The first step in getting what we want is to figure out what that is. In Secret 7 we thought about dreams to explore: taking a trip, going back to school, starting a business. The next step is to identify the obstacles between us and what we plan to do.

Some obstacles to achieving what we want are obvious and external. To jump on a plane to a distant city, we need to have the money for the fare. To go back to school we need to organize the time and pay for the classes. If we’re going into business, we’ll need to make a business plan and then secure the funding from a bank or people we know or borrow against our own savings. If we have children or other dependents we need to include them in our plans. Will they come on the trip, is there child care at the school, can they be involved in the business?

Some obstacles are less obvious. We might be reluctant to stay away from home overnight. We might be afraid to try to navigate in a place where English is not the first language. Or we may just be unable to decide what city we want to visit! Going back to school means figuring out our major and what we’re going to do with it. What kind of business appeals to us and what would we be good at doing?

We can tackle any of the external obstacles, by taking each problem in turn and solving it, and by using magic to overcome the more difficult problems. First, though, we have to be sure this is the thing we really want. Our own ambivalence will torpedo any magic we do to achieve a specific result. Thinking about steps we need to take to achieve what we want will uncover the reservations we may have about doing that one thing. We might figure out that the internal objection is too strong to overcome. If we don’t like spending the night away from home, we may decide to read about travel rather than traveling ourselves. Maybe we’ll wait to go back to school until the kids are older. We might continue to save money to buy a business later.

We can also figure out ways to do the thing we want to do that addresses our concerns. If we’re worried about traveling to a place where English is a second language, we can pick a destination, like London, where English is the language of the city. A life coach can help us decide what path our schooling will take. We can talk to people who own businesses like the one we are considering to ask them how they got their start.

Once we have thought through the steps we need to take, we have a plan that we can put into action in our lives. Let’s say we have obtained the money and the child care, and we’ve settled on London as our destination. We have arranged for our passports. We can imagine ourselves buying a plane ticket, boarding the plane, and getting off in a new city. We have thought through our concerns, so that imagining going to London fills us with excitement. Going back to school means making a schedule to make sure we get to class on time and everything else in our lives gets done. We can decide on a business name and logo and use these in our affirmations and visualizations.

Now the only thing left to do is take the plunge! Book the tickets, sign up for the class, sign the bill of sale for the business.

Affirmation

I know what I want and I want it with all my heart.

Write this affirmation on a sticky note or 3×5 card and put it where you can see it every day. Repeat the affirmation every day for a week.

Practice: Imagining the future
Write a journal entry to answer the question, “If I could do anything I want, the one thing I would do right now is…” (If you have already made a journal entry to answer that question, re-read your answer).

Imagine yourself doing that thing. See yourself boarding the plane and getting off in the new city, or sitting in the classroom, or opening the door on your first day of busienss.

If you find you have many objections to doing that thing, evaluate where those objections are coming from. Do you see many external obstacles? List them. Do you worry about what people who care about you will think if you get what you want? List those fears. Have you had second thoughts about what you want? Exploring these may help you refine what you want to make it easier to do, or may help you decide that what you actually want is something else altogether.

Once you know what you want, and know that you want it with all your heart, you know what direction to point your magic.