You know how all of the gurus tell you success is easy? Well, failure is easy too. In fact, it’s easier. It’s so easy in fact, that people do it every day, every minute, and every second. In setting goals, the surefire way to fail every time is to follow these five easy steps:

1. Lack Conviction
Goal setting without absolute conviction that you can attain the goals you set is never successful. When you begin any endeavor with even a small measure of disbelief, you are sabotaging your goal before you begin.

Achieving success, whether it is business success, or an aspect of personal growth, requires intense passion and belief in yourself and your dreams. Conviction is not hope. Hope is akin to wishing, a state of being that assumes the outcome is beyond your control.

The truth is, your life’s circumstances, accomplishments, and disappointments are all of your own making. How create the life you want? With your thoughts. Thoughts are creative; they tell the Universe what you would like to experience next.

When you lack conviction in goal setting, it sends a message to the Universe that you are not sure about your goal, and do not really believe you can achieve it. It is as if you purchased a car for a road trip, and then took out the engine. Without the engine, you cannot drive. Without a deeply felt belief in your ability to achieve your goal, you cannot work toward it effectively.

2. Start to Worry
Without conviction, this next step comes naturally. When you doubt yourself and question the achievability of your goal, worry sets in. Once you start to worry about it, you are well on your way to sabotaging your goal.

Belief prevents worry, because you do not worry about the hows, whys, and what ifs when you know a positive outcome is certain. If your goal pertains to business success, you might worry about having the funds to pull it off, finding the right people to perform tasks, or if your idea or product is up to snuff.

Once you start to worry, nearly every step you take will be plagued by it. When is the last time you saw a successful business owner riddled with insecurity and doubt? Right. You’ve never seen one, because business success is dependent on confidence.

3. Become Fearful
Once you have worry down, you will have no problem becoming fearful. That’s right – full of fear. Fear can and will cripple you, so that now you are not even able to take any action whatsoever.

Excessive worry leads to abject fear. The fear of rejection, fear of failure, even fear of success causes you to shut down and put goal setting on the back burner – indefinitely. The worst part is that because thoughts are creative, you are now sending a message to the Universe that in fact the outcome you desire is not the goal, but the failure to achieve it.

Because you are focusing on fear, all that you are getting back is more fear, and the manifestation of your fear. What you give out, what you think about, is all that the Universe can give back to you. On the flip side, when you focus on a positive outcome, you will most assuredly attain a positive outcome.

4. Lose Faith
Now that you have ceased to take action, and are consumed with worry and fearful thoughts, the loss of faith is not far behind. Successful goal setting requires regular, consistent action; but you also need the little wins and accomplishments to help sustain you in the process of achieving your goal.

Since you are firmly stuck in a rut, there is no way you can experience a positive step forward. (Not even by accident, because remember, there are no accidents. In order for “providence” to step in, you must first have positive thoughts to notify the Universe to take action.)

Loss of faith is the final nail your goal’s coffin. At this point, there is only one thing left to do…

5. Abandon Goal
Sometime after you lose faith, you abandon your goal entirely. What is truly interesting is you are so out of touch with your goal setting, you may not even be aware of the exact moment you decide to put that goal on the shelf and leave it there.

What was once an idea that excited you is now at best a distant memory, and at worst, a painful reminder of your failures. Even more significant is now you have a new belief that can hinder your future goal setting ability: the belief that you are doomed to fail. Now, you are able to breeze through the five easy steps to sabotage your goal setting in no time, and the Universe will help you do it.

Now that you know how to fail at goal setting, you can see how easy it is to succeed at goal setting. The number one reason why most people never attain their goals, can’t keep those New Year’s resolutions, and never seem to make a much-needed change is because they are steeped in doubt, worry, and fear.

In business this fact is intensified by the high stakes of supporting not only your own family, but also providing the salary and benefits of your staff so they can support their own family. If your business has gone public, you have the added stress of concern for stockholders.

As a business owner, you are acutely aware of the daily opportunities to give in to worry and fear. Will sales go up as expected? Will you lose any customers to competitors? How will your new product line be received? What if you get a bad review from the trade magazines? What if your website is so busy, the server crashes?

You can work yourself into a frenzy with worry, and all of that not only takes up your precious time, but sends a signal to the Universe that you are not 100% sure you will attain your goal.

Once you have set your goal with absolute certainty, and then let go of the hows, whys and what ifs, you are well on your way to attaining it. A goal set with conviction causes the Universe to organize around that goal. When you are steadfast in your belief, and do not entertain negative thoughts of self-doubt, worry, and fear, you empower the Universe to deliver everything and everyone you need to achieve your goal.

When you doubt yourself, your goal, or a specific action step, it sends a signal to the Universe that you are not sure the goal is real. Again, we create our own reality. Our thoughts tell the Universe what is real for us. This is not new information, and in fact, is mutually agreed upon by metaphysicians and physicists alike.

As you begin goal setting this time around, remember the real sabotage of your dream is not lack of education, financing, or opportunity; it is negative and worrisome thinking. There is no limit to what you can achieve when you set your goal with conviction and then let the Universe do its job.

Posted in Self Help, Success, Goals, Business, Personal Growth