1. Setting Goals for Success
Everyone has conscious or subconscious ideas that can become limiting beliefs. These beliefs have the ability to stop us from achieving our goals if we let them. Sometimes these beliefs are instilled in us in childhood and sometimes we create them ourselves.
For example, how you see yourself with money can be a limiting belief that can get in your way of success.
If you believe you will always struggle and always be poor, chances are you’ll set yourself up for failure. The limiting belief that you’re poor and that you always will be becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The same can be said about anything negative in your life that limits you.
Whether it’s career, education, or personal such as being healthy and fit. If you see yourself a certain way, it can be hard to change that view and let go of that limiting belief.
Did you know there are eight telling phrases that point to a limiting belief? Let’s go over them now:
– It’s hopeless
Anytime you use the word “never” it’s a clue that you’re focusing on a limiting belief. For example “I’ll never have any money because takes money to make money.”
– I’m helpless
When most people feel uneducated or helpless, they blame their circumstances instead of working to change them. “I can’t manage my money because I don’t know how” sounds insightful, but the part that’s missing is the feeling of helplessness when all you need to do is take a personal finance course or buy, read and practice the lessons in a book like Personal Finances for Dummies or The Total Money Makeover which are both available on Amazon.com
– It’s useless
The idea that nothing you do will make a difference is a very powerful self-limiting belief. If you believe that, any action you take won’t make a difference it takes away your will to even try and reach your goals.
Have you ever thought to yourself?
– It doesn’t matter if I exercise an hour a day, I won’t lose weight?”
– Or It doesn’t matter how hard I work I’ll never get that promotion?
That kind of negative self-talk has the power to keep you from moving forward.
– The universe is out to get me
Sometimes a limiting belief has to do with the idea that outside forces that you can’t control are at work keeping you down. You can’t find a job or get clients because the economy sucks, where you live is depressed, you don’t have the right clothing and so forth, but you do nothing in your power to change it because it’s destiny. “Everything happens for a reason” type of thinking can be very limiting and make you feel powerless.
– I’m worthless
The idea that you’re not smart enough or good enough to do what you really want can be a very strong limiting belief system and seems to affect women more than men. You feel you’re not pretty enough, smart enough, or good enough to have something, so you don’t take the steps to achieve it, because you don’t feel that you deserve it.
– It’s genetic
While there are certainly some instances where genetics play a huge role in a person’s life, the truth is that almost everything that is genetic can be fixed with the right mindset, training, exercise, and outlook. You’re not stuck with your genetics, but if you think you are, you may not try any of the things to pull yourself out of the rut you’re stuck in.
– I’ll fail
The truth is the fear of failure is something most people have as a limiting belief. “I’m a bad public speaker so if I do it, I’ll be judged, and I’ll fail anyway so why try” is a common refrain. But, how can you set that belief in stone if you’ve not tried?
– I’m different
The limiting belief about being different is that different is necessarily bad. You don’t want to be who you are because you’re different and you’ll be looked at as different by other people. You’re afraid to be who you are, and because of that you don’t even know who you are, and you’re too scared to find out due to fear of rejection and ending up alone.
If you ever hear any of these phrases go through your head, try to disconnect from them, and turn them around to “why not me” instead of “why me.” Always ask “why not me” because the truth is, you’re not feeling anything different from anyone else who has made goals and achieved them. The difference is in the doing, not the intelligence or talent.
2. Setting Goals for Success
Whether you are setting goals for professional success or personal happiness, there is a lot more to goal setting than just saying “my goal is __?__” and moving forward. While that is important, it’s also important to ensure that you are setting the right goals at the right time so that you can reach them successfully.
When it comes to setting the right goals for yourself, here are a few questions you should consider:
– Are your goals realistic?
While setting goals may sound like a simple enough task, but it actually takes research to ensure that a goals are realistic and attainable. If you’re not sure if the goal you’ve set is achievable then you haven’t done enough research.
I am a firm believer that you can do anything you set your mind to; however, for a goal to attainable it has to be realistic. Here is an example of a realistic goal: I want to master the art of yoga this year. Here is an example of an unrealistic goal: I want to become and astronaut and land on the moon by next month. While the first goal is something that is scaled over a reasonable amount of time to be achievable the other is not.
– Are your goals specific?
Once you’ve set a goal that is realistic, then you need to be specific enough in your description of it so that it’s also easy to take the goal, and work backwards to create a schedule of actions needed to succeed.
For instance, you want to double your income but you’re working at a company that doesn’t promote from within. What will you do to achieve your goal? Take on a second job, change jobs or start a business? The more specific your goals are the easier they will be to reach.
– Are your goals multifaceted?
Focusing on only one part of your life is a bad idea. People live multifaceted lives and need to make goals for all areas of their lives in order to feel successful. If you have a wonderful business and career but your personal life suffers, then no matter how successful you are, you won’t feel successful.
Something will always feel as if it’s missing from your life if your goals aren’t in line for overall happiness. So, make sure your goals include something from each aspect of your life and that you have a plan for reaching them over a set period of time.
– Is your scheduling beneficial to success?
Once you create the schedule for yourself to reach each goal that you’ve set, you need to truly consider how representative it is of reality. Say your goal is to be healthy and reduce your cholesterol by 10 percent in six months, but you haven’t set aside time in your daily schedule to exercise and eat right.
If you don’t schedule in the time needed reach your goal, you won’t succeed because something will always get in your way taking time away from what you want to achieve.
For instance, if your goal is to exercise 30 minutes per day, you need to choose a time that will fit into your routine and include time for getting ready, warming up and cooling down so you aren’t rushed or stressed when trying to accomplish the task.
– Are you learning from failure?
Many times when setting goals and schedules, instead of learning from failure, people give up. Using the example above, once you implement your schedule to reach the goals that you have set, when you notice there are things you’ve forgotten to take into account, don’t give up. Learn from the failure and change the schedule to be more realistic.
You might find that in practice, you have to rewrite all your goals and your schedule, but this is perfectly acceptable. Many people believe failure is something negative, but the truth is, if you don’t fail sometimes you’re not going to learn much and it’s likely your goals are too easy.
– Do your goals belong to someone else?
Many people set goals that represent what someone else wants instead of what they want. This can lead to bad feelings and resentment, which can derail even the best laid plans. As you set your goals, ask yourself if they’re really what you want for yourself or what someone else wants for you. Ask yourself if you’re okay with any goal you make being for someone else before you embark on your journey.
It’s okay to do things because of someone else, but it’s important that you are honest about that and make some goals for yourself too that don’t involve anyone else’s needs or wants.
– Are you staying on track?
Schedules are very important when it comes to reaching any goal in life, whether its’ professional or personal. To do lists pale in comparison to a well laid out calendar of tasks and activities that get you from point “A” to point “B”. Many people set goals but they don’t schedule time to accomplish them which is a recipe for failure.
To achieve any goal big or small you must write it down and plan to accomplish it. Ensure that you look at your schedule every morning and every night and note when you succeed on sticking to your schedule and where you don’t. Noticing a pattern of activity can be helpful in fixing a poorly written schedule as well as staying realistic about whether or not you’re sticking to the plan.
– Are your goals focused?
When writing a goal it’s important to write them in a positive way, or at least a way that feels positive to you. In the quest to improve your life, try writing down a goal and then changing the words to sound more positive to see if it isn’t more motivating.
For instance, “losing weight” seems like a good goal, but for some people it might signify deprivation. So instead, the person might frame the goal as “improving my BMI by 10 points” or “improving my cholesterol by 10 percent.”
– Do you have too many goals?
Just as setting too few goals can be a problem, so can setting too many. All of us have busy live that include professional and a personal obligations. If you have set goals in too many areas of life at once, you might tire yourself out and get overwhelmed.
Instead, pick one personal goal, and one other type of goal to focus on until you reach them, and then you can add more goals as time goes on. You don’t need to do everything today. When it comes to reaching any goal that age-old saying “slow and steady wins the race” are words to live by.
Setting the right goals for yourself takes thought and consideration. Don’t try to set all your goals in one day instead, set some goals in different stages and in different areas of your life and give a lot of thought to why you’re making the goal in the first place.
3. Setting Goals for Success
As we discussed in the last lesson it’s important to take time to do your research in order to set the right goals. Whether it’s for your professional success or your personal life understanding what you have to do to reach the goals you’ve set is a very important step of the process.
A good place to start is with your dreams. We all want to fulfill our dreams and in order to do that you first have to find out if they’re achievable. While the point of setting most goals is to challenge yourself you don’t want to make the goals so hard that you can’t reach them, which (most of the time) only leads to failure. To ensure maximum success, make sure that your goals meet the following criteria.
– They match your core values
The more any goal fits into one of the four main areas of life – Family, Financial, Physical or Personal – the more likely you are to be able to set a realistic goal that you can achieve. If a goal for some reason doesn’t fit into one of your core values, it’s not likely you’ll experience much success.
– You’re in control
While goals that rely on others aren’t wrong, they are harder to achieve. Any goal that you control 100 percent is a goal that you can reach. Do ensure that you’re not letting fear get in your way or blaming fate for your failures, though. Self-limiting beliefs can get in your way on this one.
Remember to be realistic about whether you do have control or not and give yourself more credit. For example if you think you do not have control over your financial future because “that’s just how it is,” you are mistaken and need to eliminate this line of thinking.
– You can envision it
If you can’t see the end result, it will be very difficult to move forward toward achieving the goal. If you need to draw a picture, make a vision board, or take a day out to fantasize about your big dreams and see how they all fit together in the big picture of your life, do so. You need to clearly see the end in order to achieve it.
– It’s specific
Every goal you make needs to be very specific in nature. If you really want to be sure to reach the goal, you have to know when you reached it. Instead of saying “I want to start a business,” state exactly what type of business you want to start, who you want to be your clients, and other information that makes the goal more concrete.
– It’s measurable
At which point have you achieved the goal? If you can’t give a number or something that is measureable, then you won’t have a real goal. If you want to use the business example, you might include that you want to earn x amount of dollars each week by a certain date and then how and why you are going to do it.
– It’s actionable
To achieve any goal there have to be steps that you can take to get there. Like using a map to reach a destination that you want to go to on vacation, you need to draw a map to your vision of success with the steps and paths you’ll take along the way. Put not only what but when, and how you’ll accomplish the step.
It’s realistic
You don’t want to write a goal that is too hard to achieve or worse, impossible. Be sure that it’s scientifically possible to do it by researching everything realistically. For example, you’re not likely going to start a business today and earn six figures by tomorrow or even the first year in business. Look at the research and determine what is doable and how you’ll do it.
– It timely
Every goal has to have a time limit; otherwise, you may never achieve it. Start with the end and work your way back to today, creating the list of things to do each day to finally reach the result. But, do set a time limit. You can adjust as you get into the project if it works to be more realistic, but resist the urge to change the time because you’re not sticking to your task lists.
If you keep these things in mind, it will help you create powerful goals that you can achieve. It will also help reduce the risk of failure because you can always adjust your timeline and your goals as you learn more. The important thing is to give each goal plenty of thought and consideration before setting it.
4. Setting Goals for Success
When it comes to setting goals, you can get started with a simple piece of paper and pen. However, there are a lot of great tools and software that can help make goal setting fun and easy. When something is fun and easy, you’re more likely to stick to it long enough to actually achieve the success you desire.
Let’s go over a few:
– Goal-Buddy
http://www.goal-buddy.com
Using this cloud-based software you can name, set, and manage your goals easily. It leads you step-by-step through questions for what your goals are so that they are S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely) goals. Then you can use the system to track your goals through milestones that you set as the days go by.
– Google Calendar
http://www.google.com/calendar
Where were we before Google Calendar came alone? Unorganized, for sure. This is such a handy calendar that you can use for the most important areas of your life. Be it family, personal, financial or physical – you can set your goals and work your way back inserting actionable steps and tasks to do each day. You can then let it email you a daily task list so you never leave anything out.
– Basecamp
http://www.basecamp.com
This is really a project management system, but any goal has to have actionable steps involved or milestones and tasks to take to reach success. You can use Basecamp for any type of actionable steps and it will even email you a reminder to do the task. This can work with your business life or personal life.
– Vison Board
http://www.visionboard.me
This is a fun and easy to use vision board software. You can use it to create your vision board then print it out. You can also use something like Pinterest to create a vision board if you need to be fancier about it. It’s fun and effective to create a vision board, paste it on your wall, fridge or in public so that you can see the reality of your dreams in person.
– Lifetick
https://www.lifetick.com
If you want a very in-depth goal setting software, this is it. It helps you traverse the four important areas where you should be setting goals and then view how they overlap and work with each other. This software helps you define your core values, and develop S.M.A.R.T. goals as well as track everything.
– Goals On Track
http://www.goalsontrack.com
This software is a lot like Lifetick but has features that help you “chunk down” any goal into reasonable and easy-to-follow steps. Their whole idea is that you want to do less but get more. This software’s features encompass the 80/20 rule and puts it to work for goal setting and achieving.
– Goalscape
http://www.goalscape.com
– If you like to visualize your goals in pictures, charts, and graphs then you might like Goalscape. You’ll create a kind of wheel with your goal in the middle and everything you need to do to reach the goal will circle it. So you can see it in one glance.
– Smart Goals Templates
http://www.smart-goals-guide.com/free-goal-setting-worksheets-forms-and-templates.html
If you like templates, these are free fill in the blanks goal setting templates. They will help you go over the various goals setting steps needed to achieve results in both your personal life and career and business life. The website also has some very nice resources that will help you set and reach your goals more effectively.
– Mint
https://www.mint.com
This is more of a financial manager, but if you need to get control over your finances, want to set up goals such as establishing a six-month emergency savings account, start a business and other goals, you can use this software to track your financial success and projections.
Whichever type of software (if any) you feel you need to use for goal setting and goal realization is up to you. The important thing is that you visualize the results of any goal, write it out, and then take steps toward achieving the goal.
5. Setting Goals for Success.
In this last lesson, we are going to talk about how to create a pattern of success when it comes to achieving your goals.
Once you experience success you will be able to look back and realize that you achieve all success pretty much the same way. You set a goal, follow through on the tasks needed to be done for achieving results, keep an open mind, learn from others, track your successes and learn from failure. It’s the same thing, over and over again and it works.
If you want to create a pattern of success in your life, you can start now by learning the secret that successful people know. Successful people are only special because they are doers and follow through. They are not smarter than others; in fact it is entirely possible you are smarter on paper than they are. You just don’t follow through.
– Become a goal setting expert
Start at the top and learn how to craft the best goals for yourself. Know that the goal is something that can be accomplished and know that the goal is measurable before you finish writing it. Most of all make sure it’s a goal that you really want to achieve.
– Schedule everything
People who achieve are doers. If you want to get something done, schedule it no matter how silly it might seem to you. If you put it in a schedule at a particular time, and not just on a generic “to do” list, it will be more likely that you get it done.
For instance, if you have set a goal to write a 80,000 word novel by a certain date, then you should know how many pages you need to get done each week and which days you can work on it, which times, hours, and how long it takes you to write a page.
Successful writers write; they don’t wait for inspiration to strike. They schedule it, and do it. The same can be said for anything you want to achieve. You don’t wait until you want to do it; you do it on schedule.
– Automate the routine
There are a lot of things that need to be done but that can escalate easily into “busy work” which doesn’t get you closer to a goal. Bookkeeping for instance is something that can be accomplished today, with the right software, almost automatically.
You can schedule payments to happen automatically; you can also use software that enters everything for you in the ledger. Freeing up time to focus on your scheduled activities that must be done to achieve the goal is a more productive use of time.
– Get help
To be a success doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself. You’re not on your own. The best scientists, professors, doctors, lawyers, and CEOs have assistants who help them look great. You too can hire outside help and contractors to help you do the tasks needed to reach your goals. Other than doing exercise for you and thing you must do physically for yourself, there isn’t much you can’t outsource today.
– Don’t reinventing the wheel
In most cases, someone has already done it before you. Someone has already worked out the kinks and devised a plan of action that will work for you too with hardly any tweaks. Learn from other people’s mistakes and realize that you can gain valuable information from what others are already doing.
– Never stop learning
They say it takes ten thousand hours of reading about a topic to become an expert on any subject. Keep this in mind as you look toward your future and set your goals. If you want to be an expert, you’ll need to start today building up those ten thousand hours. Even if you know nothing about a topic today, you can be an expert in just ten thousand hours.
– Focus on core values
As you set goals to create a pattern of success, it’s imperative that you know what your core values are in terms of family, personal, financial and your physical life. Everyone has different areas they need to work on more than others – you need to know what your areas are to set realistic goals that you want to meet.
– Repeat
Nothing is ever done without the paperwork, as they say. Well, that includes creating a pattern of success. Only by setting goals, then tracking and assessing the results of the goals, and then repeating what works you will create a pattern of success.
Creating a pattern of success requires knowledge of goal setting, and goal achieving, and an in-depth knowledge of yourself. Starting today, you can gain that knowledge and create a real pattern of success in your life.
Always remember that a goal will ever be achieved if regular action isn’t taken every day. Each morning, look at your calendar and follow through on the plans that you’ve made and the time you’ve set for yourself to get things done. Reaching your goals is simply a matter of setting up a schedule and sticking to it.
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