Surround yourself with people who have dreams, desire and ambition; they’ll help you push for, and realize your own.
~ Unknown
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I have a couple of family members who achieve great things.
They do. They really really do.
And I am always in awe.
They set their mind on something.
They work hard to achieve it.
And they get it done.
The thing is, I never know about what they are doing until after it is done.
They keep their goals quiet. They don’t tell anyone what their dreams are, in case they fail.
Seriously.
I’ve NEVER EVER seen them fail.
But then, how would I know? They maybe have. I just don’t know because I never knew they were trying in the first place.
Some would say this is the perfect way to achieve your goals.
Why announce to the world what you are working on and then fall flat on your face? Or worse, risk looking crazy for even trying?
Because we often imitate those around us, and those important to us, I have always followed suit. I have always kept my goals quiet. So quiet, in fact, that I often didn’t even declare them to myself. They just sounded too crazy, too outrageous. Too unattainable.
And you know what?
I have always failed.
Always.
Well, I got tired of failing. So I did some research.
And guess what I learned?
You need to share your goals if you want success.
I want to write and traditionally publish a book.
But the first thing I learned is that I have to announce to the world that I am writing a book.
Scary.
Seriously and utterly scary. That’s a big project to take on. And so many things could go wrong – ultimately, not getting published. And the whole wide world would know that I was not good enough to get that book published.
Not exactly my idea of fun.
But share it I did.
And by sharing it with the world, I honed in on a few key ingredients to success…
Four Powerful Reasons to Share Your Goals
1. Accountability
Sharing my goal – telling the world that I want to traditionally publish a book – holds me accountable to getting that done. If I do not take even small steps towards publishing that book, then I look like an idiot.
People will stop taking me seriously. Any future announcements will be met with “yeah yeah yeah”….
But if I announce to the world that I am going to publish a book, and then I do it, people will know me as someone who does what she says she is going to do.
Sharing my goal with the world puts the steps in motion to keep me accountable because the consequences of messing up are far too embarrassing.
2. Support
Most people don’t share their goals with the world because they are afraid of being laughed at. I know. I do this all of the time.
Or, they are afraid of being a failure.
I want to support my family by writing. It took me a long time to announce that to the world because I was afraid of failure.
I needed a safety net.
I needed the world to still see me as a social worker, not as a writer, because I needed an escape plan – if I failed, I could always go back to work, right?
But instead, a wise man helped me to see that I needed to let go of my safety net.
(Thanks Dad.)
Step away from the net, Shannon.
And so I did.
And guess what I found? A trampoline.
Sure, there are probably people rolling their eyes, laughing at me, and saying I should stick with social work.
But…. I also found like-minded people who believe in me, support me and are helping me along my journey. From them I am learning the skills of the trade. They are teaching me how to change my mindset. And if I wouldn’t have announced to the world that I am a writer, I would have never met them.
Nay-sayers be gone! I got a tribe of YAY-sayers!
3. Networking
Once you find a tribe to belong to, and like-minded people, they start introducing you to other like-minded people, who introduce you to others. And before you know it, you have a friend who has a friend who can introduce you to someone at Mattel. And bingo! You land your first client.
Or someone in your group knows someone you can interview for the project you are working on, and that person just happens to know a publisher. And now you have a possible home for your book.
You can’t meet people in your field of passion if you don’t first share with the world that you have that goal. If I don’t tell people I am a writer, how am I ever going to find someone to write for?
4. Believing in Yourself
The brain hears everything our mind thinks. Seriously.
The brain also hears everything we tell others.
And the nifty thing about our brains? They believe what they hear.
If you continuously tell your child that he is an idiot, he’s eventually going to start believing you. Even if he is the most brilliant kid in his class.
And if you continuously tell yourself, “I’m not really trying to write. I’m just messing around to see if it suits me,” your brain will believe that as well. And it won’t try as hard or take your writing seriously. You will literally just be messing around.
But if you say the words out loud, your brain hears that. If you tell your family and friends that you are a writer, your brain will believe you are a writer as well. And it will direct your body to follow suit. Since you are a writer, you will be compelled to write. Your brain is crazy that way.
And before you know it, you believe in yourself. That big crazy goal that you thought was unattainable? The one you wanted to keep hush hush? Well, it’s not so crazy after all, is it?
Sharing your goals with the world will help you to take your goals seriously. Keeping them quiet, and then announcing what you did after you did it – if you did it – is the easy way out.
If you really want to knock it out of the ball park this year, then share your goal. Take yourself seriously. Make it real by announcing it to the world. Stop hiding in the closet. You can’t accomplish anything in there.
Do it today. Do it now!
How to Get Started Sharing Your Goals
1. Verbally tell family and friends
This is the scariest way to share your goal – standing in front of those who can judge you and telling them exactly what you hope to accomplish. They will think you are crazy, you are sure of it.
This is so scary, in fact, that I have told very few family members – and absolutely no friends – that I am a writer. (I think they probably know by now though….) I am too new in the process to feel comfortable enough putting myself out there like that.
The key to sharing your goals in person is to share them with only the people you know will support you.
When you are starting out on some big, crazy, impossible dream, you need all of the support you can get.
You don’t need anyone telling you that you cannot achieve it, because you are doing that enough yourself already.
You need someone that can help you to banish those negative thoughts so that you can achieve your goal.
So share your goals – but share them with your most loyal fans – the ones you know will always support you, in any endeavor you set out on. For me, that means I told three people. Just three. Everyone else, well, they kind of figured it out now, didn’t they?
2. Social media
Social media is HUGE. This was a hard one for me. Three years ago, I refused to be on FaceBook. I am an introvert. There is no one that needs to know my business.
One reason I refused to use FaceBook is because I was very scared it would endanger my kids. After I had twins, though, I realized they were so gosh darn cute! And I wanted my dad to be able to see pictures of them all of the time. So I started out on FaceBook.
And then I joined FaceBook groups.
Why?
They’re my peeps.
Those groups is where I meet my like-minded people.
I have no friends in my “real” life that write. There is no one that could help me. I am a lone ranger here.
But online, there is a whole slew of writers! So I joined their groups, got to know them, and have learned from them. I share what I know, they share what they know and we lean on each other for support and motivation.
Announcing your big goal in an online group of like-minded people is one of the best things you can do for yourself. It is a great way to find support, change your mindset, and start networking.
Find a group today!
3. Announce it in a Christmas Letter
When I decided to write a book, I researched the steps to make it happen. And of course, I read somewhere that I need to announce it to the world. I was very new at social media at the time, so that was not a natural outlet for me. So I shared it in my Christmas Letter.
I run through my family in that letter, starting with my husband and cruising down to the twins, updating my family and friends on what was happening in each of their lives. So I tried to nonchalantly mention that I was writing a book in my update.
I did it simply to check off the “share your goal with a friend” mandate. Just because I’m a rule follower, and if those before me say to announce it, I’m going to announce it.
And then I never gave it a second thought.
From there on out, I kept it quiet. But, it was a great way to get my toe wet.
4. Make it visual around your house
This, too, was scary for me. I have a lot of books on writing that I have collected over the years. I always kept them hidden.
Just recently, I took them out and put them on display. Not only are they visual inspiration to me, but now, whenever someone comes in to my home, they will see that I am interested in learning about writing.
Scary.
Talk about opening myself up.
I also have on my to-do list a vision board. I need to make one and hang it up by my desk. But I haven’t yet, because I’m busy and because all of my company would see it. And ask me about it. And force me to talk about my dreams and goals.
Scary.
Making it visual around your house is a great way to reaffirm your goal to yourself. But it also forces you to acknowledge it publicly if anyone were to come in to your home. A Win-Win! A scary win, but definitely a win!
To reach a goal you’ve never met before, you have to start doing things you’ve never done before.
You have to grow and change; create new habits and let go of old habits.
You have to create new mindsets – new ways of seeing things and believing things, and let go of the old way of seeing things and all of the negative thoughts.
And you have to cut the nay-sayers out of your life – at least for the time being. You can’t be around negative thinkers because they will convince you that you can’t do this.
Surround yourself with positive, like-minded people. People who are going to support you and talk you out of the trenches when you find yourself digging.
So take that first step.
Step out of that closet, and in to the light. No more hiding. Tell the world your goal.
You’ll be happy you did.
This post is part of the How to Reach Your Goals in Ten (Not So Easy!) Steps Series. For more tips and tricks on how to reach your goals, check out these posts:
Three Dirty Secrets to Identifying Your Goal
How to Believe in Yourself Starting Now
Nine Different Ways You Can Put Your Goals in Writing
Five Techniques You Should Use to Visualize Your Goals
How to Turn Your Goal Into An Action Plan
Are you looking to make your goals real?
It can be scary, sharing your goals. Before you start sharing, though, you need to understand why your goal is so important to you. You also need to have a plan of action for reaching your goal. If you don’t, you risk looking foolish when you share your goal.
Imagine being able to stand tall and tell your family and friends exactly why your goal is so important – what difference it is going to make in your life. And then see yourself telling them exactly how you are going to make it happen.
Looks better than floundering around with a bunch of embarrassed “ums and well….” right?
If you are ready to make your goal real, to yourself and to the world, then you need to check out this planner!!
The Slay Your Goals Planner will not only help you create a detailed action plan, right down to the daily tasks you need to do NOW to make your wildest dreams happen, but it will also help you make your goal real.
The first thing the planner does is helps you to state your intention. This was my favorite part of the whole planner. Through a series of exercises, this planner helps you uncover why your goal is so important to you.
Once you realize the underlying foundation of it all, it becomes nearly impossible to not work towards it.
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More Slay Your Goal Products You May Be Interested In:
Free Ten Step Goal Slayer Guide