#467 How To Achieve Your Goals Easily

Content provided by Paul Clough. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Paul Clough or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Anxiety to Confidence - The Personal Development Unplugged Podcast »
#467 How To Achieve Your Goals Easily

18h ago 36:09

MP3•Episode home

How To Achieve Your Goals Easily

There's an easier way to achieve your dreams and goals — one that actually feels good and keeps you motivated the whole way through.

In this episode, I share a simple but powerful approach to goal setting that most people miss: starting from the last step — that moment when you've already achieved your goal — and using that feeling to drive you forward. You'll discover how to find your true why, anchor your motivation, and create a plan that's realistic, energising, and deeply aligned with what you want.

And there's more — I'll also guide you through a special hypnosis process designed to connect your conscious and unconscious minds, so the path to your goals becomes effortless and natural.

This isn't about grinding harder or forcing success. It's about feeling your way into it — knowing exactly what success looks and feels like so you can enjoy every step along the way.

In this episode:

The often-overlooked final step that makes all the difference in goal achievement
How to find and anchor your true motivation (your why)
Why traditional goal-setting keeps you stuck and how to flip it
The role of your unconscious mind in creating success
A guided hypnosis process to help you align and take inspired action

Takeaway: When you start from the feeling of already having achieved your goal, and anchor that emotion, everything changes. Obstacles shrink, motivation grows, and the steps become natural.

Listen now — and let's make your goals easier, more joyful, and truly yours. Then let's share it with others

https://personaldevelopmentunplugged.com/467-how-to-achieve-your-goals-easily

Shine Brightly 🌟

Oh! And the video link https://youtu.be/vIAOQUBEzjU

Paul

Hey there! I'd love to hear from you—questions, feedback, requests—all welcome. Drop me a line or leave a comment. If you've enjoyed this episode or any other, please share and subscribe! You can reach me at [email protected].

Subscribe to the Podcast

Ready to subscribe? Click here to explore your options. Or, if you're on Apple Music or iTunes, you can go straight to subscribe or leave a review here.

Special Programs for You

For tools on developing Supreme Inner Confidence, finding Freedom from Anxiety, or specialized Hypnosis Tracks, visit PaulCloughOnline.com.

Free Hypnosis Tracks

Want access to my FREE hypnosis tracks? Head over to paulcloughonline.com/podcast.

Connect with Me

Follow me on Twitter: @pcloughie

Remember: I'm a therapist, but I'm not your therapist. This podcast and any of my online resources are for educational purposes only. Never use the hypnosis tracks or exercises if you're operating machinery, driving, or if you have epilepsy or psychiatric conditions. Always consult a healthcare provider if you're unsure.

Find Us on Other Platforms

Catch the podcast on Spotify, Castbox, iHeart Radio, YouTube, or on our Libsyn page.

Stay tuned, and keep shining brightly. ✨

Music Credits

Music by Wataboi from Pixabay, Music by DreamHeaven from Pixabay, Music by ccjmusic from Pixabay, Music by freegroove from Pixabay, Music by prazkhanal from Pixabay.

And the transcript WARNING if you're a lover of the written word this may make you frustrated, or angry - you have been warned - is it an 'ism

#467 How To Achieve Your Goals Easily

. Hey, welcome to the Lungar podcast. How to achieve your goals the easy way.

And yes, there is an easy way. And if you think about it, everyone talks, gives advice, maybe gives a workshop, give masterclasses in goal setting. And so many just go through the steps.

But some forget that visualisation of the last step. And the last step is not the last step just before you get it. The last step is having already got your goal.

You've achieved it. You're just about to move on. And you see, when you know that that's the step and you have it, so you know the step, you have that step, things just seem so good.

You feel so incredible. You feel so motivated. You feel so confident because you've already achieved it.

It's as if you have already achieved it. And I do this in so many ways in my trainer's training. I had to visualise not getting the certificate because that wasn't it for me.

It was sitting alone on these steps out on the balcony in Santa Cruz University, holding my certificate just by myself saying, Bloody hell Cloughie, we did it. That was my confirmation. And the thing is, the weird thing about that was, when we were given the certificates, someone had forgotten to sign them.

So the certificates didn't actually mean anything. That's so weird. So weird.

But that feeling that I took through the whole of, it was July, a few years ago, but the whole of July, I had that sense, that feeling, Cloughie, we've done it. And that helped me through all sorts of obstacles and things like that. But we just did it.

And that's the one thing that a lot of people forget. They think it's just, imagine you've got the, no, no, think of the very last step to know to guarantee that you've got that step. Because if you think about it, that is your feeling of the why, isn't it? Your why.

Because if it doesn't feel great, then it isn't the right goal. Or you haven't just massaged the goal to be the right goal for you. You've maybe just followed a path that your peers say this is the thing to do or society or whatever it is.

But you get that feeling and you go, yeah, this is it. This is right for me. And that's what it is right for you.

So it becomes your why. Now, some people also, even if they do that, they forget, forget to anchor that feeling. Anchoring is stimulus and response.

So when you feel that feeling of the feeling of the wish fulfilled, that feeling that you've got that goal, you've achieved it, you're about to move on, you get that feeling. Now, when you think when you're about to go through your goal, all the steps to achieve that goal, yeah, you're going to get that feeling, but to fire it at will by firing off an anchor, man, you're motivated. Your unconscious mind goes, this is where we're going.

You're telling your unconscious mind exactly the direction you want to go. And it makes all the steps that you put in front of you easier. And even if there are obstacles, like the hero's journey, you're leaving home, you're moving around different obstacles, mentors come along, all that stuff, that anchor will allow you to go all the way and come back home with that goal completed.

Now, I'm doing a lot of this, but some start at the beginning of a goal. So you've got your goal, you know what you're going to do, we've forgotten about the last step, we've forgotten about the anchoring, but we're just going to do the goal setting. And what's the first step you're going to do? And then they work out all the steps.

Now, problem is, when you start at the beginning, and you slightly go a little bit off to the left, or maybe a little bit to the right, or something distracts you, you're miles off course. And as you go miles off course, you tend to get deflated. This is my thought, this doesn't feel right.

You know, you can think about your goal, but it's not tangible, you can't grip it in your hands, because somehow you've taken a wrong step. So that doesn't work. So let's turn it around.

Some really do get it right. Some really do get it right. And they think of the last step, they get that feeling.

Some might even anchor it. And they don't start at the first step, they start at the very last step. And work back through every step of the way, every step in detail.

So you know exactly what you're going to do. Now, in theory, that's the best thing to do. If this is my last step, what have I got to do just before that step? And what have I got to do just before that step? What have I got to do before that step? And bloody overwhelming, isn't that? That's great.

That is a wonderful way to do it. Ish. I only say ish, because it's my opinion.

That is a better way. If you did those three things, get that feeling, get that why. Maybe anchor it, and then start from the last step.

But that could mean waiting round, or waiting around, because you've got to do all that bloody work from the last step, the step before that step before that step before that. And then it's so overwhelming. It's overwhelming because you think, shit, this is going to take longer than I thought.

This is going to take so much more effort. And sometimes it takes so long to get your foot on the first bloody run of that goal, to make the first step, to make the first movement, that you're disillusioned, you haven't, the motivation's gone and you've forgotten the bloody why now, because you spent so many times all that step there, then I got to do this, then I got to do that, then I got to do this. So there is a different way.

And I think it's a really easy way. It's an easy way to, I think, achieve your goal, but also to enjoy the process. Because if you don't enjoy the process and the actions of the goals, yes, that might be difficult.

But you still got to enjoy and have that feeling of the wish fulfilled, have that feeling of the last step and feel motivated through. Because if you don't, you won't get through the hurdles, the little obstacles in the way. You won't see opportunities.

You won't be able to circumvent them or even find that the goal can be even better. So what's the answer? You're probably saying, what's the answer, Cloughie? I know you are. I'm not going to give it to you.

Yes, I am. Yes, I am. I just made myself laugh that is.

Anyway, so what's the answer? The last step is so critical. It is critical. And sometimes it's difficult to find the last step.

We tend to think the last step is this, but it's actually one more step on. You know, some people, I used to, we used to talk to our therapists, or we used to train therapists in getting their, you know, the programme of getting a lovely life, professional life of being a therapist. And we'd say, you know, what is your last step? When you know you're really, you're supporting yourself.

And they go, my diary is full. My diary is full. Now I know I've got it because I've got a full diary, because at the moment, it's one or two people.

And you go, okay, yeah, fine. That could be a last step. But what if they cancel? What if they cancel? Okay.

What about if I see a check? If I see a check? Okay. Checks are in the old days, by the way. But even if someone puts some money through it, it bounces.

It doesn't come right. They don't commit. Maybe the last step is paying your tax bill.

Because that means you've done the work. You've been paid. And you're celebrating by paying your tax, because you've earned the money that you want.

And the tax bill is the tax bill you want to pay, because it demonstrates how much you've earned. That could be the very last step. Now, to make some people say, oh, I don't want to pay tax.

But if you know that you are contributing, but you know that that would mean that you have earned supporting yourself, and you had a great time doing it. Maybe that's the last step. Okay, so you need to think about that last step to make sure it is the very last step.

Remember what I said about my certificate? It wasn't bloody signed. But it wasn't until I sat by myself and looked at that certificate with the signatures, saying Paul Clough. So if I train a NLP, yeah, we did it Cloughie.

And even that we did it Cloughie is a wonderful. It's just in there all the time with me now. We did it.

So that's important. That is really important. And we also have to think of responsibility.

Again, sometimes we, you see, I can give a sort of guarantee. But the guarantee is, you have to do the will, have the will to do whatever it takes, because you really want it. And it can't be anybody else's.

You can't be doing it for anybody else. It's purely for you. Because that feeling of the wish fulfilled, the feeling of completing is just yours alone.

Remember, it's just yours alone. Yeah, other people get the benefit. But it's yours alone.

So just be honest, and also be honest, how long you're going to take. Now, remember, when we think about how long it will take. Sometimes in the short term, we go, oh, well, we can do this, this and this and this.

And we overestimate what we can do in the short term. But countering that we always overestimate what we could do in the long term. So we have to take into account what we've got to do in our life in the world in the short term.

Because you've got other responsibilities. But also think, well, it's going to take this long, maybe it's going to take six months to get this goal. Well, six months, could I do it in five, honestly do it in five? Or is it over? Is that too tight? Maybe five is doable.

Maybe it's a month. Okay, a month that I've got things to do, but I think, maybe pull it back to three, or is a month too short? Maybe it's five weeks. So just get it right.

Be honest with yourself, look at the stuff you've got going around you, because those will pull against that. We forget, you know, I can do this goal. But you forget you've got other goals, or other responsibilities.

So just look at the responsibilities you've got. Look what time you've got available. And when that time available, how long will it take? And remember, you've got to take a bit of time out, by the way, because you can't do seven days a week for however long.

You need a bit of time to yourself to just relax. Because you need to give yourself the present of just being by yourself sometimes or just going, I'm taking stock of myself, going to do a review, I'm just going to enjoy myself for a day, do nothing. Because that's revitalising yourself.

Maybe just spend the time just thinking of that wish fulfilled, that last step. Now, here's the thing. We don't work from the last step.

We have that, because we've got to anchor it. Because we said that's what people do. That's a good, the good thing to people do.

We look at the last step. The one that we know that guarantees us success. We've got success.

We anchor it. We might even give ourselves a little word, we've got this Cloughie. We've got this.

Or whatever your wholesome would be. It'll come to you. Because we're going to fire that off with every step along the way.

But now we look at where would halfway be? Where would halfway be? What would I have to be achieving at the halfway stage in order for me to get to that goal? Where would the halfway be? Now, sometimes you might go, well, halfway is, that's quite a long way too. Maybe that's three months down the line on a six months contract. Or contract, we talk about Cloughie.

A six months project, a six months goal. So maybe you want to bring it down a little bit. Make it manageable.

Because all these steps want to be manageable, so you can hit them. And when you hit them, you go, yeah, we did that. Well, come on, bring on the next one.

We're moving, we're getting there. We're moving towards what we want. We don't want to go away from stuff we want to move towards with wonderful, a wonderful sense of purpose and success.

So maybe just take four weeks. Where would I have to be in any length of goal in four weeks? Now, obviously, if it's a four week goal, you want to make it in two weeks. Yeah, halfway, because halfway is doable.

But on a longer, longer project, a longer goal, four weeks is manageable. Whatever you do, though, it's got to be halfway if it's less than four weeks, or four weeks, if that's less than half. Because anything can be done in four weeks.

And you can manage four weeks, you can look at what your responsibilities are in four weeks. The things you need to do to make sure when you think of where you have to be in that four weeks, in order for you to get to your goal, it's doable. Because when it's doable, you can commit.

So in that four weeks, you say, okay, what's the very first step? Just before that? So it's like the first step, the very last step, then the very last step before that last bit of that four weeks that I'd have to achieve. Because now you're on just the one before that, and then the one bit just before that. And now you're only working out the steps in four weeks.

Now they're manageable. They're also, you can do it pretty quickly. And you're not, it's not overwhelming, because it's only four weeks.

And if it is overwhelming, bring it even smaller, maybe two weeks, where I would have to be in two weeks in order to get to the four weeks in order to get to the next two weeks after that six weeks. Easy peasy. Easy peasy.

In simplicity, there's genius. And this is so fucking simple. But it means with every step of the way, firing off the anchor, getting that feeling and that word, go through every step, you are going to crush it every two weeks.

Well, every day, if there's a daily part you're going to do, because it's doable. So just break it down into those periods. We're going to visualise the process in a minute.

Because I want you to go through this process. It'll be like visualising a little bit hypnosis, maybe you're going to go into a different place because your eyes will be closed. You'll be visualising, seeing something in your mind, which is, you know, another dimension.

The reason your eyes are closed, by the way, you don't need to. No one needs to close their eyes to visualise. We daydream every daydream day of the week.

But it just takes away the distractions of everything out there. So you can go inside and really give your time to yourself. The reason I want to do it this way is because a lot of goal setting is all consciousness, or using your conscious mind to do everything.

And that's fine. That's fine. But you're not just your conscious mind.

You're your conscious mind and your unconscious mind. And when they work together, boom, absolutely boom, you've got it. So that's why I want to get this, you know, they call it alignment.

Being congruent. Because when you truly believe unconsciously and consciously, this is the thing to do. This is the direction to go.

You get that feeling. You're unstoppable, man. Woman, guy, whoever you are.

Friend. So here's what we're going to do. And I'll explain a little bit of the process first.

And then we'll just do it together. So the first of all, you're going to state your outcome. What the hell is this goal? Be specific.

And I'd like you to, you know, a lot of the times write the buggy, the thing down, get it out your head onto paper, because when it's on paper, it's out your head. And when it's out your head, you can start looking at it, make sure it's exactly the way you want it. So you know what it is specifically, and you always come back to it again.

Then imagine, we're going to imagine the very last step, the step that you know, you've already got it. We're going to feel it. And we're going to feel it with all our senses, which is weird, because you're going to feel it through your sight, your hearing, the sense of smell, taste of success, all of that.

And you really get that feeling. Then we're going to anchor it. And anchoring is just getting a finger and thumb.

And as you get that feeling, you're going to squeeze it. Do it uniquely. So it's not something you would normally do.

And then just do this. Maybe we'll do a little five minute quickie on anchoring, but it's simply that. Just finger and thumb together when you get that feeling.

Because the next time when you want to fire it off, you squeeze that finger and thumb together, say the word that comes to mind. You'll have that feeling again. Then you're going to imagine how long it's going to take.

And then halfway. And if halfway is too long, four weeks. And if it's a short term goal, halfway.

And then we're going to say, well, this is a milestone, but the milestone is this other goal. We're just breaking our goal into mini goals. So what's the last step? So now I've got that.

And then we'll just go back and unconsciously as well. Get your unconscious mind to work out the steps along the way, just before that and just before that. So you can intuit the smaller steps.

The smaller steps are easy to do. They give you confidence because you're winning and winning and winning. And sometimes you say, well, I can do four steps at once.

No, just do four steps on the run. One, two, three, four. You'll get there quicker.

Honestly. And each time you're going to fire off the anchor. And then what we're going to do is, when we open our eyes, we're going to schedule the bloody thing.

We'll imagine scheduling it and then we're going to schedule it. You're going to open your eyes, schedule and commit. Fire off the anchor.

See yourself doing it. Firing off the anchor. And then all you're going to do is repeat the process.

You're going to come back here. So say it was a four weeks period that we did. Coming to the end of that four weeks, you're just going to say, OK, where would I have to be at the end of the next four weeks in order for me to achieve that goal? Then just come back here and do the same process.

After a while, it will be an unconscious process that you'll do like a habit. But you've got this as a support. OK, so it's OK with you.

If it is OK. And it has to be OK, but you do not need anything. Nobody wants your attention.

You're not working machinery, you're not driving, you're not doing anything that needs your conscious attention because you're going to close your eyes. And as you close your eyes, just bring to mind the outcome, the outcome that you desire, the outcome that you're going to plan to succeed in achieving. That's right, just bring it to mind, state it with your internal voice.

You can state it out loud, but if there's people around watching you with your eyes closed and speaking, it might seem a little weird, but weird is good. But just inside state this goal with your inner voice. That's right, breathe it in.

And then imagine floating out into the future. That's right, just imagine floating way over the timeline of your future, just past the end of that goal. And if you were to know now, how would it be knowing that you've just achieved that goal, 100% certainty you've achieved it? Have a look around with your inner side.

What will you see? What will you see knowing that you've got this goal already? What will you think? What will you say to yourself with your internal voice? How will you be speaking to yourself? Maybe notice how you're moving. We've talked about that before, getting the body set and the mindset together. How will you be moving? How will you be breathing when you've got this goal already? Maybe there's a smell and taste in the air of success.

That's right. And when you put that all together, feel the feelings of having got this goal. Really feel them.

And as you feel those feelings, imagine that you could double them now. That's right. And then make them even more intense by doubling them again.

And as you double them again, get that little finger and thumb, squeeze it together gently. And just imagine the word that you'd say to yourself to know that you've got this goal. Because it'll come to you intuitively.

That's right. And as that feeling gets more and more intense, squeeze that finger gently. Have that word be repeated.

And now as you have that, you can let that finger and thumb go. We're going to use it again. Just know that when you do it the next time, you'll be firing off this feeling.

And your unconscious mind can make that feeling even more intense. The moment you squeeze that finger and thumb together and say that word, your own conscious mind can generate this feeling in every cell of your body. That's right.

So now take a lovely in-breath with me. That's right. Then just let it out and drift down.

Just drift a little down into comfort. Now, just imagine that you know, realistically, so it's not an overestimate, it's not too long. How long will this project take? How long will it take you to get to achieving this goal? Yeah.

How long will it take you to get to that very last step? And then, consciously and unconsciously, just as if you know intuitively, where would you have to be at the halfway stage? Because if you got to that place at halfway, you just knew the goal is in sight. Then you could say, well, where would I have to be between now and then, halfway between then, until you come to a place of four weeks? Where would I have to be in four weeks time from now in order for me to know that I can get that goal by this process of every four weeks? And if it's longer, if it's shorter rather than four weeks, where's halfway? Where would I have to be halfway in two weeks in order for me to know that if I got there, that goal is in my touching distance, it's in my grasp, I can feel it. And as you realise this last step of this shorter period now, just imagine you had a movie of you carrying out that work right from now all the way to that last step in four weeks time or however long it is now.

And imagine going to the end and rewinding it so your unconscious mind can notice the smaller steps all the way back to now. And when you're back to now, just ask yourself, what's the very first step that I took now? If I took it now, it would lead to all the next steps to get to that very last step. Intuitively it will come, and you may even see the second and the third.

And as you're thinking of that, hold that finger and thumb together, squeeze it gently, feel the feeling and say that word, the word that you just know that you're going to get it. That's right. Feel the feeling of the wish fulfilled, your why, your purpose, knowing that you cannot be stopped.

That's right. Then let go of that finger and imagine yourself now scheduling this out in your diary or whatever plan you use, scheduling it out so you can think of step by step that will come to you intuitively to get there. And even as you think of that scheduling now, fire, put that finger and thumb together, fire off the anchor and feel the feeling.

Having already got the whole goal and allow it to enthuse all of these smaller steps. And as you feel that feeling, imagine yourself now doing that, doing the steps.

Personal development [self improvement] [self development] [NLP] [Hypnosis]

1077 episodes

#Hypnosis #Personaldevelopment #Selfawareness #Selfdevelopment #Selfimprovement #Mental Health #Fitness #Paul Clough #Motivation #Self-Improvement #Anxiety #Confidence #Fear #Lowselfesteem #Podcasting Education #NLP