The FIRE formula for achieving more with less stress
By Dr Rana Al-FalakiEver feel your goal is just too big to ever really get there? Maybe even just the thought of it ends up triggering a feeling of stress. Perhaps you have considered how you might feel when you get there and then find yourself stuck where you are. Possibly, there are times when ‘life’ gets in the way, and your goals get put on the back burner and then gradually forgotten about.
This is not unusual. It’s quite normal, in fact. But here is the really important thing: If you have taken time to set goals, you are not normal, you are in the minority of those who already have the potential to feel more fulfilled in life, so believe me, there is no need to accept what is considered ‘normal.’
How great would it feel to set extraordinary goals and feel extraordinary at the same time?
It all starts with putting what I call FIRE under your goals. If you want to be able to achieve your desires without stress, exhaustion, or risking burnout holding you back, then you will need some tools to keep you going without using excess energy reserves.
This is what I call optimal performance: the ability to turn yourself into your own rechargeable energy source. When you master optimal performance, you can be just as successful and achieve just as much, not only in work but in every aspect of your life, be that family, finances, personal development, or flourishing in health and relationships. Whatever your goals are, when you are an optimal performer, you can succeed in all of them, living a life of high productivity, balance, and joy.
Most people make the mistake of setting SMART goals, laying them out in a systematic way with logical thought and determining if they are measurable and achievable, adding a realistic time scale to a specific action. The problem with this is that it focuses on the use of the left side of your brain, so much logic, and not enough creativity. If you really want to get unstuck, push boundaries, grow exponentially, and tap into flow, you quite literally need to get out of your head, or the left side, anyway! You need to be able to use the right side of your brain, where creativity, inspiration, and intuition live.
The left side of your brain, working alone, will limit you. It will tell you all the reasons ‘why not’ and only show you one way to achieve. It will suppress the elements of ‘why you can’ and ‘how you can’ which open you up to finding ways to achieve goals with more efficient energy usage.
This energy optimisation forms the foundation of the NAIL-IT Leadership System, which has six key pillars at its core. These are your needs, attitude, integrity, limitlessness, intuition, and tangibility, designed to streamline your energy and achieve optimal performance: high success without burnout. One practical tool from this system is the FIRE Formula, which helps you set goals that fuel you instead of depleting you.
So, what is FIRE under your goals?
Feelings
How do you feel when you consider a goal? Is there excitement, or is it something you simply think you ‘should do’? If there is a bubbling feeling in your gut, is it intuition guiding you, or is it fear trying to stop you? Ask yourself: if you knew there was no way you could fail, would you want this? The right thing is not always the easy path, but it may save you a lot of trouble down the line by being willing to take the right path the first time around.
Integrity
How integral is the goal to you? How does it truly align with who you are at your core, with your values, your purpose, and your ambition? Ensure you are willing and able to demonstrate true authenticity, leadership, understanding, passion, and behaviour patterns that make achievement flow with ease, not effort. Admittedly, you may not fully understand how to do that, which is where self-awareness, reflection, and often the help of a coach will get you there.
Relevance
How does your goal align with the bigger picture? How relevant is it to what you want to be and what you want to achieve? By asking yourself this, you will remove the mire and help yourself prioritise. It will prevent you from wasting time and energy on things that are not so important or that you may ultimately be able to delegate, freeing up your time to take steps towards your true desires. It removes the “I have to,” which is draining, and replaces it with “I want to,” which is energising.
Engagement
How does the goal engage you? If it is too simple, the brain shuts off. It gets bored, which will lead to stress when you don’t achieve it or give up. If the goal is too hard, you may also feel stressed and not believe it is possible, so you need to break it down into bite-sized pieces and master the skills of motivation, trust, confidence, and holographic thinking. Your brain requires challenge to keep you engaged and active, but not so much that it paralyses you.
It sounds so simple, yet most people go into things and try to achieve in ways that are not aligned with who they truly are. The perfectionist, the pleaser, the carer, the giver, the worrier, the judge, the procrastinator, all these labels get in the way and drain your energy when trying to move forward, leaving you stressed, exhausted, and at high risk of burnout.
So, get rid of the labels. Simply be YOU! Take time to discover who YOU truly are and take the path of least resistance, the one where your energy is streamlined, your desires are clear, and your mind is saying, “I want this,” “I can,” and “I have totally got this.” Next time you set a goal, put FIRE under it and NAIL-IT with confidence, clarity, and calm.
