We’re all great at setting goals. It’s easy. I probably make a new list of goals every other month. The problem is, I never follow through with any of them. They end up lost in my notebook or tossed away in the trash a few weeks later.
I’ve been doing a lot thinking about goals, execution, and life’s big picture. What causes us to give up on our goals? Why do they end up lost in a notebook or tossed in the trash? And more importantly, how can we fix this tragic goal-setting meltdown and actually start moving towards them.
Worth Something
Goals need to be worth pursing. They take a tremendous amount of focus, hard work and accountability to achieve. Set goals that challenge you both mentally and physically. Ones that push you out of your comfort zone.
You should feel uncomfortable. You should have days where you question yourself. Days where you want to give up. These feelings let us know we’re doing something bigger than ourselves. That we’re tearing down barriers and inching closer toward our desired outcome.
Focused
Try starting out with a very focused list of goals. Pick four or five that you really want to accomplish and start working toward them. After you’ve gained some momentum add another to the list. So many times I’ve made a gigantic list of goals only to end up doing nothing. Paralysis by analysis will drive you insane. Starting really is half the battle. Pick a few and work your butt off toward accomplishing them.
Accountable
You have to be the one holding yourself accountable. Period.
You’ve got to cut the shit. You’ve got to quit lying to yourself. You need to be the one looking in the mirror, asking yourself if you did everything you could today to push yourself forward. You’ve got to want it so bad that you lose sleep at night when you’ve slacked off. Then get up the next day and work twice as hard.
Sure, you could ask a friend to hold you accountable. But they’ll never be as invested in accomplishing your goals as yourself. No-one will.
What do you really want
I’ve never really taken goal-setting very seriously. On a whim I’ll grab a pen and paper and jot down a list of very random, broad, high-level “goals.” Hell, I just did it this morning. Here’s exactly what my list looked like:
- Workout
- Get more clients
- Blog every week
- Read more books
- Guest blog posts
- Save money
Pathetic. This is supposed to represent my hopes and dreams. It’s supposed to be the road-map towards the life I want. How uninspiring.
My list of goals needs a serous injection of why: Why these goals? Why are they so important? Why are they worth pursuing? And what do I really want to gain out of each of them?
So now I’m working on a revised list of goals. Goals that matters. Goals worth fighting for. And over the next three weeks (until Jan 31) I’m focusing all of my energy on accomplishing them.
What does your list of goals look like?
