This post is part four in the [1] Goal Setting Success series.

You know that feeling you get when you’ve accomplished a goal?

It’s a sort of mix of elation and surprise, right?

The surprise doesn’t come from the fact that you reached your goal. Anyone who sets goals is pretty confident that they’ll reach them.

No, the surprise comes from how you accomplished them. And from the people and opportunities that appeared to help you, that you didn’t expect or plan for.

This is what happens when you put your goals out there in the wild, and to me, is the most exciting part of the whole goal setting process.

[2] View the Full Diagram

To Get Something, You Have To Ask For It

The goal setting process is really a way to ask for what you want. Think about it.

You are asking from your self, and the larger universe around you, for help to reach your goals.

And rarely does that request go unanswered.

You map out a plan of action, and suddenly new opportunities start to appear. About 2-3 steps into your plan, as if by magic, something shows up that allows you to skip ahead a few steps. An email, a comment on a blog, a new acquaintance met at an event.

When you put your goals out in the wild, they take on a life of their own. Things fall into place and begin to take shape. Sometimes it’s almost spooky.

That’s the real power of goal setting — when they start becoming a reality, both through your own actions, and through the “greater happenings” around you.

But How Does This Happen…?

One of the best things I’ve learned in this process is to [3] stop asking how. See, it’s not all that important, and you really don’t have enough information to definitively answer that question anyway.

Knowing how an illusion works isn’t a prerequisite for enjoying a magic trick. In fact, it can make it less entertaining.

You have your own ideas how it happens already, so why dwell on it? Let the universe do it’s magic (or science, or psychology, etc.).

So whether you call it [4] answered prayers, [5] Law of Attraction, a [6] cognitive bias, the [7] Cocktail Party Effect, or the [8] Plate o’ Shrimp Phenomenon doesn’t really matter.

All that matters is…

The Results

When your goals are congruent with your [9] Key Elements, things tend to work out better than you imagined. When they’re not, the results are usually disappointing. But that’s only because you were on the wrong track.

Achieving your goals is really about fulfilling your deepest desires, and doing things you were born to do.

True success comes from being true to yourself, and attracting those things that make your life amazing.

You can have everything you ever wanted. The only catch is you have to know what that is, and take the actions to get you going.

What you end up with is usually more than you dreamed. Because reality can be so much more fulfilling than dreams.

The Goal Setting Success Series

• [10] Intro: Setting Goals So You Actually Accomplish Them
• [11] Part 1: The Key Elements of an Ideal Life
• [12] Part 2: Master Your Master Goals
• [13] Part 3: The Finer Points of Writing Goals
• [14] Part 4: In the Wild with Synchronicity, Opportunity, and Attracting Success