Goal setting and achieving is powerful and affects success in life. When a person dares to dream about what he or she truly desires and sets goals, a powerful shift happens, where life is lived with greater direction and purpose. Once goals are achieved, confidence builds, and not only does the person feel a sense of accomplishment, but also motivated to set even more goals.
There are certain criteria that helps to achieve goals faster and easier. Goals that are properly set, written down and focused on daily help to ensure positive outcomes. Here are five steps to help in the process of achieving goals.
Step 1: Set Goals with Greatest Positive Impact
Choosing between goals can be overwhelming; there are only so many hours in the day. A person’s time and attention is often pulled in many directions, which makes it hard to accomplish even one small goal. To prioritize goals, look at all areas of life such as family, health, career, finances, and leisure activities. Then decide what areas need attention and which goals will add the most impact, meaning and purpose to life.
Goal expert Brian Tracy, in his book Flight Plan, talks about his guaranteed success formula for achieving goals. He recommends writing down ten goals, with each one written as if it has already happened. He cites this example, “I earn $XXX each year” instead of “I will earn $XXX each year.” Then he says to identify one goal on the list that would have the greatest positive impact on life. This goal becomes “your major definite purpose, your primary goal, and your most important destination for the next leg of your life’s journey.” Next, he says, transfer that goal to a clean sheet of paper, and make a list of potential obstacles, additional information, skills and people needed in order to achieve that goal. Finally, he says, organize this information into a plan and start taking action.
“When you develop the habit of intense action orientation, you will step on the accelerator of your own potential. You will begin moving rapidly toward the achievement of your most important goal,” says Tracy.
Step 2: Make SMART Goals for Best Result
To make goals that are focused and achievable, they need to be S.M.A.R.T., an acronym that typically means specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-limited. For example, instead of saying, “I want to start my own business,” a SMART goal would be, “I want to start my own life coaching business that helps people in transition by May 1, 2010.” The latter goal is specific in that there is no question as to what is trying to be accomplished. Also, anyone can determine whether or not it has been completed, which makes it measurable, and the time-limitation avoids procrastination and creates motivation.
Also part of the SMART criteria is to make sure that the goal is achievable and realistic. When people set themselves up for potential failure, it can be disempowering and motivation can be lost. A person does need to stretch oneself when goal setting to maximize potential, but the goal should not be so far out of reach that, more than likely, it is impossible to achieve.
Step 3: Writing Goals Down Is Essential
In Henriette Anne Klauser’s, book, Write it Down, Make it Happen: Knowing What You Want – And Getting It, she tells readers that writing down goals is the first step towards achieving them. She talks about Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip Dilbert, once a “lowly technology worker in Corporate America,” who wrote down, 15 minutes a day, “I will become a syndicated cartoonist.” After many rejections and through perseverance, she says, Scott became a syndicated cartoonist in over 2,000 newspapers worldwide and is now known all over the world.
Writing goals in a daily planner, a journal or even on sticky notes helps focus a person’s attention on them, makes them more real, and is a reminder of what is being strived for.
Step 4: Think of Potential Obstacles and Real Solutions
Winston Churchill said, “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” Successful people fail more than unsuccessful people simply because they keep trying no matter what obstacles they encounter.
Obstacles to achieving goals can include fear of failure, fear of success and lack of self-confidence. An obstacle can be less threatening if there are potential solutions. So think about some real solutions to help overcome roadblocks in the path to success. Often the solution can be to simply re-connect with your motivation for achieving the goal. This motivation is the driving force in staying on track towards success.
Step 5: Focus on Goals Set Everyday
Focusing daily on goals will help to increase success in achieving them because it’s a constant reminder of what is desired in life. Two ways to keep goals in the forefront are:
- Think from the end – Dr. Wayne Dyer, internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development, in his book The Power of Intention, says that to manifest what is desired, “continuously contemplate yourself as being surrounded by the conditions you wish to produce.” Imagine what life will look like once the goal is realized and the joy and satisfaction felt.
- Visualize – Create a vision board with pictures, symbols and words relating to goals, or even a simple visualization of life once goals are realized each morning can help.
Life Goals Realized Through Passion and Hard Work
Achieving important goals and objectives in life can truly be difficult yet so rewarding. Enthusiasm, self-discipline, commitment, and perseverance is what’s needed to get desired results. But once a goal is realized, a dream turned into reality, a shift occurs, and people receive acknowledgement and confirmation that through hard work and passion nothing is impossible.
Stacey Porto - Stacey Porto, CC is a certified life, career and business coach, graduating from the Life Purpose Institute of San Diego, CA. She has a ...
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