Goal setting vs manifestation

You may have heard me talk about two seemingly very different concepts here on the podcast. Firstly, goal setting. Setting financial targets, and setting objectives and KPIs for yourself in business. And on the flip side, I talk about the concept of manifestation. So, if you’ve ever wondered how these two concepts tie together, in today’s episode I’m going to be diving into exactly how I believe the two marry perfectly together. Hope you enjoy.

Hello and welcome to The Clare Wood Podcast, where myself and incredible guests share about money mindset, financial successes, and how to manage your money in a fun and practical way to create wealth and abundance in both your business and your life. I’m your host, Claire Wood, I’m a business coach and a money mentor. I strongly believe that money has the power to positively change the world. I can’t wait to help you transform your mindset around money, create a love of numbers, and build the business of your dreams so you can live a life of financial freedom, giving, and global impact.

Someone recently asked me, “How exactly do you go about goal-setting when part of the principle of manifestation is letting go of what it is that you desire?” So, I’m going to dive into what goal setting is, what manifestation is, how they’re different and what I believe you should do if you miss an “goal”.

What is goal setting and how do you do it

First and foremost, what is goal setting? Goal setting is setting milestones for yourself that you want to achieve in your business. Particularly in this space of goal setting, I am a big fan of setting financial targets for yourself, both on an annual basis and a monthly basis. And if you’re really keen, looking forward a couple of years as well. At an absolute minimum, I encourage people to set a sales target and a profit target for at least the one month ahead.

You can of course set goals in other areas of your business too. Something else that I like to do is encourage my clients to set KPIs or key performance indicators. These are the things that sit underneath those big targets and they indicate if you are on track towards that goal. For example, if you’ve set yourself a financial target, sitting underneath that might be having a certain number of followers on Instagram or having a certain amount of subscribers on your email list. These will indicate whether you are on track to the bigger goal that you are chasing. Goals, of course, don’t always have to be financial. A goal that you might set for yourself in business is working less hours and having more freedom and time to spend with your family. So, a key performance indicator underneath that goal might be how many days a week are you working, or how many nights a week are you not picking up the laptop.

And by the way, if one of your goals is to be working less hours without compromising how much you were earning in your business, make sure you check out my workshop that is coming up soon, called More Money, Less Work. The details are at the end of this episode, or there’s a link to register in the show notes for today. Because in that workshop, I’ll be sharing all of my favorite hacks to support you towards that goal if it is something that you desire.

Getting back to goal setting. To me, goal setting are targets that you want to achieve, usually they are quite tangible, things that you can measure. And usually we set goals as something that we want to achieve at a certain point in time.

What is manifestation and how it differs from goal setting

So what is manifestation in comparison to goal-setting? Manifestation is the principle of bringing things that you desire into your life through the power of your mind, through visualizing something that you really desire and starting to create that thing in your life. Manifestation is actually a tool that you can use to achieve the goals that you desire.

Let’s just say that you’ve set yourself a goal. You’ve got super clear about what it is that you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it. You know exactly what it looks like. You visualize it, you dream about it, you take inspired action, all of those incredible manifestation steps that I’ve shared with you many times before here on the podcast. And the thing that you desire doesn’t happen at the time that you want it to come to fruition. Does this mean manifestation is all a farce? Or does it mean that goal setting is a total waste of time? I think absolutely not either of those things. I now think of goals as things that you desire, things that you want at a particular point in time. And yes, of course, we want to get specific about the goal that we want. We want to get really, really clear about what it looks like and when we want to achieve it.

How to deal with a goal that doesn’t happen

In the process of moving closer to a goal, we visualize it, we manifest it, we really think about how amazing it would feel to get that goal. However, I think it can be dangerous to get too caught up on a very specific goal. And why is that? Because sometimes the goal we think that we want isn’t actually what we truly desire or need. So, when you set goals, what you can do is say, “This is the thing that I really, really want at this point in time and I’m open to this or better.” The concept of this or better is that if you don’t achieve the goal that you desire in exactly the form that you desire it in the timeframe that you desire, it might be for a reason. There is probably something better coming your way. Let me give you an example of how this has played out in my life.

When I was single, I was super clear about the kind of guy that I was after. He’d be tall, have dark hair, be very funny, handsome, and of course have a very impressive job. I actually ended up with a guy who ticked all of those boxes. My ex ticked every box on my list of things that I thought that I wanted in a partner. Things between him and myself didn’t work out, but around the corner or someone who probably didn’t meet any of my criteria on paper, but is a much better fit for me. And I’m talking of course about my husband who I’m with now. So, sometimes we can think that we really, really want something and either we get there and it’s not quite right, or we don’t get there at all and we can feel really confused or upset. But when you really trust the process, you can be confident that something even better is around the corner.

Let me share another example of how this has played out in my life. You guys might remember that a while ago, I recorded an episode about how I manifested my dream house. It was perfect in the exact right location. It had a pool, it was by the water and it ticked so many boxes. We put in an offer. It was accepted. And I don’t think I’ve shared this yet on the podcast, but we didn’t actually end up getting the house in the end. Was I heartbroken? No, not really. And the reason for that is because I feel so, so close to that goal now that it feels like it’s almost done. The fact that I even got that far in the process means that I don’t have to stress because I know that the right dream house is very close.

So sometimes when things don’t come to fruition, it’s because something better is coming along, or there was a reason that what we wanted didn’t come to us at that exact point in time. I can already see why the “dream house” didn’t happen for us at that point in time. The reason for that is if we had got the house, it would have tied up pretty much all of our money. And the fact that it didn’t go ahead means that I’ve been able to invest heavily back into my business. I’m working with a private business coach now. I’ve hired a new team member and I’m getting a brand new brand. I’m getting a new brand and a website. So definitely watch this space. I can’t wait to share it.

I’m also writing a book, which again requires a financial investment that I likely wouldn’t have been able to do if we had gotten the house. I know that an even better house is on its way and I’ve now been able to invest into growing my business, which will deliver me an ever-growing income stream that will afford me not only my dream house, but much more.

So can you see how something that didn’t quite come to fruition at that point in time is already leading me closer to something even better? When you are really aligned to your deepest desires and you have an unshakable faith that the life and things that you want in your life are coming your way, you can let go of the fear around missing a particular goal, or missing a particular target that you were chasing, or missing a particular thing that you’re wanting to bring into your life at a particular point in time, because you can live in a space of faith that the thing or the life you desire is coming your way.

Believing is the first step in achieving. So I truly believe that you should set goals and set smart goals in your business. But, when we’re going to marry together the concepts of manifestation and goal setting, the goals are there, but we can let go of how it gets delivered. The thing that we desire might be coming to us in a different way, a different format or on a different schedule. And that’s okay. Our only role is to trust and keep doing the work on our mindset. I do realize that these concepts can feel like such a paradox, but then, so much in business and in life is.

I mentioned a little earlier in the episode about my upcoming live training that I am doing. This is a full 90-minute immersive session where I’ll be teaching both practical and mindset strategies about how you can make more money in your business with less work. This training is exclusively for six figure business owners only I’m afraid because I believe this is the stage of business that this training will be most relevant to. If you would like to sign up, I would love to teach you all of my favorite concepts in this space. So you can register via the show notes in today’s episode. And just a reminder, the workshop is happening on the 26th of May 2021.

So to sum up today, there is so much importance and power in setting goals in your business. When there is something that you really want to bring into fruition, doing the work on your money mindset and working through the concepts of manifestation bring the thing that you desire towards you. However, you can still be moving forward closer to your ultimate desire without having the thing that you want delivered in the timeframe or in the form that you want it. And this is where we can let go and trust that these or better is coming your way when you keep the faith. Thank you so much for tuning into today’s episode. And I trust that everything you desire is coming your way.

Thanks so much for listening. If you love this episode, please share it with your audience. And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram, @clare_wood_coach. Also, make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Have an abundant week. And I look forward to talking to you again next week.