Setting and Reaching Your Goals to Achieve Success
To be successful, you know you need to set goals, but actually reaching your goals is where the real work starts.
If you have tried and fallen short of your objectives in the past, it’s easy to get discouraged; maybe you’ve started to wonder if you are the kind of person who can reach goals easily or if goals are even worth setting.
But the truth is that anyone can learn techniques that will empower you to reach any goal you set out for yourself.
As the beloved novelist C.S. Lewis said, “You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.”
This encouraging thought rings true today, and especially for you who have decided to pursue your goals.
So today, I’m going to share some of my secrets for reaching goals that I have developed over my 30 years of business experience.
Why Is Goal Setting Important?
You probably have a vision of how you would like your life to be. Perhaps you want to have a happy and thriving family, start your own business, eat healthier, run a half marathon, be financially independent, or travel the world.
Goal setting is important because it provides the steps you need to reach your goals. Especially when you have big goals — and you should dream big — the goal-setting process gives you a road map so you are headed in the right direction and know the individual steps along the way you should take to make things happen.
Setting goals gives you greater focus. It provides you with an action plan you can consult daily to make reaching goals part of your everyday schedule instead of something you will do “someday.”
Goal setting helps you manage your time better. Instead of feeling like you are always too busy to give proper attention to your goals, you will find setting goals helps you use your time wisely. More of the important things get done, and distracting or less important things are no longer appealing.
When you set goals, it is easier to stay motivated and inspired. You create a habit of evaluating your goals before your sleep at night and thinking about your goals when you wake up in the morning. Achieving your goals becomes a way of life and gives you direction and purpose.
Identifying your life goals helps you make better decisions and gain more control over your future. When your goals are top of mind, you will make decisions that align with your goals and avoid time and energy wasters.
Setting Personal Goals and Professional Goals
You will find the most successful people setting and reaching goals in all aspects of their lives. They set both short-term and long-term goals for their personal and professional lives.
Setting personal goals will often influence reaching goals for your career. For example, your commitment to living a healthier lifestyle so you can lose weight or be more fit will naturally give you more energy to perform better at work. As you develop your talents or form more meaningful personal relationships, your increased happiness and personal satisfaction will make you a better team player at work and motivate you to strive for excellence in your professional life.
Personal goals can be physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and financial. You can set a goal to add 30 minutes of activity into your day, learn a new language, improve your self-esteem, practice more patience, or pay off your debts. Any aspect of your life that you want to improve will benefit from setting and reaching goals.
Professional goals are related to your current career or the direction you want to head for a career change. You may want to improve your technical or workplace skills to put yourself in a better position to receive a promotion. Setting small, achievable goals will help you complete a large project at work.
Perhaps you want to increase sales next quarter or find effective ways to motivate your team so productivity rises. You may want to formulate a better process for finding new employees or a daily routine that makes you more efficient at work.
If you want to establish or grow your own business, the ability to set realistic goals will make all the difference in your success. As you identify what you want to achieve and set goals that make sense to help you get there, success is much more likely, even inevitable.
Give careful consideration to what you want your life to look like at home and work; with friends, family, colleagues, and clients; and just for yourself, then begin your goal-setting journey.
How to Set Goals
The best goals are SMART goals. A SMART goal is:
- Specific: Set goals that are clear, detailed, and focus on what you want to achieve.
- Measurable: Setting goals you can track allows you to see the progress you are making.
- Achievable: Set attainable goals that are challenging yet realistic so you can actually accomplish them.
- Relevant: Set goals that are directly related to the ultimate goal or lifestyle you want to achieve in the long run.
- Time-bound: Setting goals with a deadline helps you stay focused and motivated.
The first step to setting goals is spending quality time pondering where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow and in the future. What do you feel needs to change so that you are happier, more successful, or fulfilled? What do you want things to look like next year or five, ten, or more years from now?
Next, align your goals with your most important priorities and values. While you can set goals related to anything, you will get the most out of your goal-setting journey when you create goals relevant to what you most want and believe in.
When should you set goals? The best time is right now. Although you may feel you are too busy or things are too complicated at the moment, there is no better time to start making changes than the present, so your better future can begin right now.
Set aside some time to reflect on what you want and set a specific goal that makes sense for your future self. Make sure it is attainable and you can track your progress by identifying small steps along the way. Set a date for when you want to achieve your goal so you have a target to hit.
Strategies for Reaching Goals
Once you have taken that first step in setting goals, arming yourself with smart strategies for reaching goals will propel you toward success. Here are some of my best tips that have contributed to all I have achieved personally and professionally.
Write Down Your Goals
People who write down their goals are more likely to achieve them than people who do not. It does not matter so much where you write down your goals, just that you do it.
You might write your goals in a journal, spiral notebook, planner, or a simple piece of paper. If you want to be able to see your goals in a prominent place, scribe them on a large poster board you hang on your wall or create a vision board. You may prefer to write your goals digitally, so choose a program like Google Docs or Word or a goal-setting app.
You can even write your goals on the bathroom mirror or on the back of a napkin. Just make sure your goals are SMART and you can revisit them every day.
Writing down your goals gives you a tangible road map to follow so you know exactly where you are headed and how to get there.
Written goals give you more clarity about what you want to happen. The effort you put into writing down your goals transfers the ideas from your head into more visible, real, clear, and reachable aspirations that can be achieved.
Putting your goals in written form serves as an effective reminder of what you want to focus on every day.
You can more easily measure your progress and celebrate your successes when your goals are written down. With each step you check off, you can see how far you have come and what you have left to accomplish. This not only gives you motivation but also helps keep you from being overwhelmed.
Written goals help you stay focused so you are not distracted by new opportunities that would send you in another direction or meaningless activities. They help you prioritize the things that matter and choose between good, better, and best decisions.
Any time you strive for improvement, you will inevitably meet resistance. Writing your goals will help power through roadblocks by giving you something clear and tangible to focus on.
Revisit Your Goals Daily
While writing down your goals will get you started on the path to where you want to be, revisiting your goals every day is what will make success truly happen for you.
Looking at your goals every day will help you stay focused on them, provide you with motivation to continue to strive toward them, and allow you to revise your goals if you find something is not on point.
At the end of each day, review your goals and use them to create your to do list for the next day. Break your goals down into steps and tasks you can check off. Ask yourself, “What do I want or need to accomplish today?” as you compose your list.
Be sure to prioritize your tasks so you are doing the most important things first. Make a point of numbering your list. Number one should be the task that will get you closest to reaching your goal. It is not always the most attractive task or the easiest one, but you will reach your goals faster if you focus your efforts on what is most essential.
Be Accountable
Reaching goals takes self-discipline. You will have times when you want to take a break due to a lack of motivation, or you may be discouraged by a perceived lack of progression.
However, every action you take toward your goals is important. Even when you are not seeing results, the stew is simmering and, at the right time, you will see the fruits of your efforts.
This is also why it is important to have measurable goals. Checking off small goals will help you stay motivated and accountable.
Each time you have an achievement — large or small — reward your successes. This can be anything that motivates you, from taking a walk to spending extra time with a loved one, watching a movie, giving yourself a pat on the back, posting a tweet, or adding an extra break to your day.
An accountability partner can be helpful as well. Find someone who has similar goals or motivation as you, and help each other stay on task. You can make your goals a team effort with one or more people helping you reach your goals.
Part of being accountable is setting and sticking to a schedule. Make a habit of reviewing your goals each night and prioritizing your to do list each day. While distractions will happen, disciplining yourself to follow a consistent schedule will pay off in great dividends down the road.
Create Healthy Habits
Taking care of yourself is essential to reaching your goals. Striving toward anything worthwhile and important takes energy and drive. It can be stressful at times as well. Creating healthy habits will give you the vitality necessary to be consistent and happy.
Good health habits include your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Eat nutritious foods and drinks and minimize those that make you feel tired, put on extra weight, or take away your clarity of thought.
Stay active by scheduling exercise into your weekly routine. You do not need a gym membership to stay fit, but if this is your favorite way to stay active, go regularly. Exercise could be a daily walk, joining a local recreational sports club, doing bodyweight exercises in your living room, gardening, or going for a jog.
Be sure to get the right amount of sleep as well. Sleep helps rejuvenate your brain and body so you are able to achieve more when you are awake. Being sleep-deprived can lead to a lack of productivity, careless errors, and poor health.
Stay emotionally healthy by surrounding yourself with a positive environment and practicing daily positive affirmations.
Practice healthy mental and spiritual habits by taking time to meditate, journal, and have quiet moments. Being a lifelong learner will keep your mind active as well.
Take My Goals Quickstart Masterclass
Take a moment to congratulate yourself that you’ve made it this far. You’ve taken the first – and most important – step to improving your life and goal-setting abilities.
You’ve begun your quest of brainstorming your dreams and making them goals. Taking my Goals Quickstart Masterclass will be the key in the lock for you and your life-changing goal.
Why listen to my Quickstart Masterclass?
I’ve “walked the walk” when it comes to fulfilling goals. I went from living in my car and working odd jobs to becoming a self-made millionaire. I didn’t get here overnight, so I’m sharing my knowledge and experience to get you started on the path to achieving whatever it is you envision for yourself.
The secret formula to reaching goals
I’ve presented hundreds of seminars and studied tens of thousands of pages on goal-setting. This knowledge and experience have allowed me to compile the secret formula so you can take the lead in your life and achieve your goals.
This quick, easy-to-follow masterclass is applicable to any job, industry or personal goals you’re looking to achieve.
Allow me to help you boost your confidence, become energized, and discover the roadmap you need to build your dream existence. Here is how it will work:
Lesson 1: Introduction To Goal-Setting
One of the biggest misconceptions about goal-setting is that you can’t learn the skills you need to achieve your goal.
This is so far from the truth. You can learn any skill you need to learn to accomplish any goal you set for yourself.
In this phase, we’ll go over which goal should you start with and why? After all, you can’t hit a target you can’t see.
First, we’ll start by introducing what it takes to set the right goal. I’ll teach you more about what a SMART goal is and help you brainstorm which goal you should aim for first. Finally, this lesson will help you discover the differences between a goal and a dream.
This differentiation will be one of the keys to success in achieving your life goals.
Lesson 2: Setting Your First Goal
A recent study showed that 92 percent of goal setters don’t truly pursue their goals. This is a great tragedy – but a reality – for many people. By arriving at lesson two, you’ve far surpassed many of your peers. Perseverance will further launch you in your goal-setting endeavors.
Lesson 2 will assist you in setting your beginning goal. I will help you think about goals more deeply and discover what your major definite purpose is and its function in goal-setting. This section will dive deeper into the Law of Attraction and how to activate it to bring you closer to your goal.
In the first lesson, you learned what a SMART goal is and in this one, you will dive into each individual element. Understanding each element will bring you closer to a clear, achievable goal.
Lesson 3: Achieving Your First Goal And Accountability
Making it to the third lesson means you’re on your way to achieving your premier goal! In this phase, we discuss how to develop the courage to achieve your goal and how to step out of your comfort zone.
This lesson gives you the opportunity to rethink your self-confidence and mental diet. You have come to this course for a reason, so learning to think differently when speaking to yourself and encouraging goal achievement is key. Facing fear head on will only drive your progress.
What Will Your Life Look Like After The Goals Quickstart Masterclass?
The world is your oyster after completing the Goals Quickstart Masterclass. The guidance I provide and the lessons you will learn will change the very fiber of your life. With SMART goals under your belt, there is no limit to the goals you can achieve.
Your lifestyle will take on a new look because you’ll be moving the needle on your goal one step at a time. And you’ll have changed the way you look at what’s possible for you and how you can take control of any goal you want to see through to reality.
Start Reaching Your Goals and Achieving Success
Setting your goals and following these strategies will help you realize the success you are dreaming of. Start now by pondering where you want to be and writing goals that are SMART to get you there. Sign up for my Goals Quickstart Masterclass today. I am looking forward to sharing with you the tried and tested tools I know will take you from setting goals to reaching goals and realizing your true potential.
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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin and Youtube.