The new year is the perfect opportunity to set afresh and set some new goals. However, many people end up not achieving their goals correctly for many reasons. In this article, I will be discussing some of the reasons on why some individuals are not able to achieve their goals and also give some golden advice on how to set goals the right way. These are based upon my own advice, research and self-help books.
So without any further ado, let’s get started:
Why can’t some people achieve their goals?
- Not specific enough
- No deadline
- No way of incorporating it in their routine
- Not a priority
- Not attainable
- Not measurable
- No motivation
These may be some of the reasons why you are not able to achieve your goals. You need to figure out what is keeping you from achieving these goals.
How can you really achieve your goals?
Step 1: Identify what type of person you are right now
Before you dive into the meat of how to achieve goals, you have to figure out your starting point which is who you are right now. Try to identify what type of person you are in 5 different aspects in your life e.g. family, friends, career/education, hobbies/spirituality and health. Be quite detailed on this and this will assist you on reflecting who you are right now and give you direction to your goals. For example, you may realise in terms of health, that you may be exercising very little.
Step 2: Identify who you want to become
After realising who you are as a person, you now want to start thinking about your dream life and the exact person you want to be. Again, make a table or create a vision board and write what your ‘dream identity’ would be doing on each of those 5 aspects you focused on earlier. You may start to really discover those things that you want to do. For example, your ‘dream identity’ might be exercising at least once a week in the ‘health’ aspect.
Step 3: Write specific steps on each aspect
By doing the previous step, you now know how you want to be in each aspect of your life. It is now time to break down each step. For example, in your ‘health’ aspect of your table or vision board, you may have said that you want to exercise once a week. Now you really want to ask yourself the following questions: What type of exercise will you do? What time of the day will you do this? Do you need to buy a gym membership? How long will you exercise? Answer these questions.
Step 4: Break it down
Now that you know all the details of every small statement on each aspect of your ‘dream identity’, you can start to really take those steps to ensure that you fulfill these goals. For example, if you want to treadmill at the gym once a week, get yourself a gym membership as soon as possible.
Step 5: Incorporate it into your to do lists and/or habit tracker
You have paid for your gym membership. You know all the steps to go and exercise so go ahead and write down your first day of ‘exercise’ in your planning system or to-do list where you plan every day. If you want to gym every Sunday for one hour, add it to every Sunday of your academic yearly planner or bullet journal. You could also add it to your habit tracker.
Step 6: Don’t focus on the outcome. It is a system and a lifestyle change, not a temporary goal.
When writing it on your to-do list for the month, remember that this is not something that you will stop after a certain period. It is a lifestyle change. If you plan to exercise once a week, it is something you may want to do for the rest of your life. So enjoy the journey when you exercise every time and don’t necessarily focus on the outcome.
Step 7: Consistency.
The last step is extremely important. You need to pick yourself up in the days where you feel like to break out of that ‘dream identity’. Embody that ‘dream identity’ every day and whenever you don’t feel like going and doing something, ask yourself what your ‘dream identity’ would be doing. Don’t make it a dream anymore, make it a reality, Be consistent.
Those were some of the ways that you can fulfill your goals. Follow this step-by-step guide and this may help you to really achieve your goals and make it a reality in 2021.
What is your number 1 goal for 2021? Comment down below.
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