Do you have writing and publishing goals? I certainly do. I have a list of them that I try to revisit as often as possible.

In the last two years, I’ve been working hard at fostering my personal development. I want to become more productive, more engaged with my work, more sensitive to others, more present in my everyday life. I want to be more in touch with who I am and what I have to offer. I want to have deeper and more meaningful relationships with family, friends, and my animals. I want to live more in the moment. I want to be the best person and the best writer I can be. Does this sound familiar to you?

But how do we attain the goals we have set for ourselves, with our writing and our life?

For me, setting intentions and affirmations have been life-changing. I was first introduced to the concept by Dr. Benjamin Perkus with his Aroma Freedom Technique about three years ago. This technique uses a special combination of essential oils and a guided step-by-step exercise that helps to free us from the emotional blocks that prevent us from living to our potential. At the start of each session, we are to set an intention, work through the process with the essential oils and at the end of the session, we create an affirmation, breath in a transformative type of oil, like Young Living’s Transformation or Highest Potential and set our affirmation.

You might wonder, what is the difference between a goal, an intention, and an affirmation?

A goal is something we want to achieve. Finishing our novel, becoming a famous blogger, becoming a best-selling novelist, losing 10 pounds.

An intention is an “I am” statement or an “I have” statement that we create that feels, shows, and tastes like once we’ve achieved our goal. The intention is the overarching statement that reveals what our life is like when the goal is achieved. “I have a million followers on Twitter.” “I am a best-selling novelist.” “I travel the world and am paid to write my experiences.” “I am fit and healthy.”

Affirmations are reminders that support our intention. “I make time for my writing every day.” “I engage with people on social media twice a day.”

Once you have set your intention and your affirmations, it is important to read these out loud to yourself every day. If you make it part of your ritual, as I discussed in my previous post, “The Importance of Ritual for Productive Writing,” after a week or so, it will become part of your daily repertoire. It will constantly remind you of the awesome person you are and the incredible life you will have when you meet your goal.

Natalie Ledwell, in her Activate the Law of Attraction course on Udemy, asserts that if you put this type of energy out into the world, set your intentions and live by your affirmations, God or the Universe will answer you. By using the power of your mind, you can create your own reality and achieve any goals that you set for yourself. Like attracts like. If you put out into the world your positive energy, you will receive that positivity back.

So if you’ve set a goal to be a best-selling author, or a popular blogger, or any kind of successful artist – define what that looks like to you. Set your intentions around what you want your world to look like, and write down your affirmations. Read them aloud to yourself on a regular basis. Achieve what you want to achieve.

You can do what you set out to do. Only you are holding you back.