Personal Goals Achievement

I just Googled the phrase “goal setting”, and found approximately 3,600,000 web pages that relate in some way to that phrase. This shouldn’t surprise us, because conventional wisdom is that goal setting is an important skill.

It is easy to document both through anecdotal evidence as well as through research that setting goals can help us achieve more. There are hundreds of books, tapes, speeches, workshops, and websites that will provide us with tools and processes to set goals. One would think for something as important as goal setting, with as many tools as there are available, that everyone would be a goal setter.

This however isn’t the case.

While I could fill a book with the reasons why, there is one that is very important.

People don’t set goals now because they didn’t achieve the ones they set in the past.

They’ve followed the goal setting process they learned or read about, but the seminar or book stopped at the wrong time. The seminar stopped with the setting of the goal. That is like ending the game after the first play, then going to sit on the sidelines, while the goal is out on the playing field.

My advice to you, if you can identify with what you’ve just read is to stop worrying about goal setting. And start focusing on goal achieving.

In other words, stop worrying about which goal setting model to use, or which software to track your progress with. Stop making the goal setting process the focus, and start putting the focus on goal achievement.

Here are three things you can do to put our focus on goal achievement and drastically increase your success:

1. Get sick and tired. It is often said that people really begin to reach new health goals when they become “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Achieving a goal means that you want something different than you have now. To build your ongoing and sustaining drive to achieve the new item, knowledge or situation, you must become disgusted and dissatisfied with the current situation. This doesn’t mean that you should become bitter or grumpy, but rather it means to develop a healthy dissatisfaction with the way things are now (current profitability, the cycle time for new product development, or your inability to find a bathroom in Brazil).

2. Get (and stay) excited about the result. To sustain the challenges, setbacks and disappointments along your way to goal achievement, you must have another motivation as well. You must really want the benefits that will come to you when the new goal is achieved. Build a clear and compelling picture in your mind of what you will feel, sense, see, and believe once your goal has been achieved. Focus on the results you will gain from the goal, rather than just the goal itself. This is important because in the end this is what you are after, not “just” the goal itself. As you work towards your goal, the goal might shift, but as long as the desired results remain clear, you have improved the likelihood of achieving the end result you desire.

3. Start a plan and get started. Notice I didn’t say to lay out a complete plan of all the steps between you and your goal. If your goal is of any size and importance at all, it will require many steps, and it will be very difficult/impossible to identify them with any degree of certainty at the start. Too many people think they need the perfect plan. They delay starting so they can get the best information. They want to talk to one more expert, read one more book, examine two more options. Get started already! Give yourself a clear idea of a general approach, and some clear first steps. Allow yourself the luxury of knowing that the next specific steps will become clear as you stay on the path.

Doing these three things will drastically increase your success in achieving any goal you set.

Actually, let me say it more strongly. Until you have these three factors going for you in large (although potentially varying) amounts, you won’t achieve the goals you set. You will lose momentum. You will lose focus. You will lose hope. You won’t be able to overcome the first setback. And you will fall into the convenient and comfortable thinking that goal setting “doesn’t work” for you or that you need a new tool, a new technique or a new guru to help you set “better” goals.

Whether you are setting goals for yourself, the team you lead or for your organization at large, take this advice to heart.

Focus less energy on setting the perfect goal and spend more time preparing yourself for ultimate success. Stop worrying about the resolution, and start focusing on the resolve that will be required to succeed.

Doing this will bring you greater success, less frustration and will help you and your organization move closer and closer to your potential.

Tony Robbins always says you have to have big ‘why’s or reasons if you are going to achieve your goals. Well you also have to have big ‘whys’ for setting your goals in the first place! Here are the top 15 reasons…

Read more from the original source:
Why is Goal Setting Important? The Top 15 Reasons

Even in January, more and more people forget about the well-meaning resolutions they made on New Year’s to improve their lives.

Here are five tips from my new book, Inside Every Woman, Using the 10 Strengths You Didn’t Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now, to turn resolution road kill into a thing of the past.

1. Stop being a commitment queen. Eliminate one or two items from your busy schedule to free up time to pursue your passionate interests. Which will they be?

2. Do something even if it’s wrong. Ninety percent of success is showing up. Whether you’re selling an idea, trying to land a new client or learning how to paint, the point is, you have to show up. What idea will you pursue this year?

3. Plan for growth. In life, as in business, when you neglect growth, the passion inside you cools. Plan not only for a bigger house or an updated vehicle, but for inner growth. Try to reinvent yourself on a regular basis. You don’t want to wake up five years from now and greet the same woman in the mirror. You want to see a new person who has transcended former boundaries.

4. Challenge your obstacles. Let go of the notion that you don’t have enough time, energy, money or discipline to do what it takes to succeed. When you challenge that thought you will magically make more things happen.

5. Stick with it and endure. Many women who fail in reaching their goals simply turn back too soon. The path is long and the terrain is tough. When your endurance is tested and you’re tempted to give up, remember this: You will miss not only the gold at the end of the rainbow, but also a wealth of other treats along the way.
Here’s wishing you a Happy New You. And remember: We are women and we can do anything!

Ever wondered how some people have everything that the dream of and for many it just remains a dream? Here are some tips on how to help turn your dreams into reality. Fortunately, it’s not a question of genetics or luck; it’s down to the thinking strategies that we use.

Understanding what is important to us. Craft goals in line with our values.

If a goal is in line with our values we get energy and motivation that lead us toward the goal. Most of us have experienced this type of energy and motivation at some time in our lives; maybe Birthdays and Christmas as Children and as Adults buying a house, getting married or looking forward to a holiday in the sun.

The curious thing is how little we target the use of this behaviour towards things that we want in life. It’s because we spend little time working on making our goals fit that we have such a high failure rate at achieving them.

I’m sure you’ve set New Years resolutions. How many of those did you achieve? What was different, I wonder, between those that you did achieve and those that you didn’t? I suspect that for those that you did not achieve, beneath the reason for not doing so, the cost in terms of time, money or loss of something else was too high.

If we have a greater understanding of our values, craft our goals in line with them, and address some the other key areas listed here, we are rewarded with the energy and motivation to make them happen ? with ease.

Optimise the use of our time.

To optimise our time on and towards what we want we must first gain a greater insight into what is important to us, and having done so we must then distinguish between the activities that we do that are important and urgent.

In my experience this is not a regularly practiced technique; too many people are reacting, reacting to activities that are asked of them or are left to the point of being urgent. Examples of this are leaving the utilities bills to the last minute or working under a demanding boss or chaotic organisation.

Once understood this essential time management technique is easy to master and is commonly taught in time management programmes. Understanding it within a great context of achievement makes it that much more relevant to learning and putting into practice.

Start with what you have now, with the end in mind

Having both established goals that are in line with your and optimised your time, you need to make a start. It’s important that the start is made with the goal in mind and with a degree of realism on the resources that are available now. Delusion is the result of setting off without a realistic view of what the present situation is. And Delusion soon turns to disappointment which in turn turns to frustration and ultimately little or no significant progress.

At the end of the day we only have 3 resources: Physical and mental energy, time and money. It’s key that we learn how to make optimal use of these resources.

Meeting challenges
No amount of planning is going to cater for every eventuality. Many people consider these unplanned events to be problems that prevent progress and give up at that point. People that achieve are not put off by these events and are more energised by the richness of the opportunities that are enveloped in these events.

With the right mindset the journey to achievement can be viewed as one opportunity after another to reinforce the ability to succeed.

How we use our imaginations

All human beings are blessed with incredibly powerful imaginations. However many imagine outcomes of the future that are not going to be to their advantage. Imagining negative outcomes leads to worry, stress and fear and drains our energy and motivation.

Imagining a positive outcome of the future releases more of the energy and motivation that we need to succeed at our goals.

Fortunately the structure that we use in our minds is the same for both negative and positive imaginations. And with the right know how one can use the skill that generates fear into one that generates excitement and anticipation.

Forming our goals well

When forming our goals it is essential that we consider a number of factors; a compelling view of how things will be when we have the goal is as important as a clear understanding of what we will lose when we have it. Many times the likely loss prevents us from achieving what we want because we have not adapted our thinking around the loss.

A prime example of this is giving us smoking ? many people fail to give up because having a cigarette provides them with a valuable 5 minute break. When the break is factored into the future along with the goal the chances of success are considerably increased.

Believing that it is possible that that it is for us

It is important that we hold certain helpful beliefs about the goal. Many people hold negative beliefs about whether the goal is achievable, whether they will ever achieve it and even whether it is really for them.

It is important to overcome these beliefs or sabotage will result.

Fortunately we are not born with our beliefs and the ones that we develop through childhood and in to the present moment can be changed.

You have heard it before. Goals are secrets of the Champions. You have probably listed your goals as instructed from a book, an audio course or personal development trainer, but alas! The anticipated results weren’t yielded. Why.

Elite athletes and successful entrepreneurs dedicate their achievement to setting goals. Successful sports persons/team managers/coaches have integrated goals in their coaching strategies. They tell us goal setting is a must; it works, full stop. So where do we go wrong?

Let’s explore this together in four simple but crucial steps. We are not going to go through the goal setting techniques per se, we are just going to identify and fill in those missing links.

Step one: Identify the Goal/s
Ask yourself; what do you want? We, as human beings are naturally goal seeking. We move towards what preoccupies our minds, what we think of. As the famous aphorism goes; Energy follows thought.

If you don’t establish a conscious direction you desire to move to, you may be moving in a direction you don’t want. This might appear to be easy, but the fact is, very few people are clear about exactly what it is they want to achieve, and hence have got no conscious direction. They bump from wall to wall.

Set yourself apart from the majority of aimlessly drifting masses by knowing exactly what you want to achieve.

Step two: Find the relationship between your goals and your values
Now, for the most powerful question, ask yourself why you want to achieve those particular goals.

Do you want a BMW? Why? You are saying it is because you have always loved big powerful luxurious car? No, that is not the answer you are looking for. Is it status you are looking for, or make yourself attractive? No. all these are by-products of an underlying reason, I call them ‘conscious justifications’.

Now, ask yourself these essential questions: How will it feel for you to own a big powerful luxurious brand new BMW? What will your emotional state being be like? Describe the feeling. Feel the feelings of achieving your goals. What is it that you are really after? Is it self-esteem, self-confidence or are you looking for approval from society pressures?

Take enough time to relate your goals with your deep seated emotions so as to find congruence between your goals and your values as an individual, as this is the cornerstone of achieving your goals.

Your goals MUST match your individual values and they must start a ripple of desire to actualise them. If this won’t happen then you will end up ’sabotaging’ them.

So, next time you want to keep those eyes on the prize, don’t just see yourself (visualise) ‘with your BMW’ getting excited, go deeper and feel the underlying emotions, the deep-seated reason, the sense of accomplishing a goal, the heightened self-esteem/self-confidence/self-efficacy; the reinforcement of your core individual values.

Step three: Enhance the passion
Your goals must ignite the passion within you, the desire to reach them, and most importantly this passion, the yearning, must be constant. There are two basic ways to keep the hunger to reach your goals alive.

The first one is daily creative visualisations; the second is writing your goals and read them at least twice a day. Once after you wake up and again before you go to bed. When you read or visualise your goals, incorporate the emotions that go with achieving your goals. Use anchoring to augment the effects.

Step four: Experience your goals as being a reality
Every time you read or visualise your goals live the experience of your goals as if you have achieved them. This helps the mind to accept that what you tell it is true, and it will go to work to help you achieve your goals by programming the goals into your subconscious mind.

By following these four steps, you will condition your mind into accepting that your wishes are a reality and need to be actualised. Your subconscious mind will then go to work to pave the way for you. I highly recommend you visit www.acceleratedearning.com and look for the celebrated weekly success plan; it is one of the most complete, all round self-development course I have seen online.

Sal Al-Rawahi
www.acceleratedearning.com