Nothing gets accomplished in any human endeavor without goals. But it is one thing to set goals and another thing entirely to achieve them. Here are a few ideas that may help you follow through on your goals to see them through the final accomplishment:
- Write out your ”WHY” along with your “What.” Asking yourself “why” this goal means so much to you taps into your emotional reasons for achieving it. Asking “why” also delves into what will happen if you fail, the consequences you want to avoid. Finally, the “why” question aligns your goals with your own personal values, and also tells you when a goal is incompatible to your values.
- Burn your bridges behind you. All too often we set out on a mission with our excuses already prepared in the back of our minds. Look at the faces of a losing team in the fourth quarter, very often you can see in their faces that they have given up and are mentally taking themselves out of the game.
Take a lesson from the Spanish Conquistador who burned the ships he and his army had sailed on. He wanted no thought of retreat in their minds. If your goal is to quit smoking, make your goal so public that you risk social humiliation if you pick up another cigarette. Eliminate your contingency plans and give yourself no way out if you fail.
- Make a list of 10 things you need to do in order to achieve your goal. Make this list immediately after you write out your goal (you are writing out your goals aren’t you?). These are the individual steps you need to take you from where you are now to where you want to be. Then, as soon as you write the list and your goal, start working on one item from that list right then.
This gets you started right away. When you know what steps you need to take and you start acting on one of them, you have “lit the fuse” to make things happen.
- Constantly ask yourself, “What can I do right now to move me closer to one of my goals?” Wasting time is our biggest enemy. But asking yourself this question makes certain that you are constantly moving forward on at least one of your goals. This question drives ideas and actions into your brain. It focuses you on the now and creates a bias for action.
- Also ask this similar question: “Is what I’m doing right now moving me closer to my goals?” This question helps you to choose high priority activities over low priority activities. Like an old sailing ship, achieving your goals is a constant process of making course corrections. This question helps you to make those course corrections.
Someone once said, “When your “why “ is big enough, the goal gets accomplished. Achieving goals is often merely a matter of removing your excuses, demolishing procrastination and keeping yourself focused.
COPYRIGHT(C)2006, Charles Brown. All rights reserved.
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