“The man who really wants to do something finds a way; the other man finds an excuse.”- E.C. McKenzie

Everyone can achieve her dreams and goals. Period. However, if it were easy you would see a world full of happy people emanating the radiance that can only come from a life that is completely fulfilling. And clearly that is not the case. I know people with passion who know “what” they want to do but are missing pieces of “how” to get there. I know people who know what they want to do but currently lack the passion or motivation to do it. Then there is the person who knows that she wants something she doesn’t currently have – a new career or job, the right partner, her own business or something else but has not identified the details of what or who just yet.

Here's your no-fail recipe for achieving what you dream of:

Ingredients:

1 Clearly Identified Goal

1 Rock Solid Action Plan

1 Ready-to- Achieve Mindset

1 Entire Package of Motivation (the biggest box or can of it you can find!)

1 Support System

1 Accountability Coach

1 Person who is unwilling to spend another year without achieving their dreams and goals

Dash of Passion

Several Dashes of Perseverance

The ingredients above will get the results you see in your dreams. It isn’t easy but it will be exhilarating. I promise. You are worth the work! So let’s dive in.

Method:

1. Clearly Identified Goal.

Start with one goal, two goals maximum at first. Once you have successfully tested the recipe feel free to apply it to every goal and dream- a dream is a goal before you have created the plan to achieve it. Identifying your goal may involve excavating and narrowing multiple goals down to the most important one with which to begin. The goal to start with is often the one that you feel the most energy, emotion, passion and power around. This is the goal that you know you can’t get to the end of your life and not have achieved it.

2. Rock Solid Action Plan

The action plan with specific steps is essential. You have to write it down and live by it. You can revise it as you would a business plan but you have to create it. This plan will help you identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to this goal. The plan will help you reframe obstacles into manageable bits, and it will help you identify deadlines for achieving this goal and each step to take as you go. You will update it as you work through the process and learn new information. The plan is the nuts and bolts without the emotions and passion.

3. The Ready-to-Achieve Mindset (RAM)

The ready-to-achieve mindset means that you have let go of the excuses that keep you from proceeding. Obstacles are really just the perception of problems that we use as excuses to not achieve what we really want. If you’re stuck on the obstacles and excuses you are benefitting from them more than you would benefit from achievement. You will know when the time is right and feel the shift if you are not there already. When you are in the RAM you will plow forward.

4. Motivation

Assuming you are in the RAM, motivation can do its job to get you to persist and lay down good, achievable steps in your action plan. Motivation will not allow you to be discouraged for long when something doesn’t go the way you thought it would or doesn’t happen as fast as you thought it would. Motivation will remind you to use your mental “delete” button when fear and doubt creep in. Motivation will propel you past frustration and exhaustion.

5. The Support System

A good support system is necessary to achieve your goals. You may be naturally achievement oriented but no one can persist long-term without having someone cheering you on. The more people the better. Beware that family and friends may not be your best support system. They may have their own agenda and expectations about what you do, who you are in a relationship with, how much money you need to earn, how much risk you take, or how their life will change if you are successful. They may not be able to see your vision. You getting closer to achieving your dreams and goals may invoke envy rather than support on the part of some of those closest to you. A good support person will be your cheerleader because they genuinely believe you can do anything you put your mind to and that you are already have what it takes. Your support person will listen to your dream, your vision, your action plan and your doubts and fears (over and over again!) and still encourage you to keep going and to let them know what happens next. This person or people can literally be the difference between you succeeding or quitting even temporarily. This person could be someone you are paying such as a life coach or someone who is in your world already- a family member, friend or partner- but remember my caution about that.

6. Accountability Coach

A good accountability coach checks in with you weekly or biweekly to see where you are in your action plan. This person will want to know what you have achieved, what is working well and what isn’t. A great accountability coach will inspire you to want to tell her about more successes and it’s also someone with whom to brainstorm issues and facilitate you coming up with the optimal solution. It’s almost impossible to do this for yourself and likely that you will be less motivated to steps if you are only accountable to you. And you will believe the excuses you tell yourself about why you have not taken any steps in two weeks- an accountability coach will help you see these are excuses sabotaging your dream! An accountability coach will hold you responsible for achieving your goals, helping to facilitate the process, and will also believe 100% in your ability to succeed without bringing any baggage to the process.

7. Determination

The Person who is unwilling to spend another year without achieving or making huge progress toward her big dream or goal. This is YOU! Every day matters, your dream matters, you matter.

Top it all off with a dash of passion and several dashes of perseverance. There will be leaps forward and steps backward. You will write the plan and revise it. You will get a bigger, better picture of who you really are and what you can do. You will approach achievement with clarity of vision, tireless excavation, skilled planning, and action, action and more action. I believe you can achieve anything and everything you really want to achieve. Here is the recipe. Revel in the exhilaration that can only come from achieving something that really matters to your soul.

There is nothing sweeter, I promise.