Pull out a notepad and a pen (this works better when you physically connect with the words rather than just tapping away at a keyboard, even if your handwriting is less than perfect.)
Start writing your BIG GOALS.
Your giant goals.
Your wildest dreams.
Don’t worry about being crazy or unrealistic.
Just put it out there to the universe.
As I said, don’t do this on a computer. Actually pull out a notepad and handwrite it. This will make this practical exercise so much more powerful.
Pro tip: If you were to actually study successful people who do this, they write this in a way as if it already happened.
So it’s not “I want to be a millionaire.” Instead, write “I am a millionaire.”
So go ahead and do it, write down all of your crazy goals.
Step 2: Do it again every day when you wake up and before going to bed.
Yes, you read this correctly. Repeat the same process as soon as you get up in the morning.
Write your goals.
And before going to bed, pick up that notepad and write those goals again.
You might be thinking, but why?
Let’s do a quick comparison.
We all heard about New Years resolutions, right? We all made a promise to ourselves and few weeks or months down the track, we gave up or even forgot about them completely.
Now, let’s assume that instead of making this resolution ONCE a year, we make this resolution TWICE A DAY for a whole year. A year is 365 days. Do the same goal setting practical over 700 times a year. If we had two people competing on achieving their goal, one of them wrote their goals once a year whereas the second person writes their goals over 700 times a year – who do you think is more likely to succeed?
It is a no-brainer. The more you write your goals and dreams the more real they will become to you. You might actually start believing it is possible. After 300 times writing these dreams you might think it’s not crazy anymore. That’s good! Your inner belief is going to continue and get stronger.
Oh, and it is free, to actually pick up a notepad and write these down. The cost of the paper and ink is negligible.
Why is this such a powerful hack?
The answer is one word: FOCUS!
There is an interview with Warren Buffet where he talks about an experience he and Bill Gates had – both multi-billionaires and two of the most successful business people in history. This is what Warren Buffet said: “Bill and I, his father, many years ago, right after we met, had us a group of about 20, write down on a sheet of paper one word that we thought accounted for our success, and Bill and I, we may have met twice, didn’t know what the other one was writing, and we both wrote focus.”
So being focused on your goals and dreams is critical. Every day, twice a day, you’re thinking, visualizing, and manifesting these big dreams of yours.
Step 3: Write down what you are going to accomplish every day
I know what you’re thinking, it’s all a bit “airy-fairy” so far. But bear with me.
Moreover, this next step is going to start bringing you down to earth in practical terms.
Now that you’ve written your goals without restraints on how you can’t, shouldn’t or couldn’t, it is time to confront reality. What are you going to accomplish today?
There are three elements I would like to introduce to you.
One is called “the non-negotiables”
Second is called “to-do-list”
Third is your calendar.
Non-negotiables = we all have at least one thing in our life we are not confronting, it’s a bad habit, it’s a weakness. Some of us are just lazy when it comes to exercise. We just don’t do it. Well, stop being a couch potato and do it! The items go on your non-negotiables list. Have at least 1 item. Some people recommend 5 items like that. I don’t want you to overwhelm yourself. If one item is enough, put that one item on. And you know when you do that item? You guessed it – that’s the FIRST THING YOU DO! Get it out of the way. Confront the beast.
To-do-list = This is kind of obvious. Write down what you are going to do that day. Now, you might have a 9 to 5 job where you are given things to do as your daily routine. We are not talking about writing a to-do-list for your job. You probably should do that too. The to-do-list we are talking about is about manifesting your dreams! Unless you are in your dream job, your to-do-list should be about that dream you are pursuing. So what is on your to-do-list today that is going to get you that little bit closer toward it?
Now your dream might be so big, you might think, “there’s nothing I can do to get closer.”
The key is move forward, progress forward, walk the next step. Sometimes you’ll fail – that’s cool. Fail forward! Fail fast!
There is a saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, but let me assure you, every day there were bricks being laid to build Rome!
Let me give you another analogy. Imagine you are in a forest with thousands of trees. And you are on a hike, wanted to get from one side of the forrest to the other. That’s the goal. If you look into the distance all you will see is the density of the forrest. But if you just focus on the next tree, and the next tree after that, and so on and so forth, before you know it you will be on the other side.
Life works much the same way with regards to manifesting your dreams.
Now, when it comes to the to do list, I have a very different spin for you on what this whole idea of “focus” means. Your to-do-list should be about what you should focus on, right?
Well, not quite right.
Here is another perspective for you to consider.
Steve Jobs, another one of the greatest business people in history, talked about the importance of focus in business. His take on it was a bit more eye-opening: “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”
Are you doing useless things that have nothing to do with your goals and dreams?
What shiny objects are you currently chasing?
What distractions do you have in your life?
What is consuming your attention and bringing you no joy, no happiness, or no progress?
What is not really worth your time, thought, or energy?
All of a sudden you will start noticing that your day to day actions, are not really aligned to manifesting your dreams.
So change that right away.
Calendar = That’s the third element of this step.
We are not talking about just what’s on your calendar for the day, week or month.
Yes you need to fill your calendar daily with the right tasks, the right “to-do-list” as discussed.
But here is a more important perspective of a calendar.
Your calendar is a visual of your life.
If you actually buy a calendar, you will have between 28 and 31 boxes in each of the 12 months. In total, 365 boxes.
Each box has 24 hours, right?
WRONG!
On average, you are sleeping 8 hours.
Factor in time you’re eating, in the bathroom, maybe sick, traveling, watching movies, entertainment, and working.
How many hours in the day do you really have to work on your dreams?
Take away holiday time where you spend time with family – yes that’s important – but that’s time you are not necessarily working on your dreams.
Put the time you have on your calendar into perspective.
And here’s a hard one – how old are you?
The answer does not matter, it is never too late to start. But let’s be realistic, if you’re in your 40;s, you’re maybe half way – get going!
If you’re in your 50’s, you better move it.
If you’re in your 60’s, you’ve already wasted so much time. Don’t you dare procrastinating on pursuing your dreams – you cannot afford it.
And if you’re in you are 20’s and 30’s, you think you got all the time in the world and you do, but you don’t. If you don’t start following your dreams, time will run away from you faster than you know it.
Quick story to prove that it is NEVER too late. Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC, started this business in 1952 at the young age of 65 and saw it through to become the empire that it is today until his death in 1980. IT IS NEVER TOO LATE!
Step 4: Confronting YOU!
The next step may be a bit of an ugly one for you.
You need to confront yourself and your surroundings.
I dare you to even write the things in your past that you feel bad about and should do something to take responsibility for.
This is going to be ugly and tough.
Don’t overwhelm yourself. Start with simple things.
If you know you’re just bad with getting super distracted with social media, you scroll through the Facebook feed for hours, stop it. Delete the app from your phone. Get rid of it.
Are you watching endless videos on Youtube without purpose?
Maybe there are other dark areas of your life you need to get help with. Drinking, drugs, gambling – these things may appear okay but these can spiral out of control.
In many cases, you may find that you are around like-minded people. Sometimes you hang out with the wrong crowd. Sometimes we have “friends” or family that are holding us down.
This is not an exercise to blame others for your situation either.
You are the problem.
But the good news is that when it comes to manifesting your dreams, you are also the SOLUTION.
You solve that not by focusing on the bad things either.
Instead of cutting out negative people from your life. Add positive people into your life!
Instead of trying to force yourself away from doing some activities that are not contributing to your well-being, replace it with activities that do contribute to your well being!
A lot of being find comfort from going for long walks on the beach or hanging out at the gym pushing themselves to the next level. That extra hour in the gym means you’re not in the casino blowing your money away.
Replace bad activities with good activities.
If you just try to eliminate bad and “not do”, you’ll end up filling that void with something else. So don’t focus on what not to do, focus on what you should and could do!
When it comes to adding positive people into your life, there are ways to find likeminded people.
Find Facebook groups you can join.
Sign up with meetup.com and find groups in your local area.
Go to events relating to your goals and dreams.
And if you’re going to be on social media, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, follow the things that inspire you toward those dreams you are working to manifest.
Step 5: Time management hacks
If you read up to this point, you should be very proud of yourself.
You are obviously keen on improving your life and become a better version of yourself.
This section is going to a no-brainer after everything we covered.
But let’s answer this question: “What does time management hacks have anything to do with manifesting your dreams into reality?”
The answer is simple – achieving your dreams absolutely require the right mental headspace, the right mindset, to follow through and achieve those dreams.
But unless you take action, no amount of thinking is good enough.
And anything worthwhile achieving and pursuing is not easy.
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it!
A wise man once said, “everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die!”
And so to pursue your goals and dreams does take time.
Lionel Messi, one of the greatest footballers in history said, “it took me 17 years to become an overnight success.”
So time is a key part of success. And you being smarter about your time is critical.
The time management hacks have already been discussed in the earlier sections.
But it is so critical to point out that time management and being in control of your time is a must if you truly want to manifest your dreams.
Step 6: Money management hacks
What does “money management hacks have anything to do with manifesting your dreams?”
Glad you asked!
We live in an economic planet.
Rent, food, basic necessities, they all cost money.
You have to learn to manage money, make more money, and correctly use money to be able to pursue your dreams.
People who have no money are too worried about themselves to help other people and pursue their dreams.
Sometimes your dreams might have absolutely nothing to do with making money.
But you still have to put in time to work and make money to support yourself in pursuing your dreams.
What if you big dream is to go and help build schools in Africa?
You cannot truly pursue this dream with some financial backing or the freedom to do so.
This is where money is not a bad thing.
Money for the sake of money is borderline greedy. Greed is frowned upon, and rightly so.
But money does not equal greed.
Money is a tool to help your family, your friends, your Church, your community, charities, ad so on – is a good thing!
Do a similar practical to what you did with your time and your calendar.
Pick up that notepad.
Make a list of all your debts.
Make a list of all your expenses.
What are you spending your money on?
Are these things really essentials?
Are these things helping you pursue your dreams?
Next, go through your home and go through everything you have bought over the years. What are you using? What is useless to you? This will open your eyes to the financial waste you might have taken part of. Maybe that’s a bad habit you didn’t quite realize you had?
Do this honestly and asses for yourself.
When you’ve finished, spend a few weeks getting rid of it all through selling it on Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or doing a garage sale.
Maybe donate some items to your local charity.
These practicals will open your eyes not only to financial waste, but to ways you can increase your income.
Step 7: Be a good human
You have arrived at the last step.
Whether you believe in karma or not, being a good human is just a good thing to do.
Sure, good humans can be taken advantage of. Sure, bad things happen to good people.
But you are far more likely to succeed and manifest your dreams if you are a good human.
It will make you feel better about yourself too.
Here are some examples:
Donate to charity when you can, or volunteer in your local community. Once a month or more, do something selfless.
Talk to your family and appreciate them
Respect your parents
Call your loved ones on their birthday
Tell your loved ones that you love them
If a customer of your is not happy, don’t leave them unhappy. Contact them and sort it out.
Always try to do the right thing when no one is looking
Smile at people
And so many things like that which can be so small to you, but mean the world to someone else.
Trust the process.
Bonus step and credits:
I am going to give you a bonus step: Enhance and feed your mind as a normal part of life.
Self improvement needs to become a part of your day to day routine.
If you read this article and thought to yourself that this gives you a lot of value, a lot of tips, maybe some inspiration, realize that the wheel does not get invented out of thin air. This information in this article can be credits in one way or another to lots of successful people that I either come across, or studied, or read about or some such.
Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Grant & Elena Cardone Cardone, Andy Frisella, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mark Cuban, Jessica Alba, Elon Musk, Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Sara Blakely, Jesse Itzler Oprah Winfrey, Muhammad Ali, and more!
I know, this is a very random list of names but that’s the point!! You can learn from all these people something really special on mindset, on habits, on daily routine, on failure, and on success.
Buy autobiographies of successful people – read or listen to them.
Watch documentaries about successful people instead of a fiction movie either on Netflix or on YouTube.
Replace meaningless entertainment with educational entertainment.
Watch Shark Tank (Dragon’s Den in UK) instead of “Keeping up with the Kardashians”.
You get the idea.
If you are truly committed to manifesting your dreams – not only will you change your mind about the possibility of achieving them, focus on them every day, you will also take the necessary steps to do whatever it takes to get there.
The universe is going to listen and take you there.
As a wise men and women once said, “the harder I work, the luckier I get.”
And if you’d like more help with manifesting your dreams, check this link.
her than just tapping away at a keyboard, even if your handwriting is less than perfect.)
There is an interview with Warren Buffet where he talks about an experience he and Bill Gates had – both multi-billionaires and two of the most successful business people in history. This is what Warren Buffet said: “Bill and I, his father, many years ago, right after we met, had us a group of about 20, write down on a sheet of paper one word that we thought accounted for our success, and Bill and I, we may have met twice, didn’t know what the other one was writing, and we both wrote focus.”
You have to learn to manage money, make more money, and correctly use money to be able to pursue your dreams.
