2. How to Hit Any Goal
Every single day, I work on my belief that I’m the kind of person that can hit ANY goal I set myself.
It’s how I do things like 50 push ups in a row and blogging for two years in a row.
Because I genuinely believe I can do them, before I've done them.
Listen to this episode to find out the three questions I answer every day that have helped me hit goals I once thought were impossible.
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Hey, it's Sarah Arnold-Hall, and you're listening to How to Take Action.
Today we're gonna talk about how to hit any goal you set, and we're gonna talk about it through the lens of identity, because your identity, who you believe you are, is the most important aspect of goal getting. Hands down, 100%, it is the most important thing that you have in your toolbox, and I'm gonna share with you the three questions that have made the biggest difference in my life in going after my goals, and how I started to really understand how to hit a goal, no matter what goal I put in front of myself, whether it felt totally realistic or completely impossible.
And so I'm gonna dive straight into these three questions and I'm gonna explain them along the way.
So, The first question that I ask myself every single day, and mind you, I ask myself these questions, it could be in the shower or it could be when I first wake up. It could be in a conversation. Sometimes I journal on them, but I ask myself these questions whenever I'm going after a goal, which is always, so I'm always asking myself these questions. So the first one is, what result do I want? And the reason that it's so important for us to think about that answer every single day is so that we're constantly aligned with where we want to go.
Because it is so easy to start taking a ton of action just in your day without it actually being aligned with exactly where you want to be headed. So knowing when I ask myself, what result do I want? , I get to align myself for that day or for that year or for whatever time period I'm kind of asking this for.
And sometimes I change my answer to that question. So it might be that today I'm going after a health and fitness goal, and tomorrow I'm going after a business goal, and that's my focus for the day. So I will always just pick one result. What result do I want? What end result do I. So that's number one.
Before I tell you what number two is, I want you to think about what we usually ask ourselves once we know our result. We would usually think, "Okay, now what do I need to do?" But the problem with asking that question is you could put in all the effort all the time, put in a ton of action, and still not be achieving the result that you want because you'd be taking action from the current version of you. The version of you that doesn't know how to achieve it, the version of you that hasn't already achieved it, the version of you that doesn't have your goal. So you're gonna be always be at a disadvantage if you're asking yourself, as the second question, "what do I need to do?"
Really, the most valuable second question you can ask yourself, and this is the second question is "who do I need to be to create this result?" And when you're asking that , that question to yourself, what you're really doing is asking, what is the future version of me like?
Who is that version, the one who's already achieved this goal? What are they, like, what kind of qualities do they have? Who are they? So you could answer this question. Who do I need to be is confident or who do I need to be is bold, or something like that, or calm. But I love to answer the question just to kind of give it a bit more clarity within this, with an actual person.
So I will think of somebody that I want to be, who I think could totally smash this goal. So for example, it's so often for me is Elle Woods, the character Elle Woods. Who do I need to be? It's Elle Woods. Of course, Elle Woods would be able to hit my goal. So now I've got a really clear image of who it is that I need to be.
The third question is now, now that I already am that person, now that they're already within me because I possess all the same qualities that Elle Woods has inside me. They may not be coming up, but they're all inside .Now that I already am that person, what do I do? What do I wear? What do I say? What do I eat? What do I drive? How do I get dressed in the morning? What do I have for breakfast? How do I respond to requests today?
Only once I have figured out who it is that I need to be and imagine myself as that person do I start thinking about or what it is that I need to do. And that way I'm always taking action from a version of who actually has achieved the goal. From a version of me who knows exactly what to do instead of taking action from the current me, which is tired, or the current me who's tired and exhausted and doesn't really know what I'm doing. If I think about, well, what my future self do, my answers are completely different.
So to recap the questions, what result do I want? Who do I need to be to create that result? And now that I already am that person, What do I do? Eat, say, wear, believe. And then your job, once you've done that, is to actually go and execute on those things and take your day as if you are that person.
There's this actress and coach, and her name is Jacqueline Gates, and she has an amazing way of looking at this. So she says that when you decide your goal, when you know what result you want, It's like you've auditioned for a part and you've got it. They've said, "yep, the part's yours." Now it's your job to learn the lines and do the costume changes and create the set around you until it all just falls together, and then one day you realize you are that person. You're not even pretending to be them anymore.
So it's sort of like this whole framework idea of the three questions that you need to ask yourself, it's kind of like you're a method acting your way to your goal.
So instead of just trying to do it from the current version of you who totally has no idea what they're doing, you wanna step into the version of you who already knows what they're doing, and you have to practice their lines. How do they talk? How do they walk? What do they eat in the morning? What are they saying? What are they, how do they respond to a request? What do they do if somebody comes in and like asks them to do something, when they plan to do something else that day. How do they approach people if they need to make calls or emails or meet people in the street?
How do they solve problems? What do they have around them? What kind of clothes do they put on? You're creating this entire world of method acting your way into your goal. For acting they call that getting into character, and in real life we just call it shifting your identity. So your job is to shift your identity from the version of you that you are right now to the version of you who already has your goal before you have it. And it's really important that you make the shift beforehand because otherwise you will always be chasing to catch up to your goal.
In order to get from where you are right now to where you wanna be, you have to be the person that is already where you wanna be. You have to embody them. And then once you're embodying them, the rest of it all comes automatically. You know exactly what to do, what to say, how to achieve the goal, the how very quickly comes into place.
So I wanna give you a couple of examples of what I'm talking about because I think it's gonna make a lot more sense.
So, One result that I really badly wanted in my life that really did feel impossible at the time was to enjoy flying. In 2019, and for 10 years previous to that, I hated flying. I hated it with all of my guts. I was terrified constantly that something was gonna go wrong and that the plane would crash and we'll die. Like, I don't know where this came into my head, cause when I was a kid I was absolutely fine. But there was some point in my life where I must have been on a scary flight and instead of thinking the thought, "oh that was a scary flight," I had the thought and the belief "I am someone who's afraid of flying," and I took it on as an identity.
It became part of who I am as a person. I played the character of scared, freaked out person on the plane really well. I would grip the seats. I would be constantly on the lookout for any signs of danger. Like, did that person look really dodgy? What's in their bag? Did you see that like noise go off and like, oh, the noises, oh my goodness. They were the worst.
Until I discovered that I could do this and I could shift my identity. And so one day I figured out, okay, what if I just myth act my way into being a person who enjoys flying? And I'm gonna get on this flight today, and I'm going to pretend that I am someone who loves flying. And so I asked myself, okay, first of all, what result do I want? I want to not be, I wanna enjoy flying. Who do I need to be to create that result? At the time I chose Miley Cyrus, she just seemed like somebody who would be super chill on a plane and just, she probably flies everywhere, all over the world all the time.
So I was like, okay, now that I'm Miley, What do I do now that I already am her? Cause I have all the qualities that she has. Maybe I'm not such as a great singer as she is, but in terms of air transport, I think I have all the qualities that she possesses within air transport. And so I asked myself, well, how would she walk onto the plane?
And I walked onto the plane the way that I thought Miley would walk on the plane, and I asked myself, "What movie would she watch?" "What would she think when the plane was taking off?" "What would she order from the snacks cart?" "How would she sit in her seat?" "What did she think about the destination that she was going to?" "How did she speak to the stranger who was sitting next to her? Did she speak to them at all?" And I just started acting into it.
And instead of being scared, that whole. I had the best time and I couldn't believe it. I didn't feel any fear the entire time because I was purely stepping into the version of myself that had already let go of my fear of flying.
All of the qualities that I was perceiving in Miley Cyrus, right, they were already within me, but, I found it really easy to take somebody else's character or their identity as like to personify and make it really clear exactly what it is that I needed to do. And so I realized I can enjoy flying and eventually now I don't need to pretend that I'm anybody else. I can actually just walk onto a plane and enjoy it because I know that I love flying because I've made that part of who I am now. My identity is I am a person who loves flying.
Okay, so you might be thinking. That's cool, Sarah, but like that's not really a goal. That's just like a fear that you overcame.
So I wanna share with you an another example of when I went after a crazy goal. A couple years ago, I wanted to get into this prestigious Mastermind. And the Mastermind was outrageously expensive, like so much money. And you had to have already earned a certain amount of money to get into the Mastermind. So they wouldn't take people who were just beginners in their business, they would only take people who had earned a certain threshold of money. And, I so badly wanted to be in it, but I was nowhere near the threshold. And so in my mind I thought, okay, I'll wait till next year. Maybe in like the following year, maybe that's when I'll be able to get there.
And then I started watching Michael Jordan's documentary on Netflix. It's called The Last Dance, and if you haven't seen it, you have to see it because it's totally amazing. And I had the thought, Michael Jordan wouldn't wait for another year before he tried to get into this mastermind. If he was in my shoes, he would totally go after it right now.
And so I asked myself, what result do I want? I wanna get into the Mastermind. Who do I need to be Michael Jordan? Now that I already am Michael Jordan, what do I believe? What do I do? I started acting like Michael Jordan. Every second of my day, I was so disciplined. I have never had a period of my life where I've been so incredibly disciplined.
I would stay up late, I would get up early. I would do whatever it took to create more income in my business. So I needed to create about 16 more clients in the space of two months if I was gonna get into this mastermind. And I remember thinking that it was a crazy goal, like insane number of people to create. Like, I had only worked with maybe like five people the whole year, and it was August, and I was like, okay, I'm going to go after this goal like crazy, like I'm Michael Jordan.
So I actually have my actual thoughts in a note on my computer here that I'm gonna read to you of the exact thoughts that I was thinking at the time.
Like I would write them out and I would think them, and I would find evidence for them for why they were true, and I would completely believe them. This is the thought, the particular thoughts that I had. Because I'd ask, answered the question, what result do I want? I wanna get into the Mastermind. Who do I need to be? Michael Jordan. Now that I already am Michael Jordan, what do I believe? These are the exact thoughts. Okay.
"I am Michael Jordan. I was born for this. I know exactly what to do. I'll do whatever it takes. It's working. Clients are here. It's already done. The second I decide it's done, it's already done."
That is what I was thinking over and over and over. I was born for this. I know exactly what to do. Anytime something would come up, an obstacle, I'd be like, I was born for this. I knew exactly what to do to solve this. Even if I felt like I didn't, I'd be like, I know exactly what to do and here's why. And I would find evidence for why that was true. I believed wholeheartedly in these beliefs because I thought if Michael Jordan would believe them, then I'm going to believe them, because now I'm stepping into being him. I am stepping into the character, the identity of being Michael Jordan.
And then the other parts of that question, the third question are, well, what do I do? What do I eat? What do I wear? I would get up earlier in the morning than I ever have. My alarm would go off in the morning and I would just get up. The first thought that would come into my head would be like, I'm too tired. And then I remember that I was being Michael Jordan, and instantly I'd have the thought, Michael Jordan would do it.
He would get up and I got up. It's almost like it took no energy from me at all because I would just step into being that Michael Jordan version of me, and then it would, I would just be compelled into taking the action that I needed to take, and I was so clear on what actions I needed to take inside my business. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I had it all mapped out. I knew what live streams I was gonna do. I knew what posts I was gonna make, I knew who, which people I needed to connect with. I grew in my Facebook group by thousands of people in a really short amount of time, just from stepping into this space of being Michael Jordan.
And in the end, I signed 16 clients in two months, and I got into the Mastermind a year before I thought I could. This is the version of me who a year before that, didn't even know how to create like three clients in a year. And now I could create 16 clients. I signed 10 clients in one month during that two month period. So I did like six in one month and then 10 the next month, 10 clients in one month, which for me was insane at the time. Absolutely insane.
And I got into the Mastermind. And I remember being on fire, not for getting into the Mastermind, but just for thinking "I know how to hit any goal I set from now on." It felt like I had like the magic. Actually, this is another one of my favorite thoughts that I remember thinking at the time, is I am my own magic pill.
That is one of my favorite thoughts, cause I think so often I'm looking for like a magic pill outside of myself looking for the next thing that's gonna solve it and like searching for something on YouTube or Googling it or doing whatever. I am my own magic pill. I know exactly what to do.
These thoughts would never have come to me if I was taking action from the version of me that I had always been taking action from. I had spent years in my business, two years in my business. I spent only doing it part-time because I couldn't afford to do it full-time. I wasn't creating enough clients. Then suddenly I step into being Michael Jordan, and then from that moment on, I had always had a full-time business. And since then, for like the last two years, I've always had a full-time business and now it's a six figure business because I was completely convinced into the energy of the person that I needed to be, and I wasn't taking action from the version of me who had no idea what to do. I was taking action from the version of me who knew exactly what to do and how to hit the goal, and I did.
So I want you to ask yourself right now, what result do I want? Who do I need to be to create that result? And now that I already am that person, what do I believe? What do I do? What do I wear? What do I say? How do I respond to things? And I want you to method, act your way around your day every single day into that goal.
Just like Jacqueline Gates says, you're gonna create the set around you. You can actually move things in your house. How would like Michael Jordan do the dishes? How would Elle Woods handle this and that? How would Oprah do this? How would the confident version of me do this? How would my million dollar self handle this issue that I'm facing right now? What would she do or he do if they were in my position? Right?
That is your job every single day to ask yourself those questions. And once you've done that, once you know how to do that, you are set. You will always be able to hit your goals. There's gonna be times, right, of course, where you don't hit them in the exact timeframe that you're expecting. But if you follow this method, I am seriously convinced that there is not a goal that you cannot hit if you do this.
So, That's it. That's the second episode, and I look forward to talking with you in the next one.
Hey, if you enjoyed listening to this podcast, you're gonna love being coached by me. We're gonna solve your specific action taking struggles so you can hit any goal you set.
Just go to saraharnoldhall.com to sign up.
