With a Little Help from My Friends

A common tip for goal setting: manifest something you want by asking the universe for it. Say it out loud, pray for it, meditate, or visualize it with a vision board.

Openly sharing your goals with others is also a great way to make them happen. Telling friends, family, and even acquaintances not only creates accountability but can also set unexpected things in motion, such as:

• You’ll gain a partner in crime. You’ll learn who else wants to do the same things. They may actually want to do them with you.
• They’ll know someone or something that can help you.
• You’ll have people to talk through your concerns and/or solve obstacles with.
• You’ll have advocates and cheerleaders.
• They’ll come up with something that you hadn’t even thought of to help you get what you want. The idea could be obscure or simple, but change your view just enough to get you over the finish line.

Friends in the know help make things a go

This is exactly what happened with my snowshoeing Trillium Lake excursion. My first attempt was thwarted by a long line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot. And since I work 9-5, Mon-Fri, I didn’t see how I would get to the mountain when it wasn’t busy. So, I thought I would have to pass on this 50×50 list item until next season.

But it was my friend who came up with the idea to go mid-week. She and her husband were housesitting in Hood River and she knew there would still be snow on the mountain. That’s all it took: for her to bring up the idea for me to meet her on a Thursday afternoon.

After we finished our hike, we both said that neither of us would have ever planned a weekday evening snowshoe. But we were both happy that we did. It was just her knowing what I wanted to do that made it happen.

See the forest from the trees

As I benefited from sharing my goals with a friend, I was able to pay it forward for another friend. We were working on our goals together and I learned she wanted to a build a new business website. However, she hadn’t had the headspace or time to work on it. I asked why she didn’t ask her brother to help, who is a very talented marketing professional. Bonus was that he was doing part-time consulting work, so he had the bandwidth.

To me, it was a no-brainer. She was related to someone who could help her build a killer website with both hands tied behind his back. But to her, he is her brother, her confidante, the godfather to her children, her ride-or-die…but not a marketer.

Our conversation showed him in a different light to her. Of course she knows he’s a very good marketer but making that connection for her business purposes didn’t come naturally.

She ended up hiring him and really enjoyed the process. Not only did she get a website from it but she got to see her brother in his professional element.

Again, all she did was openly share her goal and that put her on a path to get it done.