Have you ever found the difference between those who can achieve their goals in life and those who fail? A study by Harvard MBA graduates found that only 3 percent of those who had a clear and written goal earned an average of 10 times more than the remaining 97 percent.
Let’s face it, life as an adult is different. Go back to the time when you were younger, you just kept thinking about yourself and had a lot of leisure time, plenty of opportunities to fulfill dreams and fulfill any of your goals. But when life gets harder and harder, you realize that your goal achievement is just a few and many differences.
It’s not that you stopped setting goals or stopped trying to achieve something great. Unfortunately, with less focus on your goals and less free-time, you’ve probably made a few mistakes that are killing your goals. And either way, you have forgotten some of the elements that are important for establishing those goals.
So let’s find out what are the 3 mistakes that are killing your goals.
Vague goal setting
The most obvious mistake is that most people make goals that are very vague. An excellent example of how people make this mistake is when they set goals to reduce their debt. It’s a great goal that everyone has but many fail to achieve it. Even when it comes to reducing debt, they often increase debt simply because the goal is not clear.
Debt reduction is great, but most people never specify what they want to reduce debt. They don’t have a plan of how they want to do it. They don’t set a timeline and they don’t tell themselves a measurable way to determine success.
So, what to do actually?
Specify your plan and set small targets first, without targeting anything big at once. Give yourself time and find out what goal you want to achieve first. Ask yourself the following questions to determine and spot your goal: ( Write down everything)
- Which part of my real or big goal do I need to do first?
- How do I achieve my goals or what are my plans?
- When should I achieve that goal?
- How will I know that my goal has been achieved?
Lack of accountability
Another killer mistake is that most people make is irresponsibility. Lack of responsibility for any of your tasks means that you show a lack of interest in those close to you. And where you are not interested, how do you do better or meet your goals? On the other hand, if you are responsible for the goal then the speed of your work will increase, you will spend more energy to fulfil it.
Responsibility will move you forward, not backward. Responsibility does not mean tying oneself up but it is also a formula of progress.
Setting unrealistic goals
Another mistake is to set unrealistic goals. It is good to have big dreams but if it is unreal then it will lead you to failure.
Goals that seem too difficult often don’t start because of a lack of enthusiasm or aspiration. Eventually these goals are left behind until they are forgotten. Still, having goals that are too simple is not a good option. Such goals are incomplete due to lack of motivation. If you know you can do something with ease, there is nothing to be surprised or rewarded about. Therefore, there is no incentive to start.
Many set a huge goal and get frustrated when they can’t achieve what they had hoped for. To avoid falling into the trap of creating this goal, you should set small, precise goals, not run into a larger goal at all. This will allow you to plan more carefully and keep track of your progress.
For example, you thought about cleaning your entire house on the weekends. Very nice plan or goal. If you leave this thought here, you may be disappointed and it will not be achieved. Instead you can set small goals that you know can be met at a certain time. After careful thought, you see that it is possible to clean 1 room or 2 forms in a weekly vacation. Then you may need to work one more weekend to meet this goal. After working on a weekly holiday you will be able to track the progress of the work.
If you have trouble achieving your goals, look for common mistakes that are killing your goals and try to avoid them.
- Be sure to write down your goals somewhere.
- Don’t set vague goals.
- Achieving goals cannot be irresponsible
- Let your friends and family know who will support you.
- Avoid setting unrealistic goals.
These are three mistakes that we make throughout our lives and not to achieve a single goal, as we practice it through whole life. So piece the big task into smaller ones and write down each progress that helps you track your performance.