Look back on all the years that you set New Year resolutions for yourself.
If you do not believe in setting New Year resolutions then instead look back at the goals you set for yourself.
How many of them have you really achieved?
If you’ve achieved all or most of them – Congratulations!! You rock!
But if you are like 80% of the people out there, you would probably not have met a lot of your goals. Even the ones that were really important to you.
Statistics show that only 8% of people hold on to their New Year resolutions and only 20% people who set goals actually meet them!
The surprising part is that this is also true of SMART goals.
That is quite a deviation from what most of us think, isn’t it?
Do you know why you did not meet your goals?
Perhaps you got too busy doing other things and you never got around to getting started on your goals.
Or maybe you started working on the goals and then something threw you off track and you never got back to it.
Or maybe you had a moment of weakness and gave up.
Behind all of these reasons, do you know what the REAL problem was? It was not the goals themselves or what got in the way of the goal.
Rather it was the way we set our goals.
Lets start with looking at our mental state while setting goals. When we set a goal we generally start with feeling determined to reach the goal. We feel STRONG and MOTIVATED. And we WANT to succeed in reaching the goal!
These feelings are reinforced when we sit down and actually go through the process of goal setting. Goal setting in itself can be a very powerful and energizing process.
It is always in a positive mental frame that we set our goals. Those of us who are familiar with the SMART goals concept set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound Goals.
What we do not factor in
- The challenges that will come in the way. There will always be unforeseen circumstances or unplanned events. You may decide to launch a product on a certain date but your main vendor my declare bankruptcy(yes this is a real example!!!). On a personal goal, you may decide to focus on watching what you eat but then along comes a family wedding and your diet goes out of the window. There will be sudden and unplanned issues that will crop up!
- That there is a lot of energy and effort needed to stay focused on the goal. During the day there are multiple things that deplete us of our emotional energy and focus. This could be an excessively demanding client in your workday, the traffic your drive through, or just a screaming child when you get home! It is so much easier to give up when you are stressed and in a low energy state. There will always be times we will be in low energy states.
- Falling off the wagon is easy but getting back can be really hard. This is a proven fact with addictions and is also true of our habits . You may decide to work on your skills and spend time building your network, but when day to day things are getting out of control priorities shift. When things go off track it is extremely difficult to get them back on track.
- There is a support structure needed to stay with the goal: Not surprisingly we as humans are the least accountable to ourselves. No accountability is an easy way to lose track of your goal and we may go yet another year or maybe even decades without getting to where we want to go. (Ask any politician!)
- The BIG one – Purpose: “I want to start a business because …….” It is important that you are clear on the purpose behind the goal. Your goal should fulfill the intent behind it. This is the biggest factor that determines your motivation to achieve the goal and stay on the path throughout the journey!!
Make 2016 the year of achieving your goals! Join my
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