In this article, I’ll show you why many people fail to achieve their goals and how to be successful with whatever it is that you want to achieve in your life.
What is a goal?
A goal is a target that 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.
How to set a goal:
Setting a goal is a process that starts with an achievable 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, then you break them down l into small individual steps or actions. Achievable goals are goals where you can influence their realization and measure your progress towards them. Next, you can begin the process of achieving them, step by step, short and medium-term actions.
1. What actions are required?
Goals require action on your part. You first need to decide what action is required to achieve the goal. Your first action is to always write your goals down i.e putting pen to paper, giving your goals an existence of their own.
Writing a plan is an essential step in achieving your goals – without it, you will, over time you’ll keep amending the long-term goal to fit your reality. Chance are you’ll eventually reduce the goal to a wish, and wishes only come true by chance.
2. Analyze the results
You then need to analyze and work out in detail how you are going to 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 major longer-term goals.
3. 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 plan.
4. 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 take into account what you will do today, tomorrow, and the next days, weeks, and months to come. Always write down your results.
5. What if things go wrong?
Goals are difficult 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. There will be setbacks, expect them because they are part of the process.