Life Coach Advice

Intentional Path: Sensing Progress

Have you ever set a goal and then not noticed or celebrated that you achieved it?

The day I became debt-free nothing happened. How anti-climactic! I can’t even tell you the exact day it happened. I worked hard for it for years. I wish I had set clearer evidence and a way to celebrate my success.

Would you like to know and enjoy the process of achieving your goals?

At what point will you feel you've succeeded? Maybe you want to "get fit," increase your self-esteem, learn how to meditate, or reach a financial goal.

Learn how to set an intentional path—one of choice, purpose, and satisfaction—that will encourage you to achieve and celebrate your goals:

1. First outline the steps to take to reach your goal. Let’s say, for example, that you want to take a trip. The steps you might take include:
   
   
   • saving money for the trip,
   • planning the itinerary for the trip,
   • packing for the trip, and
   • then going on the trip.
   
   
2. Next develop the evidence you will have when you reach each step.


• How do you know you have enough money for the trip? What evidence do you need to know that you have the money?
• When establishing evidence, consider your five senses. What will it look like? What will it smell like? Taste like? What might it feel like? What could it sound like?
  
  I would love to take a trip to Europe. For me, I want to know that I have enough money tagged for that specific purpose. Sense-based evidence that I have achieved this step might be the confidence I feel in my body when I think about the trip, the look of the numbers that I imagine on my bank statement, and the sound of my partner saying we have enough.
  
  Spend a few minutes imagining what it will be like as an experience to achieve each step. Be specific. Use your senses. The more you put yourself into the sensate experience of achieving your goal, the more likely you will be to achieve it (or foresee obstacles and complications—good to know).


3. Celebrate once you have achieved each step of the goal, even if that simply means calling a friend, jumping up and down, writing in your journal, or noting it here. You know you are making progress. A sense of progress builds momentum.

Continue this process for each step. Establish the evidence that you are making progress toward the goal. Imagine the moment of achieving it. What does it feel like? Use all of your senses. Write it down. Type it into the notes on your SuperViva goal action plans.

What do you have to gain?

There are several benefits of this process:

1. By establishing evidence, you know in clear detail if and when you have achieved the steps of your goal, so it is less overwhelming, more achievable, and more satisfying.
2. By breaking up the process into steps with clear evidence of the outcome, you create an intentional path. Intentional paths lead to satisfaction in having something you want in your way. Gregory Berns, M.D. PhD. in his book, Satisfaction, relates that satisfaction involves challenge and novelty. To feel satisfied, challenge yourself and find your own novel way to rise to the challenge. And revel in the experience, using as many of your senses as you can, throughout the process.
3. The clearer you are about what you need to do, the more naturally everything falls into place. Engage your reticular activating system—the control center in the brain that filters and sorts information, selecting incoming information that is relevant to you. Send your brain to get the specific information you need to achieve your goal. Give it clear directions. Now, what do you want to sort for in your future?

Establish the evidence that you are on your intentional path, and then you can enjoy sensing your progress on the way to your goal.

Certified NLP Coach Jean Russell is a leadership and life coach working with executives, nonprofit leaders, and social entrepreneurs across three continents. Her focus is to help innovative and driven people discover and engage their best self. Through powerful language pattern processes, Jean helps people take satisfaction in their life’s journey and open up to possibility. Her clients say, "Working with Jean is like taking a deep breath."

Jean holds a double bachelors of arts in Philosophy and English where she focused on identity, transformation, and the performance of everyday life. She offers coaching, workshops, and facilitation.