How I became a successful freelancer: My 20 powerful Brain-Hacks to achieve your personal goals

Hello my lovely Steemians,

I have been absent for a very long time, as becoming a freelancer took me a lot of time and work. In this time I learned so much about making your dreams come true, becoming successful, and hacking your mind to get all the skills required. I failed a lot, struggled with mindfucks, and sometimes felt like screaming and throwing my laptop out of the window. But it was my journey and I made it.

I want to share my personal Brain-Hacks with you, which I discovered over the years, to help you fulfill your dreams too – because every one of you deserves to be happy, free, and reach your individual goals. If my tips help you just a little bit on your way to fulfillment, I am super cheerful. So I hope sharing my experience will make your experience easier and help you to take the fast lane to your goals.

Let's start!

Source: Pixabay.com

1. Do what you love

I'm pretty sure that you've already noticed that things are a lot easier for you when you enjoy doing them. It doesn't matter if you want to become self-employed, learn a new instrument or do sports regularly: If you want to reach your goals more easily and have as much fun as possible on your way then do what you love! You'll see, that discipline is so much stronger this way than it is while doing unpleasant jobs or free time activities. Life is too short to spend time on the things you just like somehow or even don't like at all. Fulfill yourself and do what you truly burn for. In my case, it's writing, taking photos, and making art.

2. Visualize your goals

If you want to achieve your personal goal, whatever it is, you have to be able to see it and describe it in every detail. You have to know where the journey is going. The more clearly you know your goal, the sooner you will achieve it. So take your time every day to visualize it. Imagine what the situation looks and feels like when you arrive. The better and more detailed you have it in front of your (inner) eyes, the better you can make your wish come true. It helped me A LOT to meditate and imagine how I look, feel, act, and what I will do when I have succeeded. Make it real in your head first, then make it real in real life! By the way: Visualizing feels fantastic and increases your motivation!

3. Believe in yourself (and say goodbye to defeatists!)

How could you ever be successful when you don't believe in yourself? Shouldn't you already be your greatest supporter and fan: start becoming it! Train your brain to a mindset where success can grow. Believe in your skills and willpower and tell yourself every day that you deserve to be successful (because you do!). No matter what others might say! Only YOU know, what you can do and what you can't – and believe me, we can do a lot when we believe in ourselves. So much more than you might know. When I said I want to become self-employed as a writer, almost everybody laughed or said I should give up my dream, as it would be too hard to reach it. Today I am the only one of them earning my money with what I love, the only one who's able to sleep as long as I want, and the only one who's able to travel as much as I want and live the way that I like (with no 9 to 5 job!). This wouldn't have been able if I didn't believe in myself and said to them “You'll see... I'll make it!”. Release your inner warrior and fight for your dreams! You CAN do it! Don't limit yourself by the limits of frustrated people or those without faith in themselves. Prove them wrong and make yourself proud!

4. Never.ever.give.up!

You set your sails and know where you want to go? Perfect! Every sailor faces some storms, giant waves, and frustrating situations from time to time. But only those who hold on make it to new lands and discover new wonders. Hard times make us stronger, transforming doubts into fuel feels incredible. Never ever give up – NEVER! Struggles feel bad but overcoming them and braving the storm is pure bliss which is absolutely worth standing the negative feelings. So: Always get up one more time than you fall.

5. Look for your personal idol or hero

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying you should become the exact same twin of the person you admire. Look for someone who achieved what you want to achieve and get inspired by him or her. What did he/she make to reach this point? Why is he/she so good at what he/she is doing? Study his/her strategies and learn from them – and then use them to create your own way! Example: I wanted to become a writer so I read a lot from authors and bloggers I love. I studied them to get an insight on how to become a writer myself. If you want to become a guitarist, look for the ones who play the way you love it, profit from their knowledge, and use them to show yourself where you can be one day.

6. Feed your brain with knowledge

Learn as much about your vision, as possible. A skilled sailor sails better! The more you know, the more your chances grow to reach your destination, and the faster and easier you'll get there. Read books and blogs, watch videos on YouTube, talk to experts, listen to podcasts.

7. Overcome laziness and motivate yourself

Yeah, I know: Sometimes even counting your pens may be more attractive to you than doing the things you should/must do. We all have these days., and it's ok! But if laziness wins most of the time, you'll walk your path in slow motion and feel like you'll never be able to reach your destination. So boost yourself and overcome your laziness! If you have a job to do and struggle to start, count to 3 and just do it without thinking about it too much (otherwise there's this magic voice that tells you that there's this amazing new Netflix series online or that it would be so interesting to know how many buttons your favorite jacket has). Tell yourself, you'll just work 5 minutes on it, and then you can do something else. First, it's better to do anything than nothing at all. And second, most of the time you'll work more than 5 minutes on your project. Try it!

8. Failures are important

Avoiding failures seems to be the Holy Grail to people, but failures are so important. Making failures teaches you a lot! So make mistakes and learn how to make it better instead of being disillusioned. Every experience on your way is precious, may it be a good or a bad one.

9. Don't be too hard on yourself

You failed to motivate yourself and watched silly YouTube videos instead of doing all the jobs on your to-do list? It's okay! We are humans and not machines and it is simply normal to have bad days! Make it better the next day and don't be too hard on yourself. This will save you a lot of energy you otherwise invest in being mad about yourself. Better use it the next day for your project!

10. Allow yourself some breaks

It's so important to get a break from time to time to charge your mental and physical battery. You can't always take the fast lane. I had to learn this the hard way as I believed the voice too much, that said “But you should do this and that, you can't do a break, you need to always give 100 percent!” No, I don't. And you neither. I just made me ill, I got bad headaches very often. Allow yourself to restore energy and do the things you like – or simply do nothing!

11. Look for your sources of energy

Find what gives you the power to hold on and restore energy. Taking a walk, reading, dancing, sports, cooking, meeting friends, playing the piano, meditation... Those things are your personal gas station. Whenever you feel blocked or don't know how to go on, do one or several of these things. Have a break and continue doing your jobs on your to-do list later. It doesn't make sense to force yourself to go on when your mind and body say no. Do something else instead and watch how it helps you to get back on track soon!

12. Train your willpower

Achieving your goals often means overcoming your weaker self and to grow. Therefore, it is important to train your willpower. Do some things that cost you quite an effort and push your limits from time to time. It will make your willpower become stronger and you'll feel proud and even more believe in yourself.

13. Accept that achieving your goals isn't always fun

A lot of successful people want to make us believe, that it's so easy and always a lot of fun to achieve your goals. But the truth is: it is not! Sometimes it is definitely NOT fun and you are frustrated. But if you accept that and take off the rose-colored glasses, you'll get less disillusioned than those, who think it's always easy.

14. Only do some fun jobs from time to time

When I have no motivation to write and feel frustrated, I try to do something about my job that is fun to me. These days I read something about writing better or watch a movie or documentation about how a writer became successful. Or I just learn some exciting new words I can use in my next texts. There are always funny things you can do that match your goal. If you feel demotivated, do them instead of doing nothing. It feels better than being lazy and not getting closer to your dream.

15. If one way didn't work – try another one!

Do you know that? Suddenly you're at a dead end. The way you walked didn't lead you where you want to go. You reached the end of this road. That's great! By experiencing this, you know what doesn't work and get a step closer to the right way to your goal. Try another way and another way and another way if necessary and always keep in mind that this helps you to orientate yourself. A lot (if not most) of the successful people tried a lot of ways before they found the one that worked for them!

16. Stay curious and keep learning

Only those who never stop learning will become and stay experts. Life is about learning and it feels so good to become better and better, even if you already achieved your goal. Sometimes it is even important to keep learning, as things may change. In my case, it's orthography and things from the online marketing business. We live in a fast-moving time. And: Knowledge is power! (And sometimes money)

17. Make your project a routine

Only if you work on your project regularly, you'll stay fully motivated and see some results soon that reward your efforts. If you make working on your dream a routine, it will be much easier for you to make it come true. The longer you train it and make it your routine, the more power you'll have to put in achieving your goals and it becomes natural for you. Just like making your bed, brushing your teeth, or shopping for groceries.

18. It's okay to get help!

Yes, it's your dream but this doesn't mean, you have to do every single step by yourself. Sometimes it is great to get some help and support from others. May it be that they help you with motivating words, their knowledge, their advice, or their ideas. Surround yourself with people who make you a better person and ask them for help, if you need or want it. Everyone needs some help from time to time.

19. Success doesn't come overnight

“Become a millionaire in 7 days!” “Lose 30 pounds in one month!” “Become a successful dating expert in 2 hours!” What some online marketers want to make us believe may sound alluring but in most cases, it's simply not true. Don't expect to become successful and achieve your goals overnight. Most people have to work hard and fight for their dreams, have discipline, and go their way for months or even years. But hey, that's cool, isn't it? The way is the goal! You'll learn a lot about yourself this time. So enjoy the journey!

20. Stay mentally flexible and be prepared to change

Going your way will change you with every step, every milestone, every fail, every win. Be open to that change and stay mentally flexible. Don't be afraid to see things differently one day or to adjust your goals after a while. The more you are open to that process, the more you'll grow and develop. And the more wonders you'll experience!

Source: Pexels.com

I hope my Brain-Hacks help you to achieve your goals, too! 💖
Do you have more powerful tips? I am happy to read them in the comments!

I wish you all the best, a lot of success and a lot of love,

yours Linda