What makes the difference between those who achieve goals and those who give up on them?
Well, there are a few reasons.
Most people never fully tap into the power of goal-setting. I mean, almost everyone has set goals at some point throughout life. But only a minority achieves their goals.
So what can you do to increase the chance of achieving your goals?
That’s what you will learn about in this article. We will cover what to do before, during, and after achieving a goal so that you can create lasting success.
So let’s dive in!
Step 1: Focus on behavioral change
I get it – you want to achieve results fast.
But what if I tell you that the fastest way to achieve your goals is not to focus on the result you desire. Instead, focus on the change you need to make to achieve that result.
For example, say you want to write a best-selling non-fiction book.
First, writing a book is challenging – not to mention a best-selling one. It takes time and consistent effort. And how would you feel if it fails?
Instead, if you want to become a best-selling author, focus on the behavior you need to develop.
In this case, a writing habit.
When you stop focusing on “writing a best-seller” and shift your focus to simply writing every day. That creates the habit which eventually leads to writing that best-selling book.
It doesn’t mean that you should get rid of the goal of writing a best-seller. But keep in mind that when you set your goals, you understand the behavior you seek to change.
Whether it’s a new skill, habit, or a shift in mindset – the fastest way to achieve your audacious goals is by changing your behavior.
Step 2: Set both audacious and tiny goals
When most people set goals, they either do it in one of two ways:
- They only set audacious long-term goals, like I want to become a millionaire, travel the world, or become famous in my space.
- They only set short-term goals, like I will exercise today. Or I will finish one chapter of my programming course this week.
Neither one is bad – you just need both short- and long-term goals.
Why?
Audacious life goals are great and inspiring initially. But since these goals are so big, you soon start to doubt yourself. And the first significant setback may cause procrastination.
And that’s not helpful if you want to achieve goals.
Short-term goals are great because they drive action. But if you lack the bigger picture for where you want to go, your effort won’t be very focused.
To make the most of goal-setting and create the best life for yourself, you need both types of goals.
Start with your big life goals and then keep breaking them up into smaller actionable ones, until you get daily goals.
Step 3: Set meaningful goals
External factors impact almost everyone’s life’s journey. Whether it’s school, social media, or parenting, everything influences us at some level.
I mean, I’ve been there too.
Influenced by the fast-success stories, I wanted to make a quick buck too. So I ended up pursuing one thing after the other. From playing poker to learning about real estate, to name two of the many “lifetime opportunities” I’ve come across
Here’s the problem:
I did it because I thought this was what successful people do – even though to me, it felt meaningless.
Unsurprisingly, I never reached success through these vehicles.
But how will you achieve a level of mastery needed for success if you don’t find joy in the process? And even if you do, at what cost to your happiness?
If there’s meaning in your goal, you are more committed to it, which is one of the pillars of the goal-setting theory.
So ask yourself what you truly want out of life.
And then ask yourself a much more important question: why do you want it?
Does the answer inspire you deeply? Because if not, then maybe it’s time to take a step back and dig a little deeper to learn about what truly makes you tick.
Also, check out this guide to finding your purpose.
Step 4: Use SMART
You may already be aware of the acronym SMART, which stands for:
- Specific;
- Measurable;
- Achievable;
- Relatable;
- Timely.
Though some of your most audacious goals don’t have to follow the SMART acronym, everything else should be.
But for all other goals, SMART is a simple framework for setting better goals. It’s especially crucial for short-term goals since they should inspire action, increase focus, and improve productivity.
Step 5: Write your goals down
Did you know that writing your goals down increases your chance of achieving them by 44%?
It sounds so simple because it is.
Often it’s the simple, consistent stuff that has the highest positive impact on our lives. Writing down your goals is one of those things.
Writing forces you to organize your thoughts differently, which clarifies your goals. And clarity is one of the main components of goal-setting.
You don’t need anything fancy other than a piece of paper. But if you want some guidance in setting and achieving your goals, I’ve reviewed the best goal planners in various categories.
Alternatively, you can use a digital goal-setting tool, which is what I currently use. Here you can read my Goals on Track review.
Step 6: Adopt the right mindset
If you set challenging goals that stretch your limits to achieve personal breakthroughs, you won’t consistently achieve them.
And that’s okay.
Because if you did achieve all your goals, did you live up to your potential? Or did you set goals that were just easy enough to not stretch too far into discomfort?
For example, if you set the goal to do five pushups, knowing you can do 10, you may hinder your progress. Say you aim for 20 but only did 12 pushups.
You failed, right?
But you did something much more important: you stretched your limits and made some progress.
Here’s the deal: failure isn’t bad.
Achieving goals isn’t always the most important thing. Sometimes, it’s more vital that you leave your comfort zone so that you can get to the next level.
Don’t focus solely on results. Sometimes, you need to delay short-term success and trade it for something much more valuable: personal growth.
Step 7: Develop a routine
It’s very motivating to set personal goals. But, unfortunately, the initial rush of motivation you get soon fades away, especially when you start to hit some roadblocks.
Let’s take the example of writing a book again.
You love the idea of creating one, and you feel motivated to write the first pages. But soon, you’re growing unhappy about your writing. You begin to feel a bit bored with the process. And not much later, you struggle to come up with anything at all.
Ever had such an experience with anything?
That you started with excitement, just to notice that it fades away over time?
That’s why you need a routine.
A routine is an action or multiple actions that you take consistently – often at a set time. Think about morning rituals or night routines, for example.
The benefit of a routine is that it consists of habits. Actions that you take despite feeling motivated. You just do it simply because you always do it, regardless of willpower.
But it’s challenging to develop habits.
That’s why it’s a great idea to use that motivational rush from setting goals to kickstart a new habit. For example, instead of finishing a chapter of your book this week, focus on writing for 30 minutes every morning.
Step 8: Track your progress
Tracking progress has many different benefits. It helps you to:
- Discover bottlenecks and challenges;
- Stay on track by setting milestones;
- Find recurring problems to solve.
Not only is tracking your valuable feedback, but it’s also satisfying to see that you’re making progress.
And why not create a bunch of micro-goals so you can often celebrate your victories – instead of just waiting for the final result?
Tracking your progress allows you to achieve goals much faster.
Step 9: Collect more feedback
We often get stuck in routines that do not best serve us, whether habits, thoughts or anything else.
Feedback breaks that loop.
It gives you a different perspective, often an eye-opening one.
But it’s not easy to ask for and receive feedback. It puts you in a place of vulnerability. And may hurt your ego in the process.
But if you can keep an open mind and listen to feedback from a place of curiosity, you can get valuable insights.
The ones that enable you to become your best self and achieve many ambitious goals as a result.
Step 10: Embrace failures
Do you remember the pushup example we discussed earlier?
We mentioned that failures aren’t bad, but instead, they are essential.
Trying to avoid failures at all costs is detrimental to your growth and success in life. However, while most people subconsciously know this, we still fear failure.
What if you could change that?
What if you could embrace failure?
When failure happens, acknowledge the fact that you made a mistake somewhere.
Most people try to hold on to their egos and are not accountable for their mistakes. Often because they believe it makes them weak if they do.
Which is the exact reason why they never reach unlock their full potential.
To make progress fast, you have to let go of your ego. You have to become responsible for your actions and mistakes.
But remember this: owning up to your mistakes is a sign of strength.
Only when you take full responsibility have you got the power to make a change. It allows you to troubleshoot, learn, and only then – excel at life.
Here’s a quote from Thomas Edison for a different perspective:
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work.
Step 11: Reframe your challenges
Let’s say you’re a tennis player and you want to improve a weakness: your forehand swing.
You train hard and see incredible improvements. You feel ready for the tournament that’s coming up.
During the tournament, you beat the first players. You did improve your forehand a lot. But then you start facing a more flexible opponent who plays the ball on your backhand side consistently.
You end up losing the game.
You could see this as a massive failure and feel sorry for yourself.
But you could also learn a valuable lesson: your overall game is as weak as your weakest skill, which now turns out to be your backhand.
Perhaps you can use that to set different goals.
Instead of focusing 100% of your time on your weakest asset, you spend 65% of your time on it. The other 35% goes to your stronger side.
Of course, this is a simple tennis metaphor.
But it applies to anything in life.
The biggest challenges you face can become your most significant opportunities for growth.
This approach is the key to rapid self-improvement, leading to achieving goals much faster.
Step 12: Celebrate your success
Just like you should take time to learn from mistakes, you should just as much celebrate and learn from your success.
Most people forget this step.
They talk down on themselves for the slightest mistake yet fail to celebrate the victories they have had.
No wonder they feel frustrated most of the time.
I even encourage you to take it a step further. Instead of waiting to achieve your big goal, why not set many small goals? And when you accomplish each of them, celebrate it?
What if you celebrate the small action you took today?
What if you celebrate the fact that you wrote your goals down?
Imagine how much more happy you would feel if you celebrated stuff all the time. And wouldn’t that encourage you to keep going after your goals?
You can celebrate in small ways, like cracking a smile. Create small moments to make yourself feel great.
These small things have a massive impact on how you feel.
Step 13: Continuous adjustment
Setting good goals is much harder than it first appears to be. After all, almost everyone has set a New Year’s resolutions at some point.
Achieving goals – that’s the real challenge.
Sometimes, you achieve easy goals but lack a feeling of fulfilment because it is too easy. Other times, they are way too challenging and discourage you from taking action.
Setting the perfect goal takes experience and self-awareness.
But don’t worry about setting the perfect goal at first. What’s much more important is that some and then learn from your mistakes.
It’s a process everyone has to go through.
Understand why you achieved or failed to achieve your goal. And use those learnings to set better goals in the future.
Step 14: Review your goals often
Just like you should track your progress habitually, so should you review your goals. Here are some key reasons why:
- Keeps them on top of mind;
- It helps you to focus and stay on track;
- It helps to avoid procrastination.
Writing down your goals in the first place makes reviewing them easy.
But don’t just passively review your goals.
Once in a while, you should rewrite your goals instead of just reviewing them.
Doing so strengthens your commitment. And sometimes, if you slightly tweak your goal based on new insights and experiences, it feels more true to you – reigniting that motivation we discussed earlier.
Reviewing your goals is a helpful tool in achieving them.
Step 15: Improve prioritization
Most people think that laziness is the main reason people don’t achieve their goals. But even hardworking people aren’t guaranteed success.
The reason is that we tend to focus on the wrong stuff.
Especially today, more things distract you from your main goal. And for that reason, the skill of prioritizing is vital for success.
First, you need to understand what’s most important to you. That’s where you should focus your efforts.
Then, you need to develop the tools to maintain your focus.
To learn more about this, read this guide on productivity.
What’s next?
Setting goals and achieving them is a process that takes time and effort. It’s much more like a habit than a one-off activity.
If you want to master this skill, you need to make sure that you do it consistently. But if you do, goals can change your life in several ways.
It enables you to live a more meaningful life, become your best self, and achieve your dreams.
If that’s something you want to learn more about, then make sure to sign up below for the email newsletters. Each of them is packed with my best lessons to live your best life.