Writing Down What You Want Always Makes It Come True
By: Ruth Matthews
Tags: Personal Development, Life, Motivation, Goals, Positive Thinking

You thought about it, didn’t you?

When you clicked on this article, you thought about all the things you want most from your life.

What popped into your head?

Maybe it was getting to do what you love for a living, and becoming successful and influential in what you put out into the world.

Maybe it was travelling the world, seeing every continent and experiencing life in different colours, countries and cultures.

Maybe it was your dream home, designed and built from scratch by you.

It could be anything, but you thought of something.

The truth is, you can have whatever you want.

If you can dream it, if you can take actionable steps to achieve it, and if you can show up for yourself every day and make it happen in tiny increments then the only thing standing in the way between you and your wildest dreams is time.

I truly believe this.

I believe it for myself, and I believe it for you.

I believe in it as much as I believe in my physical body and my own existence.

You can realise this too.

Magic or science, it’s all up to you

You don’t have to be spiritual to adopt this mindset.

You also don’t need to have a PhD in psychology to understand why adopting this outlook works.

You just need a pen and paper.

Call it ‘the law of attraction’, the power of positive thinking or the infamous Harvard business study, however you choose to believe that you can make your goals reality is up to you.

The act of writing down your goals makes you more likely to remember them. This is known as the generation effect, which says that information is better remembered if it is self-generated, rather than simply read.

The act of remembering the goals you write down also results in them being encoded within your subconscious mind. Without consciously realising it, from the moment you write down your goals, your unconsciousness starts to wake up.

You start to become aware of opportunities and possibilities that would’ve passed you by before, hidden in plain sight.

Every decision you take is made with your goals in mind, unconsciously or not.

A study by Dominican University found that those who wrote down their goals were 42% more likely to achieve them, regardless of gender, age or background.

Isn’t this enough for you to start writing your own?

My experience

At the beginning of this year, I wrote down a list of 20 things I wanted to do. I called it “20 for 2020.”

I remember completing that list at the beginning of the year and looking over it and- perhaps somewhat naively- feeling excited for everything the year had in store for me.

Well, in spite of the whole global pandemic thing, I want to say that I did actually achieve most of the things I wrote down. Some of my favourites are:

Learn a new skill and hobby and partake regularly: This year I started learning Italian, and I can now read and have basic conversations in the language.

This year I started learning Italian, and I can now read and have basic conversations in the language. Travel: I had planned to travel solo to Southeast Asia this year. This didn’t happen, but I did travel solo by myself for a week across Italy. Yes, even despite the pandemic.

I had planned to travel solo to Southeast Asia this year. This didn’t happen, but I did travel solo by myself for a week across Italy. Yes, even despite the pandemic. Run and train for a sub 2 hour half marathon: Since August, I have run not one, but three sub 2 hour half marathons.

Since August, I have run not one, but three sub 2 hour half marathons. Get a distinction in my masters: I completed my studies in August and received my distinction last month.

I completed my studies in August and received my distinction last month. Start my career in the field my master’s degree is in: I got a job offer I accepted in January. I started working full time, in renewable energy, in September.

I got a job offer I accepted in January. I started working full time, in renewable energy, in September. Start a side-hustle: During the first six months of the year, I worked as a freelance maths and physics tutor. In September I started writing alongside my job.

I don’t write any of this to brag.

I write this in an attempt to show you, that writing your goals works. I came back to my list now and again, but for the most part, I just tried to make the most of the opportunities this year gave me, and do the best I could.

You can take my word for it, based on what happened for me in the list above.

Even better, you could try it yourself.

This is how you make it happen

I want you to sit back for a minute just now, and imagine your life if you had achieved that one thing you want more than anyone else.

How would you spend your time?

How happy would you feel waking up every day?

What could you do now, that you can’t do at the moment?

Now I want you to write all this down.

Don’t limit yourself. Don’t question yourself. Just write it all out.

Don’t be afraid to be a little outlandish. Don’t be afraid to write what seems impossible now. Just write all of it down, because you’re going to amaze yourself in a few years’ time.

Once you have a list, think about the smaller actionable things you can start doing now to get closer to your dreams. Make a list.

If you want to travel think about opportunities abroad in your field and how you can get closer to them. Think about ways you can save money today so that you can travel in the future.

If you want to meet the love of your life, think about how you can meet new people. Think about who you know that you could get back in touch with. Think about all the things that make you amazing and worth loving.

Then write it all down. Repeat it. Say it aloud. Read it again. Write it again. Think about it in the shower.

I guarantee, if you want it enough, you are going to get there.

Hope is what we all need right now

If nothing else, what the act of writing down your goals and wishes for the future does is make you optimistic. It makes you hopeful. It makes you believe that better days are coming.

We all need this right now.

The next time you feel anxious or stressed or overwhelmed, take out a pen and paper and just write down the things you know you will achieve in the future.

Write them down as if they have already happened to you, and your subconscious mind will believe that they will.

Make a conscious choice to adopt a positive mindset about the future. Trust in your abilities to work towards your goals, and your chances of achieving them will increase exponentially, regardless of whatever the current state of the world.

Hope and optimism are what we all need right now. Write down your goals and start working towards them today. You owe it to your future self.