You’ve set big goals for yourself and dreamt beautiful dreams of the life you’ll have once those goals are accomplished.

But then life happens.

And those once big motivating goals start to feel impossible.

This is a trap we’ve all fallen into at some point. I know I have.

What started out feeling doable and exciting, quickly turned into “I can’t do this” and “This is never going to happen for me.”

I felt like this all the time with goals I set for myself in the past. Until I discovered this one motivating challenge, The Magic 20. This challenge has kept me on track and on my way to achieving my dreams.

All you need for this challenge is a pen and a piece of paper.

I won’t lie to you; this challenge is not the easiest. It’s going to stretch your brain and it might take some time to do it.

It’s worth it though. You’ll come away feeling more confident and inspired to keep chasing your dream life. And you’ll have a long list of real actionable ways you can achieve your goal.

Read More: 49 Quotes to Inspire and Motivate You to Build Confidence

I first learned about The Magic 20 method from Marie Forleo on one of her free audio trainings. I highly recommend listening to her whole audio training. There are a few other great exercises in there that will help you crush your goals.

*Side note: I love Marie Forleo’s book, Everything is Figureoutable. It gives you actionable steps on discovering what you really want and how to take the first steps in achieving your goal. It also inspired and motivated me. I’ve listened to it twice on audiobook and read the paperback. 

The Magic 20 system really stuck out to me though.

All it is, is a list of 20 different ways you can what you want and achieve your goal.

That’s it. Just write down 20 different ways to get what you want.

You might be thinking “20!? That’s so many!”

Yes, it is. But for a good reason. It pushes you to get creative and think outside the box.

It was hard. I felt stumped and a little frustrated at times while making my list.

At the end though I had my 20 different ways of achieving my goal. I felt empowered and ready to tackle the huge mountain that was my goal.

To be honest with you, it’s the main reason I haven’t given up on my blog.

Blogging is hard. There’s so much you have to learn and do. It can feel overwhelming.

But having my own successful blog is something I really want. And my Magic 20 list inspires me every day to keep working towards that goal.

Even when I have setbacks or hit a speedbump, I just look at my list and see that I can try 19 other ways of achieving my dream.

It was worth the minor frustration to see a list of 20 different ways I can get what I really want.

20 is a lot! I don’t feel stuck anymore. I’m motivated to work on my list and keep chasing my dream despite any setback or obstacle.

Being able to tangibly look at all the different ways you can achieve your dream is game changing.

It makes your huge goal feel achievable.

It gives you an action plan to start taking the steps towards accomplishing your dream.

It inspires and motivates you to continue working towards your goal.

Ready to learn how to make your Magic 20 list? Let’s do it!

*If you want to gain more confidence in just one week, subscribe to my newsletter to receive your FREE copy of the 7-Day Confidence Building Workbook*

Save this article on Pinterest to read later!

Read More: 11 Books that Build More Confidence and Keep You Motivated to Reach Your Goals

Before you just sit down and bust out a few different ways of achieving your goal, there are a couple of things you should do first and a few things to keep in mind.

Yes, I meant to put two reallys in there. Because you need ONE specific goal that you are going to use for this list.

You have to let go of all other distractions. They’ll get in the way and divert your attention from your one main goal.

Zero in on the one main thing that you want more than anything.

It could be starting your business, buying a house, moving to a new country, getting a college degree, or whatever it is that you really want.

Be very specific and clear on what this goal is.

If you listen to Marie Forleo’s free audio training she walks you through more on how to pick this one specific, clearly defined goal.

Read More: Build Confidence this Summer by Challenging Yourself to Set One Fun, New Goal

Before grabbing your notebook, do these couple things first.

Set aside time where you won’t be interrupted. Give yourself at least 30 minutes where you can be alone and in a quiet place.

Eliminate all distractions.

Grab your favorite drink and find a comfortable place to write.

Now you can grab your notebook and your favorite pen.

There’s no science behind this, but I think it’s important when goal setting to use a nice notebook and high-quality pens instead of a torn piece of paper and a chewed-up pencil.

You can definitely still use those if you prefer.

But giving yourself high-quality tools to set your goals is a great way to remind yourself that you’re serious about it.

I have a notebook that’s dedicated to goal setting and journaling about my goals. When I open it my brain switches into goal mode.

I love these notebooks from Paper Source. They’re beautiful! And I love that you can customize them because I am a notebook girl meaning I have ton of them. I love being able to label them, it keeps me organized and focused. I customized my goal setting notebook to say, “Chase Your Dreams”.

I love the kitschy donut one, but they have over a 100 different cover styles to choose from. You can even upload your own art to the cover!

And giving myself pens I love to write my goals down doesn’t only make it more enjoyable, but it also makes it feel more important.

These are my favorite pens from Amazon. They write smoothly and I like that they’re small enough that I can stick them behind my ear.

*If you want to gain more confidence in just one week, subscribe to my newsletter to receive your FREE copy of the 7-Day Confidence Building Workbook*

Now here comes the fun part, writing your Magic 20 List.

At the top of your notebook page, write down your one specific goal. This is a good reminder for when you get stumped while making this list why it’s important to continue.

Get to work!

Think of and write down 20 possible ways to get what you want and achieve your goals. Making sure they are all legal and safe, of course.

The more creative they are the better. Just make sure they’re all actionable things you can do.

Expand your mind on what you think is possible. Stretch yourself to your limit.

Don’t hold yourself back. You might have to push yourself outside of your comfort zone.

But you can do this!

Don’t stop until you have a complete list of 20 different ways you can achieve your goals and get what you most want.

And if you can think of more than 20, fantastic! Write those down as a bonus. But don’t feel pressured to come up with more than 20.

Now that you have your Magic 20 list let’s start using it!

Read More: 11 Easy Creative Hobbies Women Can Start Today to Boost Their Confidence

Once you’ve completed your Magic 20 list you have to start actually working on those tasks.

Write down the one task you’re going to work on first in your planner or on your to-do list.

I use this planner from Paper Source because I enjoy using vertical weekly planners. I also like how it has a top priority section for the day. This is where I write down the task I’m going to work on for the day.

They have several different planner options though, so pick whichever one works best for you.

If the task you’re working on from your Magic 20 list has multiple components and is a big goal in itself, check out this post on breaking big goals down into small daily ones to stay on track.

Actively take steps to start knocking off tasks on your Magic 20 list.

If one of them doesn’t work out, just start working on the next one. That’s what I love about this method. There is always something else to try and to work on.

*If you want to gain more confidence in just one week, subscribe to my newsletter to receive your FREE copy of the 7-Day Confidence Building Workbook*

Once a month or once a quarter review your Magic 20 list to make sure it still aligns with the one main goal you want to achieve.

We’re human and it’s totally normal for our goals to change as we learn and grow. If you find there’s something you want more later on, just make a new Magic 20 list for the new goal.

It’s also important to reflect on how far you’ve come and how hard you’ve worked to achieve your goal.

I like journaling daily on what I did that day to get closer to my goal. They aren’t always huge wins, but even small daily progress is important and deserves to be noted.

This also helps to keep you accountable. Knowing you’re going to journal about what you did to get closer to your dream, you’ll feel more responsibility to take action throughout the day and work on your Magic 20 list.

Again, I love using these notebooks from Paper Source to journal about my goals.

This is also a great way to keep track of what you’ve done, what’s worked and what hasn’t. You can write down what you’ll try differently next time. Remember there are no failures, just learning experiences.

Always celebrate your wins, big and small!

It’s important to celebrate the work you’ve done so you’ll stay motivated and committed to achieving this goal.

Here’s a great list on how to celebrate your small wins and why it’s important to do so.

Grab Marie Forleo’s free audio training and a copy of her book Everything is Figureoutable and start making your Magic 20 list! 

Let me know in the comments how this challenge went for you!