Have you ever wondered why it sometimes feels easy to achieve success? Then at times, it just seems to be pure hard slog.
Over the years I have learned how to set and achieve goals more effectively. In 2016, during my recovery from a health issue, I learned how important a part the act of letting go plays in this.
Early in my career, I set goals as I was taught to, but I often felt like I was running backwards. I would work so hard, taking action after action, but success felt really hard.
I remember being told by mentors back then “Its important to let go of the outcome”. But I hadn’t a clue what they meant! How can you set a goal, work to achieve it AND at the same time let go of it? Surely if I let go of it, I would never achieve it?
Not true!
Buddha says, “You only lose what you cling to”.
The truth is, by gripping tightly we push things away.
When you hold on tightly to your outcome, you are feeling the NEED to succeed. If you are aware, you can feel the tension in your body and the tightness of energy.
Because of this we create a resistance to the very thing we want to achieve. This means we can often work very hard with little to show in return.
When you let go of the outcome, you feel a sense of ease within yourself. As you do this you may find achieving success happens with a lot more ease and flow.
Personally I’ve noticed practicing this, I can reach my outcomes with a lot less effort and energy. And that’s what we want right?
I reached the point of burnout before I realized I have the ability to succeed with a lot less energy and effort. It takes time to master this. And I have to say there are still times when I slip up. But I have broken this down into three components:
Set an outcome for what you want to achieve
Setting a goal gives you a milestone to aim for. This gets you off the starting line and actions to take to achieve what you want.
Whether it’s a short-term target or a long-term goal, set the outcome. Create a deadline and write it down using an effective goal setting model like SMART.
I’m talking about a lot more than black and white dot points on a sheet of paper here though.
It’s important to see, hear and feel your outcome
This is about writing your outcome down as a present moment experience. Write it using the present tense. Write in detail what you are seeing hearing and feeling as you achieve success. Use your five senses to describe a sensory experience.
When you do this you are speaking directly with your unconscious mind. This helps breakdown any barriers you may have.
Let go of the NEED to have success
If you focus on the NEED to fill the gap and have it, you are creating a moving away from focus. This means you are leaning into the fear of NOT having it even if you’re focusing on your goal. As you do this it creates a feeling of lack and will build resistance making it sheer hard slog.
When you lean into the feeling of success you are able to let go of the outcome. Before you know it you’ve achieved it.
Letting go of the NEED to have it and instead feeling into the experience of success is key. This can be done using your imagination to see, hear and feel the experience of success. You can do this by taking your focus away from the goal and appreciating what you already have too.
This takes practice and there are still times when I slip up and begin to hold on. And you may find this too. After all we are all human. But the awareness to know the difference in how we feel allows us to change it.
Working with a good coach can make this whole process far simpler. Allowing you to achieve with more ease and flow. If you would like to see if coaching is the right fit for you and what you want to achieve, book a complimentary initial connect call HERE