“Most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit.”—Les Brown
Everyone talks about goal setting, yet why are most goals never accomplished?
There are a few things that people aren’t talking about when it comes to goal setting. These are the keys that will be paramount to your success in attaining your goals.
Learn these keys and you will win in your goal setting. What you will find is that you will have to think about goal setting slightly differently to make it really work for you.
So here are the 9 uncommon steps that are key to your goal setting success:
1. Affirm to yourself that it is possible
This is the most commonly skipped step in goal setting. You have to know that you are capable of achieving your goal and you have to have the belief that you can attain this goal, that somehow, someway it could be done. Possibility leads to probability.
2. Toss away any thoughts of how your goal will be accomplished
To start we do not need to know how to attain our goal. Having a plan or being realistic is going to take away from the power of our imagination in that goal.
For a moment, suspend critical thinking on how your goal is going to happen. Instead, dream of your goal being realized. What is most important is having a clear idea of where you want to end up. From this focus, you give your mind direction and purpose.
3. Make your goal compelling beyond belief
Now is the time for motivating yourself and imagining your goal. What you first want to do is focus on the pain of what will happen if you don’t realize this goal of yours.
Then when you have done that, try to vividly imagine the realization of this goal. Make it big, bright, and beautifully depicted in your mind. Determine what it will specifically mean for you.
Focusing on the pain of not attaining the goal and then the pleasure of reaching your triumph will give you intense motivation to get going. You do this so you have something to fight for. This will become essential when things get tough.
4. Commit to your goal
In 1519, Captain Hernán Cortés’ army arrived by boats in Veracruz prepared for war. His first order was for his crew to burn the ships that they just arrived in behind them on the shore. With the ships completely destroyed, there was no going back. His troops would win the battle and live or they would perish in the throes of defeat. He did this because retreating is easier when it is an option.
Where is it that you need to burn the ships behind you? This could mean throwing away all the junk food in your cabinets or getting rid of your addictive video games. It could mean letting go of that relationship that isn’t leading you towards your dreams. Make the decision to fully commit to your goal and let go of what is preventing you from doing so.
5. Write your goal down
This is probably the most common advice, but it’s rarely acted on. In a study done, researchers found a significant correlation between financial earnings and having written definable goals years earlier.
The study found that the 3% of the population they surveyed who had written goals 10 years previously were now earning more money than the combined amount of the 97% of people who did not have written goals at the time of the original survey.
When you write your goals down, there is an additional neuro-association connected with your goal and yourself. Your mind has an additional reference for this goal being something that you want to make a reality.
Putting your goal into writing and focusing your mind with this added action will help you achieve your goal.
6. Tell other people about your goal
Now that you are committed to the attainment of your goal, let your friends know. This can add an added level of community and accountability.
Some friends will keep you accountable, but more importantly telling someone else motivates you to stay true to what you told that person about your desire to accomplish that goal. The good friends will motivate and encourage you.
These people can help you develop a community of positivity. The bad friends will dissuade you and tell you that you can’t do it.
7. Disregard your non-believing, nay-saying friends
You will have friends that don’t believe in you and whether or not you can achieve your goals. It’s not necessary to unfriend them, but you should keep great distance from these people.
It’s important to know that those doubters are not necessarily bad people and they might just be jealous of what you might accomplish, but you need all the positive support and energy helping to move you towards your goals and not any of that negative energy.
At a later time, those doubters might just come back and want you to help them.
8. Surround yourself with at least one believer
In the same way that you have doubters, you are going to have fans. There are going to be some of your friends that absolutely want you to attain your goals and live out your dreams.
Spend more time with these people and do everything you can to help them support you as well. With this positive energy, you can develop a positive community and a supportive mastermind group of people who are focused on winning.
Things are going to get tough, you will need some believers and fans.
9. Take your first step now
Identify your plan for achieving your goal as it is now. This plan will likely change a few times, but identify the steps that you think it will take and then get in motion.
Break down the tasks into smaller chunks and when you have the first step, get moving. When you start now, instead of tomorrow, you build momentum and get yourself moving toward the attainment of your goal.
Sometimes starting is the hardest part, so get it out of the way right now.
If you want uncommon results in your life it makes sense to think uncommonly and exceptionally. Think of your goal setting differently.
Find a goal worthy of you and take these steps to the realization of it in your life. What you will find is that having this worthy goal will inspire you to new heights of greatness. It is only you that is holding yourself back from living the life that you want. Do what it takes to accomplish your dreams because you are worth it.
