If you have abandoned goal-setting in favor of using the law of attraction to manifest your desires, you may have missed some details of the law’s workings, and you’re giving up a powerful attracting tool. When you see how beautifully these two approaches to dream-realization complement each other, you can apply them in tandem to amplify your results.
The law of attraction has been the foundation of goal-setting systems all along. Napoleon Hill’s famous statement, “What you can conceive and believe, you can achieve,” has been at the heart of all good goal-focused programs for decades.
Both systems are based on the understanding of the universe as the storehouse of all possibilities. Both share the fundamental tenet that how much of the universal abundance we enjoy in our lives depends on how energetically we focus on what we want and how capable we are of receiving the manifestation of our desires. Both are grounded in knowing that thought continuously shapes the stuff from which all things are made—including the thinker himself.
The difference between the systems is really a superficial one. Proponents of the law of attraction place emphasis on “the universe” as the source of the action that gets things done; goal-setters put that responsibility on themselves. But when you understand that there’s no separation between man and the universe, that they are one and the same, the distinction between the two approaches disappears; it’s nothing more than semantics.
Generally speaking, though, most of us are a long way from seeing ourselves and the universe as the same. And for many people who are enthralled with their discovery of the law of attraction, the idea that they don’t have to “do” anything but hold the thought of their desires and be happy is its main appeal.
Only when you actually set out to specifically identify your desires and maintain both a positive emotional state and an unwavering focus on your desired outcome do you discover how much “doing” the law of attraction actually requires.
The principles of goal-setting can be a tremendous aid in learning how to develop your “alignment” with your desire. And because acting to realize a goal generates a sense of yourself as capable, it produces an enhanced sense of self-worth that allows you to more effortlessly receive the gifts the law of attraction brings you.
Learning how to put plans into action has an additional benefit when you’re working with the law of attraction, too. One thing that the popular media coverage of the law doesn’t make clear is a fact that Charles Burke points out in his wonderful “Synchronicity Secrets” program: the universe frequently delivers our desires in the form of a do-it-yourself kit. It provides the resources, connections and opportunities for us. But because its purpose is to teach us to use our creative abilities here in the material plane, it leaves the job of assembling them to us. It brings us ideas and liberal hints on how to use them. But the using is still up to us to do.
It’s up to us to act on the opportunities it provides, to walk through the doors it opens. And to do so efficiently means developing a plan. Well-developed goals are like the instructions that come with the kit the law of attraction brings you. They’ll let you assemble the pieces in the most dynamic and efficient way.
So use the systems hand-in-hand if you truly want to see your dreams manifested in your life. Learn to be an active partner with the universe in making your dreams come true.
If you have abandoned goal-setting in favor of using the law of attraction to manifest your desires, you may have missed some details of the law’s workings, and you’re giving up a powerful attracting tool.