The New Year is full of dreams and hope for a better future. The magic of the holidays seems to linger, making you feel that you can achieve anything that is in your heart and mind. This is the time of the year when you set new goals and examine how you get there. Using the power of your mind and emotions to help you reach your goals in the quickest amount of time encompasses the skills of Conscious Loving™.

Do you find yourself setting goals of what you truly want to accomplish? Or are you driven by the need to please and to fit in with others’ expectations of how you should look, feel, think, and act? The suggestions below are different than the traditional behavioral methods to reach goals. These strategies employ honoring yourself and being honest about what you truly want to create for yourself.

You are EXTRAordinary and capable of EXTRAordinary results. Your goals that you set for yourself are chosen to empower, boost your esteem and confidence, and to succeed at a higher level. When I refer to “world class performance,” you don’t necessarily need to be an elite athlete. Instead, it is about the ways you show up in an effort, integrity, communication, the actions of treating yourself and others. Do you find yourself being critical and holding high expectations of yourself and others? Is that voice inside of your head continually making judgments and pressing for you to do even more…like that feeling of feeding that monster who cannot consume enough food.

Whatever your goals, you can get there faster and more successfully if you follow these action steps:

1. Brainstorm all the goals you would like to achieve this year. These could be your goals for your physical well-being, emotional growth, spiritual closeness, enhanced relationships, heightened performance, career success, greater relaxation, and enjoying vacations. Perhaps it is an external goal such as winning a championship or achieving a milestone.
2. Examine your list, determine your top three goals, and place them in order of priority. Rate them as to their level of importance and urgency to accomplish these goals. How committed are you reaching these on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being absolutely, undeniably committed? If you are not at an 8, 9, or 10 in your level of commitment toward working on your goals, then what’s getting in your way? Are these pervasive “should” goals, because you think that this is the right or acceptable thing to do? Are you coming from a place of deficiency or a place of love?
3. Now create an action plan as to how you can reach your three goals. To successfully reach your goals, create short-term, moderate, and long-term goals. These smaller goals keep you motivated and focused because they are taken in tiny, daily actionable steps and allow you to feel good about your progress and encourage your efforts. For instance one of the most popular goals every year pertains to losing weight and exercising more. It’s easy to get distracted, and off track by that luscious looking pastry or hot comforting chicken pot pie when it’s cold outside. Then it’s back to feeling defeated or scolding yourself for not being disciplined. It’s also easy to consume what you want in the moment and justify starting “tomorrow,” resulting in you feeling guilty and dishonest. Instead, consider what is it about losing weight, getting into that specific size, or having a certain shape and physique that drives you. Is it really about your body shape, size, or weight? Or is it about being acceptable, fitting in, and being desired? If it is about your feeling different or inadequate, then commit to making the real changes within you to acknowledge and to feel you are irresistible to yourself and others. Allow yourself to stay in the moment and to learn how to emotionally support yourself with tenderness and acceptance no matter what, starting with realistic goals that you can achieve. The stakes can become harder as you graduate toward success.
4. Make a list of consequences for your activities that take you toward your goals or prevent you from attaining your goals. Directly reward yourself generously with compliments and activities that encourage you to feel proud and fuel your successes. When you find yourself underperforming and feeling unmotivated, examine what holds you back and specifically how you may be sabotaging your efforts and your esteem. Then instead of punishing yourself or feeling like you’re failing, be the detective solving the case by working backward to identify and change actions and outcomes.
5. Practice gratitude and celebrate your greatness every day. By continually being in the moment and consciously recognizing and appreciating the small miracles that are happening in your life, you change your energy, your thoughts, your feelings, and your outcomes. Gratitude is a gift you give yourself to rebalance and empower you even more.