5 Tips That Increase The Odds of Achieving Your Goals
It’s hard to dispute the importance of setting goals if you want to be a high performer. And it only makes sense that having a written objective increases the likelihood of success! Let’s look at several characteristics that will help to assure a positive outcome for your important goals. Ask yourself: have I worded my big goal in a way that ensures my success? Have I adequately prioritized the goal?
By incorporating a few strategic ideas into your next goal setting and/or review session (which will hopefully be soon), you can greatly increase your odds of success.
Try these strategies to help make your big goal a reality:
1. Choose the best goal for you. Consider all possibilities before you select the topic of your big goal. It is best to focus on one goal but if you are wanting to focus on several areas of your life, I suggest you choose no more than three.
2. A goal statement must have a deadline. Without a deadline, your goal will lack any sense of time urgency.
A recommended way of formatting your goal is: "On or before Feb 15, 2022, I will have completed a first draft of my next book and given it to accountability buddy to review for me.." This statement provides a clear endpoint but still allows for the goal to be accomplished sooner.
It is generally more effective to limit the timeframe to 12 weeks or less. If a goal will require a greater period of time, break the goal down into smaller, multiple goals.
3. Leave the results open-ended when appropriate. Just as you allowed the goal to be accomplished sooner than the specified date in the above example, where appropriate, also allow your results to surpass your goal.
For example, if your goal is to $10,000 next month, you might want to say: "make at least $10,000 in January 2022." Wording the goal statement in this fashion allows for greater results, assuming that is appropriate for you. Avoid limiting your results if it's unnecessary to do so.
Here are some examples of goals that can usually be left open-ended:
Money-based goals: Would anyone ever want to limit themselves here?
Weight-loss goals (I include these because it’s Christmas Time): Depending on the amount of weight that needs to be lost, losing a couple more pounds would usually be received as good news.
4. Include your responsibilities. It might be good to include some specific actions in your goal statement.
In the statement above you might want to add: And I will write for 90 minutes each weekday morning at my desk. By including specific actions in your statement, you're claiming responsibility for doing everything that needs to be done to accomplish the goal.
5. Prioritize your goal. Your brain is inundated with countless things every day. It needs to know that this goal is more important than all the other tasks it faces each day.
One way to accomplish this is by utilizing repetition. After first setting your goal, write it down 10 times. Now notice how you feel about the goal. If you feel anything less than motivated and excited, there is some question in your mind about it; try to figure out what's holding back your enthusiasm so you can move forward with confidence. I suggest you do some tapping on any issues that are stuck. (For more information on how to use tapping to get unstuck, go here)
Strong, positive emotions can also be used as a prioritization tool. Imagine what it would feel like to achieve your goal. Imagine the ideal scene. What would you see, smell, think, and feel? The better the vision, the better the odds of success.
Every day, write your goal one time and perform the visualization process several times. This will reinforce the priority of your goal.
Consider these ideas the next time you set a goal. By using these 5 tips, your odds of success will increase greatly. While there are multiple ways to set goals, the process above has been proven to be highly effective time and time again. Try it on your next goal; you're sure to be pleasantly surprised.
Joe Mitchell, Esquire is a High Performance Coach and EFT (Tapping) Practitioner, who has logged over 35 years of in depth study of personal and spiritual development. In his studies , he has done hundreds of self-development courses, spiritual retreats and health-related workshops. Coach Joe is a certified yoga teacher, meditation teacher, NLP Practitioner and a graduate of three coaching academies. Two years after he graduated from Harvard Law School, he became a monk for five years. In 2016, after over 20 years as a solo criminal and personal injury attorney, he decided to turn his heart’s passion into a career as a Success Coach, Motivational Speaker and Trainer. For information on Coach Joe’s programs, high performance videos and apply for a Free High Performance Session click the following link:http://www.activateyourgreatness.com/free-session.