by Jack Canfield: If you’re familiar with my work, you know I’m a huge believer in the Law of Attraction…
After all, I was featured in the ground-breaking movie, The Secret, which introduced the world to the Law of Attraction in a massive way. I’ve also written several books about it and it features prominently in The Success Principles and other programs I’ve created.
But over the years, I’ve come to realize that many people have misunderstood what the Law of Attraction is all about.
They think that all they have to do to create the life of their dreams is visualize what they want – and everything they desire will just naturally flow to them.
That’s not exactly how it works…
There’s something missing from this equation – and without it, no matter how much time and effort you put into visualizing your success, all you’ll ever be is a person with a dream.
In order to unleash the full power of the Law of Attraction and make your dreams come true, there’s one key ingredient you absolutely must integrate into your life: ACTION.
That’s right – once you have done the important inner work necessary to get clear on what you really want in life, you have to take ACTION – and take all of the steps required to make your vision a reality.
I’m not saying that all of your visualization and internal work isn’t integral to your success – in fact, Law of Attraction teachers Esther and Jerry Hicks often talk about how one hour spent on your inner journey has the same impact as seven hours of taking action in the outer world.
But that doesn’t mean you can ignore the action step altogether!
And yet I find that many people get so caught up doing the inner work, they fail to spend enough time taking the kind of action required to create the forward momentum they need to make their dreams a reality. If you want to achieve real and lasting success, creating balance between your inner and outer journey is essential.
The good news is, once you’ve done the inner work, the action work comes far more easily.
As soon as you start taking concrete steps towards your goals, you will activate the Law of Attraction – and gain more traction and go much further, much faster than if you didn’t have that clear vision in your head.
To help you on your journey, here are five concrete steps you can take to move into action – starting today:
1. Develop a strategic action plan
By creating a detailed list of every step you’ll need to take to achieve your goals, you’ll find it easier to move into action. You won’t waste time wondering what to do – because it will be clearly laid out before you. Be sure to identify the steps you’ll need to take to overcome every one of the obstacles you may encounter, as well – both inner and outer. This will help you deal with them much faster should they appear on your path.
2. Follow the trail
If you’re not sure which steps you need to take to achieve your goals, follow the breadcrumbs that others have left in their wake! After all, other people have already blazed the trail ahead of you and achieved the exact same goals that YOU want to achieve.
So if you want to shorten your learning curve, do some research and discover who these people are. Read their books and stories, watch their videos, listen to their webinars, and talk to them personally, if you can to find out what steps they took to achieve success.
Then follow their lead – it’s that simple.
3. Use the Rule of 5
When Mark Victor Hansen and I published our first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, we were so overwhelmed with possibilities for making the book a bestseller, we weren’t sure which ideas to pursue first. A wonderful teacher, Ron Scolastico, shared a powerful piece of wisdom with us: “If you would go every day to a very large tree and take five swings at it with a very sharp axe, no matter how large the tree, it would have to come down!”
That’s how we came up with the Rule of 5, which simply means that every day, you must do five specific things to move your goal toward completion. By committing to take meaningful daily actions to achieve your goals, you will accomplish more than you thought possible in a surprisingly short amount of time.
4. Involve others
If you’ve developed a habit of spending too much time on your inner journey, a great way to pull yourself back into the outer world is to enlist an accountability partner. Sharing your specific commitments with another person is a powerful way to ensure that you follow through on the actions you need to take.
You and your accountability partner can chat daily on the phone to share your commitments with each other and report on your success in achieving the previous day’s commitments. Or you can do this by email.
Or, if you feel a need for even greater accountability, you might want to enlist the services of a professional coach. A good coach can also help you explore
what might be fuelling your actions when you don’t keep your commitments, so you can overcome the limiting behaviors that are holding you back.
5. Check your beliefs
Many of us have beliefs that limit our success – including beliefs about our ability to take action, our capabilities, and what it takes to succeed. Take time to identify any negative beliefs that might be impeding your desire or ability to take action.
If you find yourself running up against limiting beliefs such as, “I’m not smart enough,” “I’m too busy,” “I don’t have the proper training,” or “It is going to take too long and be too challenging,” I encourage you to check out chapter 33 of my book, The Success Principles. It includes powerful exercises to help you shift your limiting beliefs into empowering ones.
In addition, I’ll offer you something that I use myself: A small sign on my computer that says, “So what? Do it anyway.”
So what if you’re afraid? So what if it’s expensive? So what if you’ve never done it before? So what if you don’t have all the information? Do it anyway, because once you take action, you’ll get feedback, and feedback tells you how to do it better.
Remember, the last six letters in the word “attraction” are “action.”
If you want to achieve results, you cannot only work on your internal world. You must also take action!
