To achieve a goal successfully requires you to chant about it and then take action. When you take a step towards a goal, you chant about the first step and then act on the first step. This sequence of chanting first, then taking action, will repeat with each step.
Taking action can be a sticking point if the action is something that makes you nervous or requires courage. Being nervous is feeling shaky, flutters in the stomach. To develop courage means to challenge a deep seated fear and to shift how you see the world and face a problem.
First, Chant
First, chant until you no longer feel so fearful about what you have to do. You will find that you can pull yourself out of a negative life condition, such as anger, depression or anxiety at will, when you chant sincerely about it. If these feelings are habitual you may need to chant longer than usual over time. Keep chanting until you experience the shift into feeling more positive.
Second, Break Up the Goal
Break your goal into bite sized pieces, which, when taken step by step will move you one small step at a time towards your goal. Let’s say you have to write a long report. Set yourself a deadline for the total goal and then break it down into small tasks. For example each small task might be to write write one or two pages. It is much less frightening to face a small task rather than the large overwhelming goal. Then don’t let yourself off the hook for completing each small task in a timely manner. Completing one small task, thereby overcoming one small fear, gives you the courage to take on the next.
Third, Change Your Self-Talk
Mentally we talk to ourselves about anything we are facing. Maybe we are looking at our fears. For example let’s say you are trying to modify your house loan so you can afford the mortgage better. You and your partner were a two income family and one of you was laid off and now has only been able to find a new position at a reduced income.
If you’re really nervous about going in and talking to the bank manager, your self-talk might sound something like this. “He’ll never give it to me; we are going to lose the house. What’s the point of even trying.”
If your self-talk resembles this, it is going to be hard to even walk through the door. What you say to yourself influences how you feel. Fortunately you have control over what you think. So you can deliberately change to more positive self-talk.
For example, “Can we survive the worst that can happen? Yes, we might have to downsize but we won‘t be on the street. Ok, if that’s the worst, it’s not catastrophic. We can handle it. He might well agree to a reduced mortgage payment. We can do this.”
Chant about it seeing yourself with your end goal in mind. You might see yourself shaking hands with the loan officer as you agree on the reduced payment, or see yourself writing out a check for the reduced payment. Seeing the goal as completed can help you gain courage. Then take the action.
Being stuck over something we need to do, and know we are going to have to do, leads to suffering. We worry about it the whole time we resist moving forward. Once we muster the courage and take the action, that suffering changes to relief and sometimes even joy. So it is to our advantage to move ahead quickly and reduce the time of suffering.
Once you sincerely chant about your goal and learn to use these tools to change your mindset in order to take action, then you are well set on the path to happiness.