How many times have you heard that being successful is all down to setting goals? It may come as no surprise to you to learn there is much more to success than just putting your goals. In this article, I show you why many people fail to achieve their goals and how to be successful with whatever you want to accomplish in your life.
1. What is a goal?
A goal is a target which is achievable in measurable, attainable steps. It is more than just a desire or a need and has an existence of its own. A desire or a wish is less tangible and often just fleeting. Who doesn’t desire or wish to win the lottery? A goal is a desire, wish or need achievable by actions you can take. It is more than a mere wish or desire.
2. How to set a goal?
Setting a goal is a process that starts with a likely need or desire. First, you must decide on the following
What do you want?
Where do you want to be?
Your status, career, or qualifications?
A goal can relate to any desire, wish or need achievable by actions you can take.
You then break down the goal into small individual steps or actions. Achievable goals are goals where you can influence their realization and measure your progress toward them. Achieving long-term life-changing goals is a process of acquiring, step by step, short and medium-term actions.
3. What actions are required?
Goals require action on your part. You first need to decide what action is necessary to achieve the goal. Your first action is always to write your goals down. Putting pen to paper, and this is one time when an actual pen and paper are required, gives your goals an existence of their own.
Writing a plan is an essential step in achieving your goals – without it, you will, over time, amend the long term goal to fit your reality. You will eventually reduce the goal to a wish, and wishes only come true by chance.
4. Analyse the results
You then need to analyse and work out in detail how you will accomplish each goal. This means writing a detailed plan of what tangible actions are required to achieve each goal.
These actions then become smaller shorter-term goals leading to significant long-term goals.
5. What steps do I need to take today?
Every day ask yourself, “What steps do I need to take today?”. By now, it should be all planned, so check your plan and make sure you take each step every day. If you discover additional steps are needed, add them to the project.
6. Review your achievements every week and month
Every week review your progress for the week. Check what you’ve done and what you may have missed. Adjust your plan for the next week or month.
Your plan should always consider what you will do today, tomorrow, this week, next week before the end of the month, in the next three months, or six months…? Always write down your results.
7. What if things go wrong?
Goals are challenging because they move you outside your comfort zone to do things differently. To be successful, you have to face your fear of failure and take risks. Expect setbacks; expect them; they are part of the process.
