TWELVE HACKS TO HELP YOU SMASH YOUR GOALS IN 2017

“Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change with it” – Steve Maraboli

Did you know that some coaches recommend you spend the same amount of time per day on mindset as you do on other areas of your business? So for every hour of emailing – an hour of mindset, for every hour of social media – an hour of mindset and so on. That’s a lot right!

While I, like most of the Mums with Hustle Tribe, simply do not have enough hours in the day to do all my work, and wear my Mama hat, let alone matching those work hours with the same amount of mindset hours, I do believe that mindset is key to business success and getting what you want from this life. So I have developed what I call mindset hacks, little ways of keeping your desires and goals at the forefront of your mind.

First a word about goals. Having goals and writing them down and working with them is instrumental to going the places you want to go. For a great rundown of this I highly recommend Sara Sheedy’s podcast with Tracy and the accompanying printable. Once you have your goals clear you can start using these hacks. These hacks will work with business goals, personal goals, and life goals.

You can also check out Your Year if you are looking at setting out your goals for the year with a super clear structure that Tracy uses.

Ok, now into my 12 hacks

1. Daily Doodles

Focus on 3 – 4 goals at a time, take each goal and reduce it to a word, number or even a symbol, and then find creative ways of writing that word/symbol throughout your day. You can doodle it on the backs of envelopes or scrap paper when you are chatting on the phone, paint it when doing art with your kids, draw it with your finger on the glass in the shower, in the flour when baking, you get the idea! This keeps you focused on your goals, and keeps your mind engaged in ways to make these goals a reality.

2. Music

We are emotional beings, and emotions are powerful anchors for your goals. I like to think of our goals and intentions like seeds and we need to nourish and water them to help them grow. Music is a fun and easy way to feed and fuel a goal.
You can choose a specific song that you love to play while you think about your goal, visualising your steps there and the feeling when the goal is reached. You could make a playlist of uplifting and happy songs that keep you feeling good about your goal, and you can play this both in times of working towards your goal, and also in times when you need a little motivation.
Music will charge and empower your goals with emotion, and keep you in a positive frame of mind when thinking about your goals.

3. Passwords

We need to enter our passwords multiple times a day, so changing your password to your goals, or power words is a great way to keep them in your mind. Think email/website/banking passwords. You could also make your passwords an affirmation that you are working with.

4. Gratitude

An ‘attitude of gratitude’ is something to cultivate daily. Each night before you sleep tell yourself 10 things you are grateful for that day, they can be as little as “the dimples of my four year old” or as big as “$X in sales”. You can then add to this list, by saying all the things you are grateful for that have yet to manifest, like “I am so grateful for X number of sales this month” or “I am so grateful for the holiday that is organised and paid for next year”.

Tapping into some gratitude is a quick and simple hack for lifting your mood in times you feel down or overwhelmed.

5. Mirror Pep Talk

Eye contact is very powerful, when we have eye contact with someone, we develop a feeling of intimacy, connection and trust. So in using a mirror we can tap into these feelings and be our greatest cheerleader. Looking yourself in the eye and repeating affirmations, or giving yourself a pep talk to build your confidence is surprisingly empowering.
At first it can feel confronting, and a bit weird, but try it, perhaps just a quick “I love you” when you have brushed your teeth and as you are leaving the room. Even just saying your full name in the mirror while looking at yourself in the eyes can be empowering, it's like really seeing yourself. I highly recommend it. An easy way to start this practise is with eyes closed and thinking of someone you love unconditionally, really feel this love, then open eyes and see yourself.
Or take it further and really have fun, put some music on and channel your inner Beyonce, or wear a power suit and channel your inner Tony Robbins, or Gary Vernerchuk – what would they say to you if they were here right now?

6. The Golden Five Minutes

Many mindset coaches talk about the ‘Golden or Power Hour’ upon waking, and I used to entertain fantasies of one day being able to do this, rising early, some yoga, some meditation, some journalling, a healthy breakfast. But the truth is that I am a night owl, and am slow to start in the mornings. So my hack on this is doing some ‘Golden or Power Hour’ activities in the wee hours before bed instead. I don't do an hour, but the 5, 10 or 15 minutes that I do is a powerful few minutes.

Find a time that works with you and a few power activities that you can fit into that time.

7. Smiling

A smile has the power to instantly change your neurology, and lift your mood. I like to think of a smile as a quick hack to supercharge whatever it is you are doing. Such as smiling while saying affirmations, while doing your finances, while visualising, while setting a intention, and so on.

8. Triggers

Having plenty of triggers throughout your day is a great and almost effortless way to keep your goals at the forefront of your mind, in your focus and to remind you of what you want to achieve.

You can have visual triggers: such as photos and post-it notes around your work or home space, photos and symbols that are meaningful to your goals. You can set your homescreen and screensavers on your phone and electronic devises, reminders on your phone throughout the day. You can even make a vision board.
You can have physical triggers – such as linking a daily activity with a mindset activity, like cleaning your teeth with visualising a particular goal being reached and how awesome that is going to feel, or driving up your street with visualising your new office space, or opening up your laptop with that feeling of the buzz of a new sale. You could even link a specific colour to your goal, so every time you see that colour through out the day you are reminded of your goal.

9. Let go of the “How”

While it is very important to take steps towards our goal and to engage our mind in creative ways to bring this goal into being, there can come a point when thinking about our how our goal will manifest becomes negative.
We can think about our goals in two ways, in a way that fuels your actions and movement towards your goals, or in a way that drains the energy from and stalls movement towards your goals.

The first way occurs when we feel inspired and motivated and we say to ourselves “Okay so, how can I make this happen…?” and we start to think creatively and positively about our goal.
The second may occur when we are stressed and overwhelmed and we say to ourselves “Hmmm, actually, how the hell is this going to happen…?” and begin a spiral down into negative self-talk.

e hell is this going to happen…?” and begin a spiral down into negative self-talk.
So if you find yourself struggling with the hows of your goal, and you don’t want to fall into the negative how’s then try keeping your mind out of it for a while, and focus instead on the outcome, not the “How the hells”.
Focus on the feeling of how good it is going to feel once the goal is achieved. Perhaps do a quick “Woo hoo! How good am I going to feel when this happens!” a few times a day and then let go and move on before your rational mind can come in all like “Actually, but how…”
This will help to keep you focused on your goal in a positive way and stay in a helpful mindset for achieving your goals.

10. Baby steps, but always moving forward.

While it's important to have goals that are big, sometimes they can feel so big that the leap to them feels unachievable, so we can work on our mindset to get comfortable with that big goal. By taking little mental steps towards the goal it starts to feel closer and more achievable. Sometimes we need to sit at each step for a while until we are comfortable and then we can move forward again.
Let’s take the example of a lofty goal, something that feels big and slightly uncomfortable and out of reach. It could be 100k in sales a year or working with a well-known high profile coach or being so abundant that you can travel first class, or being a philanthropist and making a real difference in the world.
If we imagine a line with where you are now at one end, and your big lofty goal at the other, and we need to make some mental or physical stepping stones to hang out at along the way. If where you are now is “There is no way I can make 100K sales” and the end is 100K sales, then the first mental stepping stone might be working with the affirmation “I am open to the possibility of more sales”.
Or if you are working solo and you want to work with that coach the first physical stepping stone may be working with some peers in a mastermind group or taking an e-course or reading a book by said coach. By getting comfortable with working at this level we start to feel ready for the next step.
Or if you are struggling financially and you want to be in abundance your first step may be doing something that feels abundant and ‘first-class’, like going for a drink at a swanky bar, having a facial, buying some expensive hand cream or flicking through a glossy magazine pitched at those with excess money.
Or if your profits aren’t yet at significant philanthropist amounts your baby step may be setting up a small direct deposit to a charity of your choice, or occasionally offering your services pro-bono.
These small actions and mindset shifts may be baby steps towards your lofty goal, but they will keep you moving forward and your goal within reach. All these little steps create a bridge and make up the path to your goal.

11. Work on self-limiting beliefs

Sometimes when we are doing all the right things, but aren't getting the results we desire it can be because of self-limiting beliefs we may have. Limiting beliefs are tricky things as they can be so ingrained that we are not even aware we have them.
Some great ways to find out what your limiting beliefs may be are exploring what triggers you.

For example how you feel about your business peers or competition is a good one, seeing what fears arise when you compare yourself to them. There will always be a limiting belief of sorts behind a fear. You could also follow successful and wealthy people on social media to see what limiting beliefs or negative thoughts they trigger in you regarding money and success.
Once you know your fears you can clear them and move onwards and upwards. There are many clearing techniques, some of my favourites include EFT or tapping, and forgiveness work.

12. Giving money and time away

Giving is a classic abundance mindset. In the act of giving we feel abundant and are giving ourselves the message that there is Enough, enough to even give some away. Generosity not only feels good, but it helps another, win-win! If you don’t have spare cash to give away you can give your time or your services or products to those that would benefit from them.
Changing your mindset is key to changing your life. These twelve mindset hacks have helped me grow my business and also realise personal goals, I hope they help you too. May 2017 be your best year yet!

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Meet Natalie

Natalie Stokell is the founder of Placenta Vitality, providing placenta encapsulation on the on the Sunshine Coast. She loves all things mindset and placentas and is happy to chat or answer questions about either.

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