

If this is true, and I’m sure at least some part of you recognizes that it is, then why do we continue to fall into the trap of thinking, “If only I worked harder I’d have everything I want”?

Setting and achieving goals can be effortless when you “let go” of the feelings you have been holding on to. When you do this, a world of opportunity that has always existed for you becomes obvious.

On Goals:
Section Seven of The Sedona Method Course

The following is a summary of some the important points to
keep in mind when you are wording a goal statement. Wording
a goal correctly can make all the difference between
whether or not it is finally achieved. In fact, writing
down your goals is one of the keys to achieving them.
Studies of groups of successful goal-oriented people have
shown that people who write down their goals are
approximately 80% more likely to achieve them, than people
who just think about them.

Keys to Writing Effective Goals

Phrase it in the now.

Most of us fall into the trap of thinking that we’re going
to create what we want in the future. And the future never
seems to come. How many times have you said to
yourself, “I’ll do that tomorrow,” and you didn’t do it?

Whenever you’re holding in mind “I’m going to do this
later, or tomorrow, or next week, or next year,” you
project your goal into the future and the future never
seems to come.

Phrase it in the positive.

Focus on the solution. Avoid putting in the goal that
problem which you’re trying to get rid of. For instance,
what if you would like to stop smoking. The goal would not
be phrased “I allow myself to stop smoking.” The mind does
not translate the words “not,” “don’t,” “stop,” or any of
the other words of negation.

The mind thinks in pictures. Right now, try not to think of
a white elephant, what do you think of? A white elephant.
Put something in the goal that the mind can visualize. For
example, “I allow myself to be a non-smoker.” You can
picture being a non-smoker. That’s something you can see-
other people who aren’t smoking. So it makes a big
difference to word your goals in this manner.

The goal should feel real or realistic.

Supposing you are making $1,000 a week, but what you would
really like to earn is $10,000 a week. Upping your income
from $1,000 to $10,000 might be too big a jump for you to
accept in just one specific goal. So you might want to
start with $2,500 a week. That’s a stretch from where you
are, but it seems more real or realistic.

The more you make your goals attainable-something that the
mind can accept as at least a possibility-the more likely
you are to be able to release any obstacle that you have
within you to achieve the goal.

Include yourself in the goal statement.

In other words, if you want to clean your house, you might
want to phrase your goal as, “I allow myself to clean my
house, “as opposed to,” The house is clean.” If you
say, “The house is clean,” you might not believe it. You
might also start waiting for a miracle to happen so that
the house gets clean by itself. If you’ve had tremendous
resistance to cleaning your house and then you release on
this goal, “I allow myself to easily clean the house,” you
may just find yourself easily cleaning the house.

Be precise and concise.

Use as few words as possible while at the same time making
sure you are enthusiastic when you hear the goal. In other
words, you don’t want to put everything but the kitchen
sink in one goal. Years ago, there was a man in a class who
set up a goal, “I allow myself to have an abundant income
so that I can have a new car, a house in the country, the
maids to take care of the second house, and the perfect
woman to have a relationship with to share all this.”

As you can see there are several goals in that one goal,
and they are all pulling in different directions. So the
instructor helped this person simplify the goal by helping
him break it down into specific individual goals. Then they
created an umbrella goal that was appropriate for the whole
situation which was, “I allow myself to have the good
things in life and enjoy them.” See how that includes
everything? It doesn’t cause you to pull into all sorts of
conflicting directions.

Make sure you word it to facilitate letting go.

One area where you could get yourself into trouble is in
the area of relationship. If you make a goal stating: “I
allow Mary (or Joe) to love me,” that could get you into
trouble. First of all, you’ll be running around doing all
these things to try to get them to love you. And what if
they are not even the right person for you?

This could tend to really get you stuck. Whereas if you
phrased it, “I allow myself to have a loving relationship,”
then the goal is more open and inclusive. It might be with
the person you’re having a relationship with now, or it
might not.

Eliminate the word “want” from your goals.

Would you rather want to have a lot of money, or would
you rather just have it? Would you rather want the perfect
relationship, or would you rather have the perfect
relationship? Would you rather want good health, or
would you rather have good health? “Want” equates to the
feeling of lack, so avoid putting the feeling of lack in the
goal.

Phrase it so you’re focusing on the end result, not your
means of achieving it.

For instance, go back to the earlier example-having a net
income of $2,500 a week. Don’t put how you’r e going to get
it. I’ve heard people word goals like this: “I allow myself
to make $2,500 a week by working 18 hours a day, 6 days a
week,” and a whole list of other actions that they thought
they needed to take in order to achieve their goal.

What you will discover is that very often the actions you
think you need to take in order to get the goal have
absolutely nothing to do with the goal. They are only
limitations or artificial obstacles that you’re putting in
your way. Also you’ll notice as we work on goals that we’ll
specifically release on the action steps that you can take
in order to get the goal.

Always allow for the unexpected. What if someone gives you
a large amount of money? What if you win the lottery? There
are so many things that could happen to allow that goal to
come into your awareness.

Word it in either courageousness, or acceptance, or peace.

“I allow myself to…” or “I can…” is a good way to start
a goal in courageousness. “I have… ” is a good way to
start a goal in acceptance. And “I am…” is a good way to
start a goal in peace. We’ve talked a lot about the “I
allow myself to…,” which is a very good way of wording a
goal.

If you’re not in courageousness about a particular topic,
getting into courageousness is already a great step
forward. And you can always reword the goal later to raise
the energy even higher to acceptance or peace. Allow the
mind to start using its creativity to start generating
possibilities of how this goal can happen.”

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