How can you fail to set goals?
You’re 42% more likely to achieve your goals by writing them down. (Dominican University Research)… but I’m sure most of you have realized writing down your goals doesn’t equal accomplishing them.
Finding the obstacles that prevent you from realizing your goals is an important step towards achieving them. This is a context: I have helped more than 170 people to set goals in the last month. When I observe people struggling, it usually ties back with these three reasons.
This is how to avoid these 3 common mistakes when goal setting:
1. Mistake: Too vague goals are a mistake
Many Moms, for example, have a goal like “I want time for myself.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great goal but how will you know you achieved it? Do you consider 10 additional seconds to make yourself successful? To make it more specific it should sound something like…“I want 30 minutes for myself at 8 am M-F starting June 1st, 2022, or I want one hour for myself at 7 pm M-F starting June 1st, 2022.”
“If you’re bored with life – you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things – you don’t have enough goals.” – Lou Holtz
Second mistake: Your goals are too lofty
This bucket has been a place I’ve fallen too many times for me to be honest. It was hard for me to realize that setting large goals can be extremely stressful. You are either forced to focus all of your efforts on that goal or another more pressing one You can make important progress in areas that are affected. Setting low goals so that they are easily achievable early is the key to goal-setting; this was IBM’s quota strategy that helped their salespeople outperform everyone.
John D. Rockefeller had a goal of being worth $100,000, eventually, he was worth over $1 billion, or $300 billion in today’s money.
3. Mistake: You don’t see the personal significance in your goals
People often make their goals something they should be doing every day. For example, “I will put my phone in my room between 9-5 on M-F starting June 1, 2022.” This could be your Energizing Habit but not your goal because it’s not inspiring. You should make your goal reflect the results of your daily habits. Your goal could be something like… “I want to build my self-discipline so M-F I am able to be present during my meetings without the need to grab for my phone.”
This Week’s Energizing Habit Will Help You Set Winning Goals:
Write down your goals.
Re-Read it. Is it able to pass the below checklist?
- It’s specific
- You have enough time and space to do it.
- It’s meaningful
Rewrite the goal if it fails to meet any of these criteria.
Addicted 2 Success first published 3 Mistakes People Make when Setting Goals.
Addicted 2 Success published the article 3 Mistakes People Make when Setting Goals.