These insights come from a conversation I just had with one of my Platinum clients.
She shared with me the list of 10 goals she had just set for herself, several of which were revenue goals for her business.
Each goal included a date by which she wanted to achieve it. While she was reading them, she asked a somewhat offhand question about whether the dates were actually necessary.
What’s interesting is, until that moment I wasn’t sure myself. I haven’t had a consistent experience with goals and dates.
But as often happens when a client or friend asks me a question, I was able to channel an answer for her that I’d had a blindspot to seeing for myself.
(Anyone who has witnessed me doing this can tell when I’m tapping into Higher Guidance. My whole energy changes, even the tone of my voice. People who know me have learned to trust what I say in those moments.)
Here’s the answer that we received:
Your goals will manifest as quickly as you believe they will.
In Truth, the Universe will deliver your results to you in proportionate to how strong and clear your “signal” is.
Have you ever had something manifest instantly for you? That’s because in that moment, you were emanating lots of energy, and it wasn’t tainted by fear, worry, and doubt.
But most of the time, especially with something important, the moment you state a desire, you also trigger the fear, worry, and doubt that says you can’t have it. In order to manifest that desire, you’ll need some amount of time – seconds, hours, days, weeks, or months – to outgrow the fear, worry, and doubt.
Sometimes adding a date will extend the manifestation longer than necessary. Other times, adding a date will prevent the manifestation because it’s too soon and you’ve set a goal you don’t believe in.
On the other hand, not having a date might be a bad idea too, especially if you prioritize your life according to deadlines. If your goal has no date, you might never give it the attention it needs.
Let’s work with a concrete example: the first goal on my client’s list, which is to manifest $9,000 by April 30, just over 60 days from now.
I suggested back to her that since she already has a coaching business, 60 dats is a generously long time to manifest $9,000. Not only could she do it sooner, she could do it as soon as February 28 (four days after conversation) if she were willing to do the work.
And that is the key: Are you willing to do whatever it takes to manifest your goal in a faster timeframe?
What do I mean by “the work”? There are two kinds of work required to manifest a goal:
- The vibrational (i.e., emotional) work to align with the goal and what it takes to achieve it. To some people this might be hours of energy work and coaching; to other people, it might be shouting “Just fucking do it!” at themselves in the mirror.
- The actions required to achieve it.
Applying this to our example, any business owner could manifest $9,000 in four days – but they would have to:
a. Create a service or product priced at $9,000.
b. Believe that their offering is worth $9,000 to at least one person.
c. Follow through on whatever ideas come from their inner guidance to connect quickly with potential buyers, even if it’s an action outside their comfort zone. Your inner guidance will always knows the best thing to do – you only need to listen and heed. When it comes to making money, sales calls will often be the best idea, because money comes to you through people, and the best way to connect with people is to initiate the connection yourself.
d. Push through all resistance to what their inner guidance is telling them to do – all fear, worry, doubt, and discomfort. This is how a person grows out of their comfort zone to align with their goal.
e. Repeat c & d until they find the one person who says Yes to buying their offer.
See? Look how simple it is to manifest money. You just have to keep asking for it. As long as you don’t stop, you will find your new customer.
But simple isn’t easy, right? What I just described is damn uncomfortable for many, many people who will read this. Sales calls feel icky to them. Or they let themselves get derailed by other obligations that demand their attention.
When things manifest instantly in your life, it’s because nothing about the goal or how to achieve it felt icky to you. But by logic, those aren’t the things you set goals for, because they manifest before you need to form it into a goal.
Goals, therefore, exist because they require you to stretch outside your comfort zone and reach a new vibration that aligns with the desired result. How much time they need is up to you, and requires self-awareness:
- Do you like to push yourself out of your comfort zone quickly or gently?
- If you choose “quickly,” do you stay outside your comfort zone or freak out and shrink back into it?
- If you choose “gently,” do you ever make it outside your comfort zone, or do you end up giving yourself so much time that you lose focus on the goal and it never happens?
There are no right or wrong answers to any of these question. They are all about knowing yourself.
In my client’s example, setting her goal as April 30 gives her time to ease out of her comfort zone and take the actions she already believes will manifest the money, which in her case is building a new marketing funnel to connect with clients who believe in the value of her work. And since she is satisfied with that timeline and excited by learning new skills for the next two months, that date is perfect for her.
Bottom line, the answer to whether you need dates is, it’s all about how you work with them (and yourself). Does the date align with what you believe you need to grow into the goal? Or is it at risk of being an excuse to back away?
What is your experience with dates vs. no dates? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.