Earlier this week, while listening to Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, I was reminded of the infamous copyright lawsuit involving Marvin Gaye’s estate.
If you’re not familiar, here’s the short version:
Although the lyrics and melodies weren’t copied, Blurred Lines was ruled to have “a similar feel” to one of Gaye’s songs. The result? Thicke and Williams were ultimately ordered to pay $5.3 million in damages — plus ongoing royalties — to Gaye’s estate.
Let’s sit with that for a second.
The infringement wasn’t about words or notes. It was about a feeling.
Meanwhile, in a Mastermind conversation…
That same day, I was chatting with a Mastermind colleague about a goal she’s had for years: breaking six figures in her business.
She’s deeply skilled at what she does. Her clients love her. But that $100K milestone? It’s felt like a wall she can’t quite break through. And over time, that goal became heavy — a measure of “not enough.”
And then… my subconscious made a connection.
What if, like in the lawsuit, the feeling was the thing that really mattered?
The Reframe That Shifted Everything
What if the $100K goal wasn’t the goal, but simply one way to get to the real goal: the feeling of peace, stability, expansion, or joy?
I called her and asked:
“What would it feel like to hit that number — and can we make that the focus instead?”
She squealed with delight.It no longer felt like a chase for some external benchmark.
Now it was about how she wanted to live, how her business would run, how she would feel when everything was humming.
She went from stressed and stuck to inspired and in motion — just by reframing the goal.
From Numbers to Nuance: What’s Your Goal Really About?
So many of us are carrying goals we’ve inherited.
From business coaches.
From social media.
From the version of ourselves who set them five years ago.
And while there’s nothing wrong with metrics, they’re often not what we’re truly after.
- We don’t want 100 clients.
We want to feel secure, spacious, and impactful. - We don’t want to work 10 fewer hours a week.
We want to feel more present with the people we love.
Try This Reframe
Is there a goal you’ve been struggling to achieve — despite your best efforts?
Try asking:
- What’s the feeling I believe this goal will give me?
- What else could help me experience that feeling now?
- What might shift if I made the feeling my real goal?
Ask the deeper question. Let your subconscious get curious.
Take a walk.
Breathe.
Journal if it helps.
And allow a new version of the goal to take shape — one rooted in how you want to feel, not just what you think you should achieve.