How often have you set a goal for yourself, worked on it for a little while and then given up? Don’t feel bad about it. It happens to everyone. What you need to realize is the people who set goals and achieve them have had a lot of practice. Yes, it takes practice. You get in practice by keeping your goal in the forefront of your mind at all times. It means you do something daily to reach your goal. You can’t just set a goal and expect it to happen. It takes work and it takes consistent effort.
How can you finally commit to your goals and achieve them?
Your Why
One of the first things you should do is figure out why you want to reach a goal. Many people set goals of weight loss, eating better, or growing their business. However, they rarely stop to think about the why behind it. Without a big enough reason or a big enough why, it’s soon forgotten. It just doesn’t seem that important. Knowing your why for putting forth an effort is a huge key to success with achieving goals, yet many people forget this. In fact, most articles you read on goal setting leave out this key point.
Let’s discuss some reasons why you might set certain goals.
Your goal is to lose weight. Why do you want to lose weight? Do you want to feel better, have more energy or look better in new clothes? It’s not just about losing weight. There has to be a compelling reason behind it. You have to focus on this reason, not just the goal itself.
Let’s say you’ve decided to start exercising every day so you can lose weight, which is your ultimate goal. Unless you remind yourself each day of why you want to lose weight, it will become easy to skip the daily exercise. You’ll put it off until tomorrow because you aren’t focusing on the why. And you know that once you put it off today, when tomorrow rolls around you’ll put it off again.
What if your goal is to increase your business? Why do you want to increase your business? Do you want more money, more subscribers, to offer more products? You’ll need a list of things you should do each day or week to accomplish this goal and then work on that list consistently. Keep reminding yourself of your why.
Maybe your goal is to eat healthier. What are the benefits of healthy eating? You’ll feel better. You will have less stomach trouble. It could help you have clear skin and give you more energy. Is there another reason why you want to eat healthier? Perhaps you’re already having health problems and want to control them with better eating habits. Determine your why.
Get real with yourself and dig deep to figure out why you want to set and achieve your goal. Once you know why and you focus on that, achieving the goal will be much easier.
Follow Through
One of the biggest mistakes people make, other than not determining their why, is they fail to follow through. One way to help you keep working at it is to think about the consequences of not doing it. This is also an important piece of the puzzle. If you haven’t thought about what could happen if you don’t do something to reach your goal, then chances are you won’t do anything to achieve it.
What will happen if you don’t lose the weight? You’ll still be overweight. In fact you may even gain more weight. You still won’t have the energy you’d like to have. You’ll still have to wear the same old clothes you’ve been wearing. You could develop heart disease or diabetes. You need to keep the consequences in your thoughts too. This will help you follow through each day.
This same tactic works in the business building example too. What will happen if you don’t grow your business? You’ll be stuck in the same spot next year. You won’t increase your income. Not increasing your income can keep you from enjoying nice vacations or luxury items you want. Always keep in mind what won’t happen if you don’t follow through with your business building plans. This can be a big motivator in itself.
If eating healthy is your goal, what are the consequences of staying on the same diet you’re on now? Will you feel bad and have low energy? Will your skin look unhealthy? Will your current eating plan lead to health problems? You have to know the consequences of your continued actions so you can focus on creating something better and more healthy. What will happen if you don’t follow through with eating healthier meals?
Commit Daily
Once you set a goal and determine why you want to reach it, you must also renew your commitment to it on a daily basis. If you don’t keep it fresh in your mind and work on it every single day, you will soon forget and it will become unimportant like it has in the past.
Achieving any goal takes some work on your part. It’s something you have to actively work on. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a break once in awhile, but even while you’re taking a break, you need to keep your goal in mind. Plan to get back to it as soon as possible and then do it!
To recap, you first need to know why you want this goal. What are the benefits of achieving this goal? Once you’ve determined the rewards of reaching this goal, you also need to consider the consequences of not reaching it. Let both your why and the consequences be your driving force. Then it will be much easier to commit to your goal each day.
Whether you want to lose weight, eat healthy or grow your business, it takes some work each day so that you can see progress and reach your goal. It doesn’t have to be huge steps, just small steps each day will keep you on the right track.
Do you need further support in achieving your goals.
Action Step:
Take time today or tonight and get clear on your Why and write it down.
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Get Clear on What You Want in Your Life and How To Manifest Your Goals
How to Set Smart Goals
