How to set goals when you don’t know what you want
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Don’t know about you, but sometimes I have trouble deciding what the heck I want to manifest in my life. Some things that I thought I wanted years ago are not even on my radar now. And that’s completely normal, life is always evolving and changing. You are always evolving and changing. That’s why it’s good to check in with yourself at a minimum of each new quarter to brainstorm what you are actually wanting in your life.
So if you are finding yourself stuck on what you actually want in life, I have three ways that will fire up some ideas for you.
why it’s important to know what you want
Real quick, before I get into the ideas, I want to make it crystal clear why you need to know what you want in life.
Here’s the reality: when you don’t know what you desire, and you are not being and doing things to proactively create your life, you will more than likely get trapped in the stream of life. You will be like a leaf floating downstream just letting life drift you along. With no direction, no purpose; essentially being at the mercy of what life brings you. I don’t know about you, but the idea of not being an active participant in my life is well…kinda like being lost in the middle of the desert without water. AKA, a place I don’t wanna be.
Ok, so now that you are fully informed on why it’s important to know what you want, it’s time to create your life on your terms by figuring out what you desire. Let’s do this!
The first step to creating a life you are obsessed with is to first decide what you want.
Idea #1: Make a vision Board
Simply copy and paste pictures from places like pinterest, unsplash.com, instagram, and google image search (heck you can get pictures from anywhere online since you are not using them to sell anything or share with anyone, and it’s just for your private use only). Whether you are creating a digital board or a physical one, save the photos to a folder on your computer. If you are creating a physical version, you can print them out. For digital boards you can copy and paste or upload and paste to your chosen program.
Type in keywords in different life categories, such as “business” or “travel.” Save images that speak to your heart. Even images that might not make logical sense to you. The idea is to save anything that lights inspiration, awe, or wonder within you.
Create digital boards
A great way to set goals when you don’t know what you want is to make a vision board. This can be a really fun project and if you are the creative and visual type it will really be your cup of tea.
If you don’t know what a vision board is, it is essentially a collection of images, words, and phrases that represent the places, circumstances, achievements, and people that you wish to bring into your life. You can find material for the board for different life areas such as health, travel, finance, career, relationships, etc. Basically, the vision board is an overall vibe of the feelings you wish to experience in your life.
The idea of a vision board is:
1) to help you decide what you want in life
2) to serve as a consistent inspiration and motivation to help you reach your goals
3) for use in visualization practices for manifesting those events/circumstanes or something better into your life
Pinterest: Create a board in your pinterest account and give whatever title you with like, for example, “Things I’m manifesting.” You can choose to keep the board private if you don’t want others snooping (heee!). Then browse through pinterest by typing different subjects, such as “business” or “travel.”
Canva: I seriously love Canva. It’s my top go-to for all things for my business and yes, even vision boards. What is awesome about Canva is that it already has built-in templates for creating vision boards. You can simply choose a template then upload and drag and drop your photos in.
Canva has a free and paid version. You can do tons of stuff with the free version if you don’t have Canva pro. You can make the board really cute and aesthetic too!
Here is a sample board I made for fun on Canva.
sample of a vision board using Canva
Computer, iPad or Tablet: Create a vision board inside a program like word, good notes or procreate. If you are a digital planner kinda gal, some digital planners even have built in vision boards you can use inside of them. My planner I created, The Higher-Self planner has just the thing, if you want to check it out!
Create a physical VISION board
If you want a physical version, you can create a physical vision board easily using things like:
⟢ a corkboard
⟢ white poster board
⟢ art canvas
⟢ inside a planner or journal
Idea #2: Make a list of things you don't want
If creating a vision board is just not your thing than the idea I have for you is to create a “Things that I don’t want list.”
If you are an avid learner of how manifesting works, then you are might be thinking, “Um…what the heck Roseanne, why would I create a negative list? Isn’t that going to make me manifest things I don’t want into my life?”
Nope. Don’t worry! You see, things manifest into your life via the law of attraction when you are constantly focused on them and when you are experiencing consistent feelings that are energetically aligned to specific things.
The key word here is consistent.
Here me out on this. Sometimes when you are having a hard time deciding on what you want in life, it is easier to think about what you don’t want. And honestly, we often catch ourselves thinking about what we don’t want.
Do you catch yourself sounding like this:
“I don’t want to be stressed about money.”
“I am tried of this chronic neck pain.”
“Why can’t I ever seem to get new followers.”
So be honest, are you guilty as charged? 
Meee too! Forgive yourself though you are only human.
It’s time to turn those negative thoughts into some positivity magic!
Here’s the lowdown:
Part 1
We’re gonna make a do not want brain dump (you can also download The Clarity Workbook I created for you here.)
Grab a sheet of lined paper and draw a vertical line down the middle of the paper so you have two columns. On the left column, title it “what I don’t want. On the right side title it, “what I do want”
We’re gonna make a list of all the things you do not like in your life right now, or things that could be improved upon (yes we gotta go there!). Write down all the life categories: Relationships, health, career/school, finance, home, spirituality, self-growth, and creativity.
On each line, list out every single bit of frustration you have in your life currently. Vent it allll OUT!
Part 2
Now that you’ve got all the annoyances, frustrations, and well…basically all your complaints out on paper, it’s time to repurpose your complaints into something constructive.
Next, in the column on the right, reframe each statement you made on the left column into something positive, basically the opposite of what you wrote.
For example, let’s say on the left column you wrote: “I don’t want to be broke.” In the right column, you will write something like, “I am financially free.”
Do this exercise for all the life categories.
Idea #3: Meditate and Journal it out
Sometimes we have a hard time figuring out what we want because our mind is so full of chatter…ya know, the notorious uninvited monkey mind. Stopping the chatter in your mind can be done with first doing meditation.
I recommend that you first meditate for at least 10-15 minutes -longer if you have the time. Go into your meditation with the intention of clearing your mind and releasing stress, so that you can allow the information you are desiring to become clear to you.
Immediately after your meditation, grab your fav journal and pen and with your intention of discovering your true desires in mind. Ask yourself higher-self, “What do I really want.” Then just start writing away. Don’t stop at all to think about what you are writing, just write. Do this for at least 5-10 minutes. See what comes up for you, you will find nuggets of gold within your writing.
The first step to creating a life you are obsessed with is to first decide what you want. Without having some sort of direction, you are falling prey to letting circumstances and events dictate your life. But this isn’t you at all.
How do I know this?
The fact that you are reading this means you want to be proactive in creating your life. You go girl!
Hopefully, these tips help you create massive clarity on your heart’s desires. Let me know how these ideas worked for you below.
