My goal-setting saga began at the age of 12, when, for the first time in my life, I set a goal – to compete at the Olympics. At the age of 16, as the youngest Slovenian Olympian, I succeeded in participating in Athens. I realized early on that all my dreams were achievable as long as I dared to set high goals. I also understood that the higher I reach, the more I can achieve. So, my next vision was – to win an Olympic medal.

Not only did I write down my target time (World Record actually) and construct a detailed plan with daily action-goals, I also took advantage of my visualizing skills. I was aware that if I repeated my Olympic performance mentally, I would succeed. If the brain doesn’t distinguish between imagination and reality, I thought, why not rehearse my race and prepare my mind and body for success? The path towards my medal, however, was incredibly difficult; I was endlessly challenged. Eight months prior to the Beijing Olympics, I was completely burned out. My body could barely move, and the results in the pool were worrying, to say the least. Despite the hardship, every night, I visualized swimming a world record that upcoming summer. Tucked up warmly in bed, I’d imagine myself standing on the podium, receiving a medal and feeling unimaginable joy.

After hundreds of visualizations and after swimming more than 40,000 kilometers, my mind and body were ready. All I had to do was show up and do my best. On August 13th, 2008, my dream came true – I won the first Slovenian Olympic medal in swimming.

My Olympic experience gave me a beautiful insight into the human mind and the powerful potential it has to manifest our visions. With the right kind of goal-setting and mental training, anything is possible. And so a new passion came about – the study of psychology.  My next goal was to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in neuropsychology, and later pursue a master’s degree in performance psychology in San Diego. I was eager to use my experience and knowledge to help other people achieve their goals. It was my mission to enable individuals of all walks of life to function optimally in stressful, uncomfortable situations, thrive through challenges and reach their potential.

Working with different types of performers; athletes, pilots, dancers, musicians, businessmen, doctors, etc., I have noticed that all successful people have something in common – they know exactly what they want, have a strategy for how to achieve it, and use appropriate mental tools that allow them to maintain inner self-confidence and motivation on the way to their goal.

Unfortunately, research shows that only 2% of people set goals in this way. Knowing how setting and pursuing goals properly greatly improves one’s quality of life, I decided to create a product that would familiarize people with the goal-setting process, one that would be simple yet thorough, entertaining, and above all, a yearly practice one aspires to engage in.

As a result, “Play to Make it Happen”, a one-of-a-kind guide for setting and achieving goals, came to fruition. It leads you on a 2-hour adventure in which every step of the journey includes one goal-setting topic – teaching you how to write a detailed action plan, helping you work out your “why”, choosing the right kind of values, acquiring empowering beliefs and self-talk, visualizing your desired future, and multiple scientifically proven methods to keep you resilient along the way, helping you to create your own future and live a happy and fulfilled life.

I look forward to your success and can’t wait to see your dreams come true!

Best wishes