Why Goal Setting Hasn’t Worked For You (And What To Do Instead)

May 13, 2025

Woman in a colourful flowing dress walking barefoot along a vibrant green hillside path, surrounded by orchids and wildflowers, symbolising soul-aligned freedom and clarity.

Why Goal Setting Hasn’t Worked For You (And What To Do Instead)
By Katie Joy, The Global Butterfly

The soul-aligned reason you’ve been stuck — and the breakthrough path to finally move forward.

You’ve probably tried every method out there…

Vision boards.
SMART goals.
Productivity hacks.
Planning your entire year in January with a colour-coded calendar and the best intentions.

And yet — despite all your effort — something still doesn’t feel right.

You start with a burst of motivation, but it fades. You second-guess yourself. You stall. You wonder why everyone else seems to be moving forward… while you stay stuck, spinning your wheels or abandoning your goals halfway through.

It’s not because you’re lazy. It’s not because you’re not capable. And it’s definitely not because you’re broken.

It’s because the way most people are taught to set goals… doesn’t work for people like you.

Let’s explore why — and what you can do instead.

💡 The Real Reason Goal Setting Hasn’t Worked For You

If you're anything like the soulful humans I support, you're not here for surface-level success. You’re here for alignment, freedom, and a life that actually feels good — not just looks good on paper.

But traditional goal-setting is often rooted in logic, not energy.

It focuses on external metrics. Ticking boxes. Chasing outcomes.
It demands you pick a goal before you even connect to your soul.
And it skips the most important step entirely: energetic alignment.

That’s where the disconnect happens.

You set goals from your mind, but your body doesn’t feel excited. Your heart isn’t on board. Your energy feels heavy or unsure. And before you know it, you’ve either pushed through and burnt out… or pulled away and blamed yourself.

But here's what I want you to know, beautiful soul:

It’s not the goal that’s the problem. It’s the frequency it was born from.

🔁 The Old Model: External Goals That Lead to Internal Misalignment

We’ve been conditioned to:

Set goals based on what looks successful to others
Copy what worked for someone else
Follow a 12-month plan before checking in with how we truly feel

It’s no wonder we feel disconnected.

You can’t force alignment from strategy alone.

One woman in the Soul Goal Mapping Challenge last week said something that hit home for so many others:

“I realised I’ve been chasing goals that were never even mine.”

And this, right here, is the crack where the light gets in.

✨ The New Way: Soul Goal Mapping

What if your goals came from your soul — not from a survival pattern, a people-pleasing habit, or someone else’s definition of success?

What if your goals were the by-product of an elevated frequency, not the trigger to achieve it?

That’s the paradigm shift we facilitate in the Soul Goal Mapping Challenge.

It’s not about picking the perfect goal on day one.

It’s about tuning into:

What your energy is ready for
What you’re really yearning to experience
What’s ready to be released
What your soul is whispering beneath the noise

Then we clear the blocks. We shift the energy. And from that elevated place — you map your next aligned step.

And you know what happens?

Clarity arrives.
Courage shows up.
Things begin to unfold with more ease and flow than you’ve experienced in years.

🔥 Real Results from Aligned Action

Let me share a few snippets from our most recent round:

One participant finally saw the energetic pattern that had her choosing goals based on proving herself. She released it — and chose a goal rooted in creativity and joy. Her energy lifted immediately.
Another realised she was holding back because she thought she needed the “perfect” plan. Through the challenge, she discovered that micro-goals — anchored in her vision and supported by aligned daily rituals — were the real secret to momentum.
A third saw that she wasn’t stuck at all — she was simply trying to operate in a frequency that no longer matched who she was becoming. She recalibrated, reconnected, and started taking action within 24 hours of her insight.

And these stories aren’t rare. They’re the new normal when people stop forcing goals and start aligning instead.

🧭 What To Do Instead (Right Now)

If goal-setting hasn’t worked for you in the past — or if you’re at a crossroads wondering what’s next — I invite you to try this:

1. Start with Frequency, Not Force

Ask yourself: What energy am I operating from?
If it’s fear, pressure, scarcity, or comparison — pause. Breathe. Clear. You’re not broken. You’re just misaligned.

2. Release the Idea of the “Perfect Goal”

The right goal is the one that feels like relief and expansion. Not the one that makes you clench. Even the tiniest shift can ripple into magic when it’s soul-aligned.

3. Anchor Into What You Truly Desire to Experience

What do you want to feel?
What do you want to express?
What do you want to create from the fullness of who you are?

These are the real questions your goals should answer — and the GGA method (Gratitude, Gains, and Appreciation) is the daily compass to keep you aligned.

✨ Your Invitation: Don’t Just Set Goals. Soul Map Them.

If this is resonating, you’re already halfway there.

Because once you see the old model for what it is — and start aligning with your soul’s guidance — you can never go back.

The Soul Goal Mapping Challenge is more than a 5-day experience. It’s an initiation. A reclamation. A remembering of who you are — and what you’re here to do, without burning out, selling out, or abandoning yourself along the way.

If you missed the live round, don’t worry.

You can join the waitlist now and get: