How to Achieve Your Goals Inspired By Jim Carrey

Plus More Pearls of Wisdom on How to Create a Life You Truly Love Living from Hollywood’s Highest Paid Comedian

At DreamBuilder LIVE, my three-day signature event where I guide attendees through how to transform their dreams into reality, I often show a clip from the blockbuster hit Dumb and Dumber to illustrate an important dream building principal.

Even though the film is a silly comedy, there’s one scene where Jim Carrey’s character, Lloyd Christmas, gives a great example of how to see past your current circumstances so that you can achieve your goals and create a life you truly love living.

Here’s the scene:

In the film, Lloyd is in love with the woman he’s speaking to in this clip, Mary. He’s hoping he has a chance at a future with her, and so he finally works up the courage to ask her the likelihood of the two of them becoming a couple.

LLOYD: “What do you think the chances are of a guy like you, and a girl like me, ending up together?”

MARY: “Not good.”

LLOYD: “You mean, not good like, one out of a hundred?”

MARY: “I’d say more like one out of a million.”

LLOYD: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance… YEAHHHH!!”

Rather than take this as the bad news that Mary intends for it to be, Lloyd is not deterred. Instead, he sees this “one in a million” as a window of possibility.

He stills sees there’s a chance for him to achieve his goal of being with Mary.

Like his character in this film, Jim Carrey was not daunted by the odds he faced in becoming a successful comedian and actor.

Even though he was just a regular kid from Canada, Jim believed there was a chance he could succeed in Hollywood. And so, he relocated to Los Angeles, California and pursued his dream.

Jim Carrey’s visualization technique

As young Jim Carrey was trying to succeed in Hollywood, he did something that all great dream builders do.

He created a clear mental image of the result he wanted, and he then wrote his dream down as specifically as possible.

Jim’s dream was to earn $10 million from a single film, so that he could support his family in the way he truly wanted to.

So, he wrote himself a check for $10 million dollars for “services rendered as an actor,” and kept that check in his wallet for many years.

After setting what he called his “rocket of desire” into the Universe, he let it go and went about the business of taking action on his dream.

Jim realized that life presents opportunities to you, but then it’s up to you to act on them to effectively achieve your goals.

In his pursuit to become a successful actor, he leaned into every professional opportunity that came his way.

After starring in the comedy, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective in 1994, Jim’s career ignited!

And guess how much he was paid for his next starring role in the film, Dumb and Dumber, later that year?

That’s right, $10 million!

Jim Carrey’s now famous commencement address

At a brilliant commencement speech Jim Carrey gave not long ago, he shared his secrets to achieving his goals and living his dreams.

When speaking to the graduating class at Maharishi University, Jim said:

You can spend all your time worrying about your path to the future… you can choose to play it safe. You can also do what you think others expect of you. Or you can choose to go for it, follow your dreams and work to achieve your goals.

So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the Universe for it. I’m saying, I am the proof that you can ask the Universe for it! But if it doesn’t happen right away, it’s because (the Universe) is busy fulfilling my order!

Jim shared with the graduating class that our job is not to figure out how our dreams are going to come to fruition, but rather to hold a clear vision for what we would love in our minds, and then be ready to walk through doorways of opportunity when they open.

When you have a dream, and you clearly define it and pursue it with determination like Jim Carrey, you will be well on your way to achieving your own Hollywood ending!

Achieving a Goal Never Happens in a Straight Line

The road winds around and sometimes turns back, or meanders. It’s okay, as long as you continue on the road toward your goal and continue to make progress.

If you follow the following 5 steps, you’ll learn to set a goal, avoid drift, avoid problems and get to where you’re going. There’s a power in you that’s greater than your circumstances that can help you live the life you’d love.

In order to keep yourself on track, there are 5 steps that need to happen as you’re setting your goal

1. Your goal needs to be specific.
For example, instead of saying, “I want to have more free time,” you may say, “I want to free up at least two hours each day, four days a week to work on my novel.” The more specific, the better.

2. Your goal needs to be measurable.
In order for you to know if you’re on track, you have to be able to measure your progress. Last week, you set aside two hours to work on your novel. This week, you’ve set aside four hours. You’ve made progress!

3. Your goal needs to be achievable.
If the most you’ve ever made is $50,000 in a year, then it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to make $5 billion this year. But what if you set a goal to double your income from $50K to $100? Now that’s achievable!

4. You want a goal that’s rewarding in its process.
It’s not just about the destination, it has to be about the journey. The process for achieving your goal must be as rewarding as the goal itself, so you will actually be motivated to do what you need to do to make progress.

5. The goal needs to be transformational.
Even greater than the goal, is the growth that happens — who you know yourself to be and who you discover yourself to be. When you set the right goal, you will be a better person for it.

But what if it’s not that easy for me?

Why many people don’t achieve their goals

The reason most people don’t achieve their goals is typically a combination of fear, limitation-based thinking and procrastination.

In other words, we imagine having the life we really want and before long, doubt and worry sneak in.

We think,

• Who am I to think I can do this?
• This isn’t a good time.
• I can think better when I respond to these emails… finish the laundry… clear out this mess in the living room first.
• And while I’m at it, I’d better wait ’til I have 6-pack abs and a million dollars.

Think of setting and achieving a goal like driving your car to a city you want to visit.

The city you’re in now is your current life, and the city you want to go to is your goal, or the life you’d love living. Setting a goal to get from point A to point B in this analogy is easy because all you have to do is harness the energy of the car and of all the roads in between you and your destination.

There are safeguards in place that help you get there.

As you’re driving along the road to your goal, there are yellow or white lines in the center of the highway that help you avoid drift. Drift is dangerous. If you drift one way, you can hit oncoming traffic. If you drift the other way, you could end up stuck in a ditch.

Drift can happen in goal-setting, too.

Drift happens when we entertain our fears, put off doing what we know we should do, or tell ourselves we don’t really want that goal anyway. Drift stops us from getting to where we really want to go, both in a car and on the road of life when it comes to achieving a goal.

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How I learned to overcome fear on a four-wheeler

A few years ago, I was on vacation in Mexico with my children and their families, and we rented four-wheel ATV’s to take on a short trek across some nearby sand dunes, eventually ending up at a beach.

Watch me tell the story in the video below.

Being that I was afraid of crashing my ATV, I really wasn’t interested in going on this trek! But I decided to go anyway to spend time with my kids.

As we came close to the beach, I decided to stop at the top of the last sand dune. My children continued down onto the beach, and I thought,

“I’ll just watch the sunset from up here.”

The truth is, it was a bit of a steep decline to go down to the beach, and I was afraid of crashing.

How many times in your life have you really wanted to do something? But you didn’t pursue it because of your fears?

My youngest son Mat turned around and drove up to me at the top of the sand dune and asked,

“What’s going on?”

I told him I was perfectly fine right where I was. I was just going to stay up on the sand dune and watch the sunset.

Mat looked at me, immediately knowing that I was giving energy to my fears, and he said,

“Mom, don’t let fear win!”

I looked at him and wanted to say, “Who raised you?” because many times in our household growing up I had said the same things to him! But, realizing he was right, I made my way down the sand dune and onto the beach.

When it was time to head back, my kids and their spouses sped up the sand dune on their ATVs. But when I tried to go up the sand dune, I kept slipping back down.

I couldn’t get up the dune!

On my 12th attempt to get up the sand dune, my wonderful son-in-law, Jorge, came over to me and whispered in my ear,

“Momma, you have power you are not using. Take your foot off the brake!”

In that moment, I realized that as I tried to drive up the sand dune, out of fear, I kept unconsciously putting my foot on the brake… which kept causing me to slide all the way back down the hill to my starting point.

With those words, my son-in-law helped me maneuver that moment when I was afraid and lean in instead of pull back. And before I knew it, I made my way to the top of the sand dune, with my kids cheering me on!

I have power I’m not using! Take your foot off the brake, Mary.

Over time this became my inner mantra.

The truth is, there’s a power within each one of us that’s far greater than any circumstance, situation or condition we will ever find ourselves in.

The relationship we have with this power grows over time if we decide to cultivate it.

What if Achieving Your Goals Was Possible

Michelangelo once said that the greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that our aim is actually too low and we reach it. Most often we set a goal we think we can achieve based on circumstances. But circumstances are our history: they are not made of our destiny.

There is something in every one of us that is greater than the circumstances we are facing.

Today, let’s pause for just a moment now and ask,

“What would be a goal I would set if I didn’t believe I could fail.”

So what if you stretch for the sun and you hit the moon? Go ahead and reach!
Whether we know it or not, every one of us has a bar that we have attained in our level of achievement in the important areas of our lives. If we don’t pay attention, we tend to settle for the bar we’ve reached.

We become complacent.

My friend Bob Proctor said to me recently,

“You know, Mary, a professional is a professional, no matter what.”

No matter if they are tired, no matter if things are tough in their life, and no matter when there are bills to pay that they don’t know how they are going to pay. No matter what, a professional is a professional. Whenever they step out to do their job, they do their job if they are a real professional.

We might apply that to our lives as well.

• A good wife is a good wife no matter what.
• A good husband is a good husband no matter what.
• A good parent is a good parent no matter what.
• A good friend is a good friend no matter what.
• A good street sweeper is a good street sweeper no matter what.

It doesn’t mean that we are always perfect. It means that there’s an ever higher bar to strive to reach; to be a better wife, a better husband, a better parent, to be a better friend, to be a better you.

So today let’s each notice what’s important to us and let’s raise the bar on our goals, dreams and achievements, no matter what.

So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance

The power within us can be unleashed, harnessed and brought into the experience of the dream we are holding for ourselves in our own hearts.

I’ve learned over the years that when I feel afraid, rather than contract and pull back, I can choose to lean in at least a little bit… and take steps to partner with that power that knows how to go forward, even when I don’t.

And most of all, I wish for you that this year, you come to know deeper and more fully and profoundly than ever before that you do have a power within you that’s stronger than any circumstance, and that you too can take your foot off the brake!

Are you ready to take your “one-in-a-million” shot?

I’m telling you there’s a chance!

There is something very specific that we are here to be, do or create that will enhance the lives of those around us and bring us the greatest joy and deepest fulfillment in the process.

The first step to living that life is to DECODE what your life’s purpose truly is, and the guided meditation gift I’ve just sent you will help you do this.

The natural next step is for you to create a clear vision for your future that’s aligned with your true calling, so that you have something to actually live INTO – and my brand new program, The Power of Purpose, will help you do precisely that!

And just one more thing…

Goal-setting is a drag for most people.

It’s very easy to daydream about something we would like: finding the love of our life, having the money that can afford us the freedom we desire, having the career that matters to us, enjoying better, vibrant health, but it’s hard to actually set a goal and then even more challenging to achieve it.

If you’re a visual person, I highly recommend taking the time to watch the video embedded above, take some notes and really spend time with the concepts discussed in this post about goal setting, overcoming common fear-based obstacles that stop many of us from even starting, and then actually achieving your goals you’ve set out to achieve.