Progress necessitates that you do more than just hope something happens for you. Unless you have a clear set of smaller, attainable goals and a clear plan of execution and an understanding of why you want to reach them, your chances of attaining the achievement you crave aren't going to be great. Luckily, there are tools that you can utilize that will help you avoid the pitfalls to progress, which will help you to set your goals confidently and grant you the ability to enjoy the satisfaction that comes with accomplishing what you've planned to do. Let's check out some of those pitfalls that you'll need to avoid in order to achieve success!
1. Your goals don't motivate you. This first trap seems obvious but a lot of people fall into the giver role and set goals to appease others. If you are not motivated by your goal it will be hard and near impossible to achieve. If you have set the goal for yourself but you genuinely don't have interest in the outcome or the goal is extraneous to your larger goals, putting work into it may fall by the wayside. Goals require your attention and commitment; if you feel unmotivated by them it is unlikely you will put the time in necessary to achieve them. Without motivation you will lack focus and without focus the tasks needed to fulfil your goal may keep getting pushed aside for something else. So you must you really ask yourself, does your goal motivate you?
2. Your goals aren't SMART. Are you applying the rules of goal setting correctly? The simple fact is that for goals to be powerful, they should be designed to be SMART. We already know that goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based.
Your goals aren't specific. Concise is key, so when you set up a list of indistinct goals, you're working against yourself because you will not have a specific course. Always remember: your goals should show you the path to your progress.
Set measurable goals. Include precise amounts, dates, and so on in your goals so you can measure your degree of success. If your goal is simply defined as "be healthier" how will you know when you have been successful? Without a way to measure your success you miss out on the celebration that comes with knowing you have actually achieved something.
Setting achievable goals can be tricky for some. You want to set goals that are challenging and not met too easily but you also need to be realistic. If you set yourself an unrealistic goal you may have no hope in attaining, especially if it is something out of your control, and you are setting yourself up for failure. Setting yourself up for failure will only lead to disappointment, frustration, and eat away at your self-confidence. On the contrary, if your goal is too easily achieved you may feel disappointed once you do accomplish it because you did not have to work that hard for it. This disappointment may pave the way later for a resistance in setting goals since you did not receive the feeling of triumph you expected. By finding the balance between realism and challenge, you set yourself up for a demanding climb but a rewarding pay out.
The goals you set must be relevant to your life and the direction you want to go. If you set irrelevant goals or goals that are incompatible with your lifestyle, you risk losing time, hard work, and possibly derailing yourself from the bigger picture. By keeping goals in sync with your life you will gain the focus you need to keep on track and maintain order.
Set time-based goals. You goals must have a deadline. Again, this means that you know when you can celebrate success. When you are working on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and achievement will come that much quicker.
3. Your goals live only in your head. When you can see your goals laid out in front of you, they have a real, actual presence that brings them into your life. Write them out, and keep them somewhere in which you are forced to see and acknowledge them every day. Rather than using language like, "I'd like to", or "I hope to", create more certainty by beginning sentences with language such as, "I will". This lends legitimacy to your goals, which will soon be apparent in your actions. When you use flimsy language, you give yourself a built-in excuse to procrastinate or take longer than necessary to achieve your goals.
4. Your goals don't have a plan. While you may have defined your goal and written them down, have you set an action plan? Sometimes we can get so excited at the idea of achieving the goal that we may forget to mark the actual steps needed to be taken along the way. While this is definitely an important aspect for long-term goals, it is also needed for smaller or short-term goals. The best thing you can do for yourself is to write out a list of the steps needed to reach your goal. As you hit each milestone cross it off of your list and celebrate your achievement. You are one step closer!
5. Your goals do not allow for your skill level. Although ensuring your goals are quantifiable is important, language such as "shed 20 lbs" or "win first place" can be discouraging. If you are able to shed five lbs, you've achieved something that many are unable to do - but if you're only celebrating your success when you hit the 20 mark, you lose your ability to see the successes you are making along the way by feeling you've failed yourself. Understand that there may be delays or that larger goals may take some time. If you get third place, have you failed? Or, is this an important step - and possibly and important lesson as well - along the way?
6. You gave up too quickly! Remember, goal setting is an ongoing activity not just a means to an end. Build in reminders to keep yourself on track, and make regular time-slots available to review your goals (even 5 or 10 minutes a week will do!) Your end destination may remain quite similar over the long term, but the action plan you set for yourself along the way can change significantly. Make sure the relevance, value, and necessity remain high.
1. Your goals don't motivate you. This first trap seems obvious but a lot of people fall into the giver role and set goals to appease others. If you are not motivated by your goal it will be hard and near impossible to achieve. If you have set the goal for yourself but you genuinely don't have interest in the outcome or the goal is extraneous to your larger goals, putting work into it may fall by the wayside. Goals require your attention and commitment; if you feel unmotivated by them it is unlikely you will put the time in necessary to achieve them. Without motivation you will lack focus and without focus the tasks needed to fulfil your goal may keep getting pushed aside for something else. So you must you really ask yourself, does your goal motivate you?
2. Your goals aren't SMART. Are you applying the rules of goal setting correctly? The simple fact is that for goals to be powerful, they should be designed to be SMART. We already know that goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based.
Your goals aren't specific. Concise is key, so when you set up a list of indistinct goals, you're working against yourself because you will not have a specific course. Always remember: your goals should show you the path to your progress.
Set measurable goals. Include precise amounts, dates, and so on in your goals so you can measure your degree of success. If your goal is simply defined as "be healthier" how will you know when you have been successful? Without a way to measure your success you miss out on the celebration that comes with knowing you have actually achieved something.
Setting achievable goals can be tricky for some. You want to set goals that are challenging and not met too easily but you also need to be realistic. If you set yourself an unrealistic goal you may have no hope in attaining, especially if it is something out of your control, and you are setting yourself up for failure. Setting yourself up for failure will only lead to disappointment, frustration, and eat away at your self-confidence. On the contrary, if your goal is too easily achieved you may feel disappointed once you do accomplish it because you did not have to work that hard for it. This disappointment may pave the way later for a resistance in setting goals since you did not receive the feeling of triumph you expected. By finding the balance between realism and challenge, you set yourself up for a demanding climb but a rewarding pay out.
The goals you set must be relevant to your life and the direction you want to go. If you set irrelevant goals or goals that are incompatible with your lifestyle, you risk losing time, hard work, and possibly derailing yourself from the bigger picture. By keeping goals in sync with your life you will gain the focus you need to keep on track and maintain order.
Set time-based goals. You goals must have a deadline. Again, this means that you know when you can celebrate success. When you are working on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and achievement will come that much quicker.
3. Your goals live only in your head. When you can see your goals laid out in front of you, they have a real, actual presence that brings them into your life. Write them out, and keep them somewhere in which you are forced to see and acknowledge them every day. Rather than using language like, "I'd like to", or "I hope to", create more certainty by beginning sentences with language such as, "I will". This lends legitimacy to your goals, which will soon be apparent in your actions. When you use flimsy language, you give yourself a built-in excuse to procrastinate or take longer than necessary to achieve your goals.
4. Your goals don't have a plan. While you may have defined your goal and written them down, have you set an action plan? Sometimes we can get so excited at the idea of achieving the goal that we may forget to mark the actual steps needed to be taken along the way. While this is definitely an important aspect for long-term goals, it is also needed for smaller or short-term goals. The best thing you can do for yourself is to write out a list of the steps needed to reach your goal. As you hit each milestone cross it off of your list and celebrate your achievement. You are one step closer!
5. Your goals do not allow for your skill level. Although ensuring your goals are quantifiable is important, language such as "shed 20 lbs" or "win first place" can be discouraging. If you are able to shed five lbs, you've achieved something that many are unable to do - but if you're only celebrating your success when you hit the 20 mark, you lose your ability to see the successes you are making along the way by feeling you've failed yourself. Understand that there may be delays or that larger goals may take some time. If you get third place, have you failed? Or, is this an important step - and possibly and important lesson as well - along the way?
6. You gave up too quickly! Remember, goal setting is an ongoing activity not just a means to an end. Build in reminders to keep yourself on track, and make regular time-slots available to review your goals (even 5 or 10 minutes a week will do!) Your end destination may remain quite similar over the long term, but the action plan you set for yourself along the way can change significantly. Make sure the relevance, value, and necessity remain high.
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