Do you feel like you could do so much better in certain areas of your life, but for some reason you don’t to be getting any closer to your goals? You’re not alone as many people feel this way in some area of their life.
Why do you think so many people set their new year’s resolutions each year?
What they’re actually saying is “This year I will achieve the goals I didn’t achieve last year, or the past 8 years for that matter. But this year, this is it!”. Perhaps you said the same thing last New Year’s and if so, I’d like to ask you a question:
How has your progress been on reaching the goal you set for yourself?
If your answer is anything less than positive, you’ll get a blast from reading this article! I’m going over 5 effective goal setting tips that help you actually ACHIEVE your goal!
I’m not talking about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. Instead, I’ll give you actionable methods for goal getting!
Sounds good? Let’s dive right on in!
Not a big reader? Why not watch this lesson in video format instead?
If the embed doesn’t work, you can watch it on YouTube here.
Table of Contents
1. Focus on the right areas of your life
The first thing you will need to do is decide what areas of your life you want or need to improve in.
If I asked you right now about different areas of your life (career, health, fulfillment, social, etc.) can you give me a rating (1-10) of where you stand within just a few seconds?
If not, you likely haven’t taken the time to evaluate where you are in your life.
Too many people go on with their lives without ever stopping to consider where they are and where they want to go. They set goals for themselves, without really knowing what parts of their life need improvement.
If you just take some time every once in a while to evaluate, you may notice the things you’re focused on aren’t the things that should get your attention.
Here’s what I recommend you do:
Find some time today where you’re free to sit and think without getting interrupted. Take a pen and piece of paper (optionally a laptop would work as well) and list the following items, leaving some space between each:
- Health
- Partner /Love life
- Family + Friends
- Career / Business
- Financial
- Spirit (religious or otherwise)
- Hobbies
- Any area you feel is important to you.
Next, behind each category rate yourself on how well you’re doing in that category. 1 being “This area of my life is a complete mess” and 10 being “I’m totally rocking this thing, doing great!”
This will give you insight in how you’ve been living your life. Any area you scored yourself low on is an area you likely haven’t been paying attention to.
Looking at these numbers should give you an idea where to start.
Ideally you would aim to get each area up to an 8 or higher. Tiny improvements over a longer period of time into each of these will help you grow, but there probably are 1 or a few areas that really need work.
That’s the starting point of your goal setting process!
“But what if I don’t know what I want?”
If you want to improve your life but you’re unsure what you really wanna improve, make improvement your goal! Make it your goal to take the needed steps to get each category to a higher level.
2. Build your Tower of Inspiration
When setting a goal your “Why” is one of the most important things.
That’s what the Tower of Inspiration is for.
With this method, you’re stack different motivating factors on top of your goal. It helps you get emotionally connected which helps you stick to it.
For example:
Take a goal of losing weight.
Instead of just having that goal, think of things that you can use to inspire yourself, and stack that on top.
Examples of inspirations could be role models, wanting to set an example for your kids, how friends/family will react when you lost that weight, quotes or motivational audios/speeches, etc.
You’re not just going after a standalone goal anymore.
Instead, you’re stacking multiple layers of inspiration on top of your goal to make it more personal and to keep you going with your goal.
And while having a tower with multiple levels of inspiration is definitely better than just your goal, we can make it even better!
We’re using a simple tool called triggers!
It’s something I picked up recently myself after watching some of Brendon Burchard’s videos.
Highly recommend looking this guy up if you aren’t already familiar with him and his teachings.
The idea is to trigger your goals and/or Tower of Inspiration throughout the day.
It could be mental, for example by training yourself to say an empowering phrase to yourself every time you enter the kitchen (which becomes subconscious over time).
It could also be a technological trigger.
I’m gonna assume you have a smartphone. When you set an alarm, you can name that alarm. If you do so you can have your phone automatically remind you to “Do your workout!” or whatever text you set your alarm to.
Feeling old fashioned?
Place triggers around your work area if you’re focused on improving your career.
They can be those inspirational quotes that you have framed behind your computer screen. It’s just another way to keep your attention on your goals, because:
Where attention goes, energy flows, and results show.
T. Harv Eker
Long story short:
Even if you don’t do anything else: take a bit of time right now to find your why and your inspiration and set up your triggers! Keep your focus and you should see an improvement in how well you can get yourself to take action!
3. It’s Not Just About You!
Now that we’re on the topic of motivation, know that your dreams and goals are never about you.
They’re not JUST about you to be exact!
When you have an ambition try to think beyond yourself about how it will benefit other people.
Staying motivated is hard for lots of people.
If you know yourself and know you’ll likely slack off after a while, this one goal setting tip alone may be your lifesaver that helps you level up to your highest ambitions!
With goal setting and planning ahead, we often tend to think about ourselves and perhaps immediate friends and family.
If you do that, you’re missing out.
I’m taking Digital Marketer’s mission statement as an example:
They made it their goal to double the size of 10000 businesses around the world. Initially, their motivation was to help the business owners create the business and life they have always dreamed of.
But everything changed when they got a new coworker!
I can’t remember the name of the person who joined the team (believe it was a woman), but she started questioning things… including their mission statement.
In the conversations that followed they realized it went waaaayyy beyond those 10k businesses.
For example:
Fitness coach Mark may double his business using Digital Marketer’s training.
Great!
In turn, he’s helping hundreds of people live a happier and healthier life. It has really widened their view and opened their eyes to the importance of achieving their ambition!
Let’s be frank here:
If your reason behind your goal is just you, you better have a lot of self-discipline!
Chances are you’re not at that level yet, or you wouldn’t need to read this article. Without a motivator outside of yourself, you’re likely to give in to procrastination when hard times come.
Doing it for other people puts a heavier weight on your shoulders, and makes it harder for you to quit!
It’s no longer about you, there are tens, hundreds or thousands of people counting on YOU getting busy and succeeding!
How Focusing on Others Can Stop an Addiction!
We all know smoking is bad for your health.
Some smokers don’t want to quit, because they like it too much.
Many others do want to stop their habit, but can’t seem to stop smoking. In this case, we’ll look at women specifically.
Guess what happens when she gets pregnant?
Oftentimes, a woman who’s been trying to quit for years, but never lasted longer than a month is now able to not smoke a single cigarette for 9 months!
All to keep her unborn baby healthy.
Some of them will start again after the baby’s born, since the outside motivation is gone. And it’s just their discipline against the bad habit and addiction.
However, others give up smoking completely.
During these 9 months something internally has shifted in them that causes them to do the thing they never seemed to have the power to do earlier.
Let’s dive into what that factor is!
4. Find your inner power
In the example above, someone has proven to herself that she can stop smoking.
After all, she quit for 9 months!
Quite a few smokers I know feel like they’re powerless against the cigarette, they’ll never quit even though most of them would love to. They don’t believe they have the power to change…
And so they won’t!
The good news is that you are in full command over your life and can change if you want to!
If you look for them, there are countless of people who have already achieved similar dreams to yours. People who came from similar or worse situations.
The difference between them and you?
They have risen up against the odds because of the combination of two things: desire and belief. Not a spiritual belief, but the belief in their inner power to take control of their life!
That should fire you up!
The fact that other people have already achieved similar things to what you want means that it is definitely possible for you as well! Use that as fuel to show yourself you can do this!
Because you definitely can!
But, you first have to believe that you can achieve your goal. It is as Henry Ford has famously said:
Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.
Henry Ford
5. Get social support & Accountability
It’s dangerous to go alone, take along some support!
On almost any endeavor it helps to have support from people around you. We’re social creatures by nature, it’s a primal instinct.
You can use this to help you achieve your goals.
How?
One of the simplest ways is through a form of peer pressure (in a good way). By simply telling people you know about your dreams, you’re more likely to follow through on them.
It’s a simple little trick.
By telling people what you’re gonna do, you get accountability.
If you give up on a goal you set after two weeks, how’d you feel if someone asked you about it after a month?
You’d probably feel pretty stupid, right?
You would have to tell the other person how this thing that was so important to you isn’t working out.
Perhaps you come up with an excuse why you didn’t do it, but at the end of the day, you’ll be admitting your own lack of perseverance. And that’s not a good feeling!
That’s one way to get accountability, but it’s not the best way to get it!
What I would recommend you do is find someone that’s trying to achieve the same goal. Or a small group. You’ll help each other by keeping your buddy on track and discussing what’s working and what isn’t.
Have at least 1 conversation per week with your partner either face to face or over the phone.
The both of you keep each other on track for reaching the goals you’ve set and you’ll gain insights into how to improve as well.
If you don’t personally know anyone, look around in groups on Facebook, or LinkedIn if it’s work related. Post there and see if you can find a partner.
6. Don’t set JUST goals!
Your goal is the result, it’s not the journey.
When you’re thinking about your ambitions and setting your goals, don’t stop there!
Instead of just setting yourself up with your goal, have several smaller goals as well. It’s less daunting this way and helps you keep motivated when you can get a mini-goal done!
But wait… there’s more!
Because I want you to succeed, there’s two important things I want you to add to your goal:
Habits & deadlines.
If you wanna become fitter, schedule time each week for workouts.
Getting out of debt? Review your finances weekly.
Wanna write a book? Schedule writing time daily.
Your habits make or break your dreams and goals!
If right now, you don’t have strong habits that support your goals, watch this free training! It will teach you how to form new, beneficial habits that stick!
Finally, the deadline!
Ambition sucks without a deadline.
Brendon Burchard
If you’re working alongside this article you should now have a goal you really resonate with. And you will have several smaller goals as milestones.
You need to put a deadline on these sub goals!
The length of tasks often expands to the maximum amount of time that you have set for it. Without setting deadlines for yourself, you might end up procrastinating for long amounts of time!
Conclusion
Actually reaching your goals can be tough…
When you follow these guidelines when you’re in the goal setting process, you’ll set yourself up the right way. Know that you definitely have the ability to achieve any goal you put all your mind to!
In short:
- Figure out what you should be working on
- Find your Why for achieving your goal(s).
- Take your motivation beyond yourself.
- Get accountability and support.
- Create habits that will carry you.
- Create a deadline for your (sub)goals.
I believe you can do it, now it’s up to you to do it!
What goals are you going to achieve? Leave a quick comment below with your most important goals right now.