Reaching Goals: Why Relying on Effort Could Derail Your Results

If reaching goals has always felt harder than it should, like you’re constantly pushing, restarting, or burning out, this episode will shift how you see effort entirely. Most people believe more discipline and more hustle are the answers, but relying on effort alone often works against the very results you’re trying to create.

This episode explores why real change doesn’t come from pushing harder, but from understanding what’s running beneath the surface. When your subconscious beliefs aren’t aligned with what you want, effort turns into resistance and progress becomes impossible to sustain.

Listen if you’re ready to stop fighting yourself, stop spinning your wheels, and start creating results that actually stick.

Join the Vision Lab HERE

Chapters

• 0:00 Rethinking Effort And Goals
• 2:23 The 95% Subconscious vs 5% Effort
• 4:45 When Willpower Collides With Beliefs
• 7:00 Safety, Deserve, And Money Stories
• 9:35 Aligning Beliefs With Action
• 12:00 Zones: Goals, Manifesting, Wishful Thinking
• 15:05 Make Progress Feel Natural
• 16:50 Everyday Proof Of Subconscious Habits

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Manifest Sheet Podcast. If you're new, I'm Shannon, and this space is about manifesting from the inside out. That is how we learn to take our desires and make them the life that we live every single day. And this week, I really want to talk about effort for a second because this is the time of year where, of course, people have set goals, they have set resolutions. We talked a little bit about that last week. But a lot of us are putting a shit ton of effort into our goals. And effort may be one of the most overrated and maybe misunderstood concepts when it comes to reaching your goals and actually changing your life. And that's really just because we've been taught that if we want something badly enough, we just need to work harder. We need to push more, try longer, stay disciplined, maybe stay consistent, put in the reps, show up every day. And sure, effort absolutely has a place. We talk about consistency here, but in a different way. But effort alone does not create sustainable change. Relying only on effort is often the exact thing that is keeping you stuck, burnt out, or constantly feeling like you're starting over. And today I really want to explain why that is in a way that makes sense. So grab your favorite drink, cozy up, and let's get right on into it. So, what most people may not realize when they are setting goals, when you're trying to change your life, when you work something different to happen for you, is that 95% of what you're experiencing in your day-to-day life comes from your subconscious mind. So any belief that you have in your subconscious mind is running the show, you're probably not aware of it because it's happening on autopilot. So whatever is going on, your day-to-day lived life is due to your current belief system that is within your subconscious mind. So whatever you believe is what's going to be presented to you. And that's what you're going to experience. Anything that you're experiencing, experiencing, is through the lens of confirmation bias, which is just trying to confirm what beliefs you already have. Okay. So that's what's driving what you notice and what's going on. The other 5% is where effort lives. That's in your conscious mind. That's where you have your willpower and you decide, okay, I'm going to try harder and I'm going to stick to it this time. And when you're purely relying on effort alone to reach your goals, asking 5% of your mind to overpower the other 95%, that's when it gets exhausting. That's when it feels like you're treading water. That's when it feels like no matter how hard you try, nothing is shaking, or you feel like life is exactly the same. Oh my gosh, I made more income, but now cost of living has gone up. So I'm in the exact same place. Those types of things. And so you're just using that 5% to always try and push further, push further. And that's when you get exhausted and burnt out, or feel like no matter what I do, I'm stuck. You know, I'm just so freaking dimmed. It's just because you're you're 95% running the show of what you're actually experiencing. So when you're setting a goal, you're using effort as a way to like muscle towards it. And you can push for a while. And you can probably override some of your instincts, but you're gonna come crashing down eventually. And that's due to fight, flight, or freeze. That's a whole nother topic. You can stay motivated, probably temporarily. How much have you tried to stay motivated towards something and it disappears? Like you're like, I'm gonna stay motivated, I'm gonna stay motivated. And then we talk about discipline because you need discipline, because motivation doesn't last. Well, neither really lasts if the underlying beliefs running in the background are hindering you. If that 95% is working towards something that is opposite of your goal, because what you believe is possible for you, what you believe is safe, what you believe you deserve, or what change may cost you, those beliefs don't disappear because you're trying harder. They are very much alive and active, they are influencing your decisions, they are shaping your outcomes. So even if you make, like I said, a little bit of progress, often it's not sustainable. You end up with that swimming upstream feeling. You feel like maybe you took two steps forward and one step backwards. And it's not because you lack discipline or lack motivation, or that you're not good at something, or maybe this goal or this dream just wasn't meant for you. It's none of that. It's just because your subconscious programming hasn't changed. So while you're working with the 5%, if you're ignoring the 95%, then you're not going to get as far as you'd like, as fast as you like. You have two competing things going on. So not only are you trying to put all this effort into reaching a goal or fulfilling a dream, but it's like an internal fight is happening and it's exhausting you because the 95% is over here, unaware to you, being like, Yeah, uh-huh, no. You can't make that much money. Who makes that much money in this economy? That's what it's saying it believes back here. But over here, you're like, I'm gonna be dods, you know? So you have this internal battle going on while you're externally trying to fight your way into your dream life. And that's the piece that we don't talk about in goal setting conversations, is that goals aren't existing in a vacuum, right? It's not here's my smart goal, um, you know, and I'm gonna map it out. And it do exactly that, and all is well for every dream or desire you have. Goals don't exist in a vacuum, they exist in a belief system. So you have to address your beliefs as you're addressing your goals. So if your beliefs are aligned with what you want, your effort's gonna feel lighter. It's gonna feel more natural. That consistency is going to come and it's going to feel possible for you. But if your beliefs are conflicting with your goals, even if it's subtle, that's when it becomes this fight within. And so your subconscious is always going to prioritize familiarity and safety over any growth, over any goal, over any dream, over any desire that you have. So if a goal challenges old beliefs that you have, your system is going to resist because it that's just not what it believes. So I've talked to a couple people, and they're like, I am going to be that person in my family that's going to be like the first person that has generational wealth, the first person that breaks out of this income bracket that our family has been stuck in, that kind of thing. But if you're there might be some beliefs here in the background that you grew up with that make it pretty hard to break out of that. So we have to address beliefs versus our goals. So for me, wanting to have a life that was financially stable to me, I had to overcome things that I had grew up hearing and believing that you have to rob Peter to pay Paul so you can make your bills, things like that. Those are beliefs that can quietly be in the background, even if consciously you're like, no, I don't want that to be my life. If that's something you grew up with, then those beliefs are going to be running 95% of the show, no matter how much that 5% is trying to fight against it. So you have to address both. You have to address the action and you have to address the mindset to align it with the actions that you're taking. And when you do that, going after goals in that way is going to feel supported. It's going to feel energized. If you just try and force your way through, well, then you're going to feel drained and stuck after a while. Because the difference is not about how much effort you put in. The difference is about how you're approaching this two-fold. Okay, this is what I want, but there's some stuff that I'm believing. And because just the way I'm built, 95% of what I'm experiencing in this world is due to my subconscious. I have to look at my belief system. Do and what may be contrary in my current beliefs to the goal or the dream I'm going after. And so you might ask yourself, okay, well, what do I need to do? How do I work on this stuff when I'm going towards my goals? Ask yourself some questions. Do you believe it's possible for you? Do you believe you can do this without burning out? So say you do want to make more money. You want to, you know, take it to the next income level. Do you believe that you can do that in a way that doesn't require you having your full-time job plus three side hustles and you're also, you know, three side hustle like businesses that you start and you're also driving for DoorDash? Do you believe it is possible without exhausting yourself? Do you believe you're safe to receive it? And I know that sounds crazy if we're talking about in this example, earning more money. Do I feel safe earning more money? Because a lot of people be like, oh yeah, having more money is way better than having stress. But there could be this twinge inside that says, oh, but I'm gonna have to pay more taxes. You know, are my expenses gonna go up? There's one that somebody I worked through went through where they feared if they made more money that their friends didn't wouldn't want to be friends with them anymore. Because maybe they would have had to change too much to make that money, right? So do you feel safe with that goal or that ask? And ask yourself, does this fit me? Is this a goal that I really truly want? Or is this something I think I should be doing, but maybe I don't really want to be dealing? Honesty is always the best policy when it comes to anything, but especially when it comes to dealing with yourself, in my opinion, be honest with yourself because that subconscious is also gonna know when you're trying to do what you think you should, but not what you really want. But if you can answer those questions and if you get a no to any of that, then you're not aligned to the goal. Then something in the subconscious is gonna be fighting against that goal. And so transformation can't start with sheer force, sheer willpower. It's gonna start with understanding the zone that you're operating in. Now, in the vision lab, I have what we call zones of possibilities. So the members inside of it learn about goals, they learn about manifesting, and they learn about wishful thinking. And then we approach them in that way. So many times we lump goals in with just anything new that we want in our life. Any dream we have, any desire we have goes into goals. And then once it goes into that goals bucket, then it goes into oh, wait, force, force, force, plan, execute. Okay. Not everything belongs in that bucket. Okay, there are some things that you truly can put in a goal bucket and just execute. The belief is already there. The desire, that desire, it really feels natural. Action flows from that. It's very achievable. But there are other times that a goal is going to sit outside of your current belief system. And that's truly when it goes from becoming a goal into this manifestation part. It doesn't mean that you can achieve it or you can't have it. It just means that you have to work with the desire and the mindset simultaneously. And now there's a third layer, and that's the wishful thinking layer, but we go all into that inside of the vision lab. And that way the members in there know, okay, I can put this in the goal bucket and I can achieve this. And it's very natural. They don't have to do belief work, they don't have to worry about their mindset. Everything is already aligned. They can execute it, they can get it, babe, they're good. Wonderful. They're achieving that goal and force is not there. And they learn how to determine okay, is it going into this manifestation bucket where I'm doing action work, but I'm also doing belief work. And knowing what zone you're in changes everything because it takes out that resistance. It takes out the exhaustion because number one, if it just sits in the goal bucket, like you put certain different energy there than you do in the belief goal manifestation bucket together, right? Desire. And I'm saying goal, but I also mean desire. I also mean dream. Like all those are interchangeable here in this context. But it helps them to determine where to put things in their life that they wouldn't achieve without exhausting themselves, without becoming overwhelmed, without trying to do it through sheer force and willpower. Because we can only sustain force and willpower for so long. And sustainable results are things that feel easier. They're not things that feel harder. When your beliefs support your goals, it's not that effort disappears. It's not that you become passive. It just stops feeling like a battle. Action is this natural extension of who you're becoming, of what you are adding into your life. It's not something that you have to force yourself into. And when you get into this beautiful zone, that's when your progress sticks. So it doesn't feel like you're swimming upstream anymore. It feels like you're going with the flow. Your results don't just come for a little bit and then, oh, well, crap, I'm right back where I started from. No, it's stable. It stabilizes. So you're not constantly having to start over. Because reaching goals is not about overpowering yourself. It's not about going against the grain, so to speak, of your own self. It's about bringing your subconscious on board. Because think about it, if 95% of your life that you are living is a direct result of your subconscious beliefs, you don't even realize that's going on. There is zero effort there. And let me bring this into like a physical thing. So if you have been going to your job for any amount of years, I live in a big city. And so when I was a commuter, I would leave my house, I would hit a few highways, get where I need to go. There were times when I would get on the road and suddenly how's that work? I'm like, oh my God, I don't even remember taking the exit. Like I just, I don't even remember that. That's your subconscious. Once you do something and you believe it long enough, like I totally believed this route was gonna take me to my job. It was gonna get me from point A to point B. So because I believed in that route, I knew it was gonna work for me. Then I didn't have to think about it. There was like little effort after time went on because I built up this belief that, yeah, this is the route. It's gonna get me where I need to go. Okay. So that's how it works. It takes the effort of things in your life, having or maintaining those things, and makes it to where you have to put very little effort into it when you actually believe it. And so the effort that you do put doesn't become forceful or stressful. Like it was super easy for me to just get in my car and turn on the keys, put some gas in if I need it to, and go about my business. And that can happen with anything that you have in your life. And that's why the Vision Lab exists. Because I use all of these lessons that I use with my in-person clients. And right now I'm working on uploading them all there. Because of all the workshops I've had, of all the women I've worked with in real life, this is what has helped them the most. And so I'm packaging it all up. I'm putting it in the Vision Lab. It's gonna be where my one-on-one coaching GPTs are right now. Like the GPTs are already there and available. And I'm adding all of this in so that you can understand exactly how to manifest, where to manifest, reaching your goals to just live that life. That life that you dream is yours. Because I truly want you to understand that it's not about pushing harder, it's understanding what needs to shift in your life so you can actually live the life you want to live without having to put more on your plate, without having to exhaust yourself, without having to stress or struggle your way there. And the Vision Lab has that in there. Like I said, and it's being built up. So you can find a link to join in the show notes. If you join right now, it's gonna be at a steep discount for you because I'm still uploading the stuff, but you don't have to wait to get started. I'll continue to upload resources week after week. And so you can get it at a discounted price if you want to get in while it is being built. Go ahead and grab that. It's in the show notes. So I want you to just leave with this. And that is if you have set a goal, if you have set a resolution, if you have some dream that you have to plan to get to, I want you to know it doesn't have to be harder. I want you to know once again, you don't have to struggle or sacrifice to get there. And if for some reason you have fallen off or it hasn't worked out, it's not your fault. It's not because you need to be more disciplined or you have to push harder to get there. It's because nobody talks about the fact that when we are trying to reach the dreams in our life, it is twofold. It is our conscious mind and our subconscious mind. It is what we want versus what we currently believe and bridging the two of those. So I want you to remember that this week, you don't have to chase. You just have to start naturally building the beliefs that support the goals that you are trying to accomplish. So take that with you this week. If there is something that you tried in the past that you really wanted, it didn't work out and you gave up on it. It wasn't a you problem, babe. If it's something you want to revisit, let's revisit that. But let's revisit that not just with the action, but also with the mindset. So think about that this week and maybe think about a desire that you have or that you want to bring back up. And let's start working towards making that a reality in your life. I will chat with you next week.