Do you have any goals? And if you do, are you excited about them? Would you say you are moving toward them at warp speed and can feel yourself getting closer every day? Every minute?

If not, then your goals do not motivate you enough, and it may not be the goals themselves. In Part I of this series we discussed the value and importance of setting deeply personal goals. However, this is just part of the goal puzzle, and in and of itself won’t carry you through to achievement.

One reason we sometimes lack motivation and excitement about our goals is simply because much as we want them, we can’t actually see ourselves achieving them. Wouldn’t you agree? There are several solutions to this challenge. Two of my favorites are:

1) Act As If

This in itself can be broken down into two sub-parts, the first of which is visualization. We have all heard this, but how many of us actually take the time regularly to do it? To sit quietly and really focus on how it would feel if we already had whatever it is we want is a significant key to attaining it. Our body, our subconscious mind and the Universe itself responds to our thoughts. I will not delve into thought vibration here, but this is the Law of Attraction in action! Acting as if as you go throughout your day is the second part. Now that you have created the feeling of having your goal already, try and retain it as you go throughout your daily life. As you change how you are being the world will begin to respond to you differently. Can you see that if you practiced these two steps daily – visualize each morning and act as if all day – you would create momentum towards your goals?

2) Find Role Models

We cannot always see clearly from here to there – that is part of the reason why we are not there yet! In the meantime, we can keep our eyes on the prize by finding people who have already accomplished what it is we are after. The benefits are twofold: not only can we show our stubborn little brains that what we want is indeed possible and therefore be more easily able to picture ourselves accomplishing it, we can also learn from just watching and possibly being around people who are where we want to be. Just knowing that others have traveled this road can be the inspiration we need to take our goals seriously.

TIP: If your goals are financial, you may also enjoy:

• The instantly downloadable e-book 30 Days to Wealth
• The no-holds-barred financial blog Women and Money
• The Finance Book Reviews blog

If not, why not?

I’ll tell you why not…you have no goals! Or if you do, they are not potent enough to keep you enthusiastic, let alone accomplish them.

There are many articles out there on how to accomplish your goals, but the truth is that unless you are feeling passionate and excited about what you want to achieve, your list of ‘goals’ will fall by the wayside like every other list you’ve made over the years.

Take heart, and remember: the past does NOT have to equal the future.

Just because you have felt frustrated, or hopeless, or even emotionless when it has come to goals in the past, there ARE ways to create and achieve goals that inspire you to new heights of happiness and excitement.

Resource: Try the Most Popular Goalsetting Software on the Internet!

First things first for today:

Goals must spring from deep within you…they cannot be ‘given’ to you, nor can anyone else suggest what will make you feel alive and excited.

You’ve already tried that route, right? So why not try THIS one: throw all the expectations out the window, just for a few moments, and daydream for a second about what you would do if you could do ANYTHING, ANYWHERE, right now and in the next year. Write those inspirations down, and notice the little jolt of excitement you feel.

Now imagine having a list of things that make you feel this same excitement on a much bigger and varied scale…and also having small action steps that allow you to feel that you are not only working towards these things, but that you WILL actually accomplish them in your lifetime.

Now THAT’S motivation!

Motivation is excitement and stamina that comes from within, not from without…and willpower has nothing to do with it.

Click here for Part II

We – humans – are a lot like that. We are very complex (although we act quite simple at times – ! – ) and it takes a web of beliefs and actions to accomplish what we desire. As we learn and progress towards a goal we’ve set, we often come across layers of emotion which act as obstacles. We may not have realized we even has such thoughts or feelings buried inside, and we must explore and dissolve them in order to move past them.

With the pursuit of a goal, like the building of a computer program or website, there are specific requirements for success.There is a certain skillset and there are very specific tasks which need to be undertaken to create the desired end result. We also need patience and persistence, without which we may give up at the first sign of frustration or boredom. We may even need the help of someone who knows a little more about the subject than we do, to overcome any hurdles we come across. Not only can we then complete our project, but we also learn more so that next time we can do an even better job because our knowledge base has expanded.

It is the same with life. When we want to achieve something, there are things we need – people, skills, advice, mindset – necessary for the desired end to be met. Sometimes we have most of the pieces in place, and we can draw on the wisdom of someone who has been there – an expert. Sometimes there is just one little thing missing, and we think we are far from the goal we’ve been pursuing but in fact we are very, very close. A small but key piece of advice or a change in perspective can often be all it takes – the thing that was missing – for us to suddenly have the light bulb go on; to finally get where we wanted to be.

If you have been striving for something and feeling frustration in not ‘getting there,’ perhaps it’s time for something to change. If the saying ‘garbage in, garbage out’ has any truth to it, it could be that you are only missing one small bit of the combination of things it requires to achieve your goal. Begin exploring and changing things one by one – your mindset, a habit, the reasons for wanting what you want, the people you are drawing on for advice – and see if you can’t create that magic moment when everything suddenly falls into place. As another popular saying goes, ‘You can’t continue doing what you’ve always done and expect to get different results.’