Goals have always been something I get excited about. For most of my life, I’ve been driven and enjoyed hitting my goals, but recently I’ve found goals elusive.
Learning how to set and achieve goals is important to improve your business, your life, and your relationships. Recently, I was listening to a Mel Robbins podcast about setting goals, and she pointed out five reasons we fail to meet our goals.
Setting achievable goals is vital for a healthy business, so let’s dive in and see the five things that might be keeping you from realizing your goals.
- Not having your goal connected to the why and the how. The why of a goal has to be attached to a personal core belief or it won’t stick.
An example given by one of my mentors is this: We know too much sugar is bad for us, but until we truly believe it, we won’t stop eating it. A goal has to be rooted in something we are convinced is true. The pain of staying where we are must outweigh the cost of making the change in our mind.
The how of a goal is just as important as our why. If we don’t know how we can achieve the goal, or have a realistic plan to achieve it, we won’t stick to it.
- Setting too many goals. Another mistake is being over-ambitious and taking on too many goals at once. If we try to change too many things at one time we will crash and burn.
- Making a goal too big or too small. The goal has to be challenging, but not impossible to achieve. Setting realistic, but goals that stretch you is key to success.
- Making our goals too general. We make a goal a dream instead of a focused, actionable goal we can achieve. A good guide to see if we are making our goal too vague is to ask the question: When will I know if I’ve succeeded in completing this goal?
- Not using a high/low range goal. I first heard this on a Mel Robbins podcast. “It’s easier to lose 2-4 pounds than it is to lose 3 pounds.” When we set a goal this way, it sets us up for a higher probability of success.
Being a reformed perfectionist, the last one spoke volumes to me. Trying to be perfect has cost me achieving many a goal. The flexibility of setting a goal this way gives us room to have a less-than-perfect day and keep moving forward.
To let you know you’re not alone, I’m going to share one of my personal goals with you in the next newsletter. We will also discuss motivation and why it isn’t going to help you reach your goals.
What goals are you excited about setting?
Join me on this journey and feel free to share this post with anyone who’s struggling with their goals