Why goal setting fails, especially for creatives.

The moment I realized that the first step in success cannot be forced into submission.

Over the last year or so, I’ve come to face the hard realization that anyone who tries to teach you how to be successful is lying. I know, I know — it’s a harsh truth, but I pinky promise it all checks out in the end.

You see, I’ve always been an obnoxious sort of person who has a grand vision for her life. There’s just some little spark in me that tells me there’s something major I’m made to do. And it’s aligned with a career path of sorts.

Now, the messy part is — this grand vision has changed over the years. When I was a kid, it was acting. I needed to be an actress.

As I grew up, something inside me hinted at a speaking career…

For a while, I went ahead and grew a social media following of half a million and started getting featured in major newspapers and magazines. Then I decided to disappear because that was a little too face-forward for my liking.

Now I’m more on the path of writing. (Maybe you guessed that.)

The thing is, I don’t crave these things out of a desire to feed my ego. I know that feeling — and this isn’t it.

No, it’s more of an internal knowing that feels like there’s a rope tied to my heart and I’m being tugged along — urged to follow where it leads.

Maybe you can relate. If you can’t, I honestly kind of envy you.

Are there people out there who just show up and are content with where they are all the time? People who don’t feel this burning urge to accomplish? God, that sounds amazing.

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Finding Life’s Playbook

Me personally? I’ve desperately sought out a playbook to help me find where this internal tug was leading me. If there was something I was meant to do in life, then I was damn sure going to work toward it.

It’s almost like being really, really hungry — but only one particular meal will satisfy.

Since I didn’t know what that meal was, I just figured I could figure it out if I worked hard enough. Of course, I wanted to follow the advice of people who had gone before me. It only makes sense, right?

I started reading books on success and self-help. If there was a free online masterclass, I attended. Then I bought the courses.

When a new goal-setting journal prompt emerged, I dove right into it.

I made the dream boards. I said the mantras. I tried everything.

And it all just made me super fucking anxious.

One thing no one tells you — except me, apparently — is that whether you’re reading a 10X goal-setting book or listening to manifestation meditations, if you’re doing it with the same mindset, you’ll get the same thing: Nothing.

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Let Go and Be Guided

Now, I can’t say this next part is true for everyone, but it holds true for me.

There are three things that lead to success:

1. The intention to make it happen

2. Heart alignment

3. Following the enthusiasm