I have, in the past been an avid reader of ‘self improvement’ material – books, Websites, blogs, forums – and have spent many hours (and also some money!) on reading, trying different ‘self improvement’ strategies, setting goals, monitoring progress, and so on.

I’m not knocking any of this – better to try to improve yourself than sit around moaning and telling the same old sob story about your life like a broken record year after year, justifying why you can’t get out of your rut. If ‘self improvement’ and goal setting inspires you, energizes you and makes you feel good about yourself, then I have nothing against any of it.

But I do want to suggest that there is a better way to live. There is a way of living the life that you truly desire (isn’t this what ‘self improvement’ is all about, after all?) that does not rely on setting goals, working hard and being disciplined – well, not in the usual sense, anyway. It’s all to do with how the Law of Attraction works.

The problem lies with what we usually mean by a ‘goal.’ When you set a goal, you are setting up a future image of what you want a part of your experience to be. The difference between this ‘ideal’ future situation and your present situation can set up a feeling of discord and, while you might think that this ought to motivate you to take action, in fact it is creating a negative vibration which is going to attract into your life the very opposite of what you want.

For example, suppose you want to lose a few pounds. Constant thoughts about how far away you are from your ideal weight will make you feel bad, and this bad feeling is a sure sign that you are on the wrong track. Remember that your feelings are your guidance system, so when your goals are making you feel bad (which, I think, they often do), then they are not serving you. This is something we need to remember about the Law of Attraction.

So I would suggest that you need to redefine what you mean by ‘goals’ and start seeing them in a different way. Instead of creating an image of your future self and then making an effort to turn this image into a reality, simply dwell on the experience you want to create (such as being a certain weight, having a certain body shape, or whatever) in a way that makes you feel good. This good feeling is a sign that you have set up vibrations which are congruent with what you truly desire.

When you are coming from a place of happiness, then every action you take will be leading you towards your ‘goal,’ the achievement of which will be, in a sense, effortless.

There are several ways to help yourself create this good feeling.

Firstly, ask yourself why you want to have the experience you wish to create. So instead of worrying about how many times a week you need to go to the gym, how many calories you have eaten today, and so on, keep telling yourself why you want to be slimmer – I want to be healthy, to be agile and more alert; I want to enjoy wearing certain clothes I have; I want to feel great about myself. Focusing on the why instead of the how will bring you greater happiness and bring you closer to the experience you want to create.

Secondly, try to experience something of your intention right now. Try to find something of that feeling right where you are. A wonderful way of doing this is to be grateful, and this is why gratitude is so important. If you want to manifest more money, dwell on the money you do have, walk around with money in your purse or wallet, be grateful that you have enough money to eat, to provide a roof over your head. If you want a new job, be grateful that you have a job, find bits of your job that you love and dwell on them. If you want to be healthier or lose weight, dwell on the fact that you are able to choose your own meals and exercise when you want, that you can walk, you can breathe, you have friends or a partner who accept you as you are. You get the idea!

Focusing on the good instead of dwelling on the negative aspects of a situation is what Abraham calls pivoting, and with goal setting, this involves changing your perspective so that the ‘goal’ becomes a source of positive vibrations instead of a stumbling block which constantly makes you feel bad. You can leverage the Law of Attraction to your very great good by remembering that feeling good is the key to success.