7 Reasons you haven't been able to accomplish your goals
Goals are an essential part of one’s forward progression in life. From business to personal and even relationships- goals are a part of everything.
If you’re here it's most probably because you’re setting these amazing goals, but you feel like you’re going nowhere. Trust me, I’ve been there!
Here, I’ll be sharing the 7 reasons that I’ve found to be the most common hurdles when trying to achieve any goal
1. Thinking you’re invincible
Believing in yourself is great! In fact it’s necessary. However, often people cross that line of self affirmation and step into, what I call the “Superhero” zone. The “Superhero” mindset often presents as thinking you can accomplish anything and everything. While we all love to think that, realistically speaking, it’s not possible- at least not for the majority of us. We’re not all built with the same traits, skills, or habits. What works for someone won’t work for everyone. You have faults, and you have weaknesses, just like all of us. The ability to be grounded enough to know your weaknesses and understanding what you can and can’t do on a personal level is key to accomplishing your goals.
2. Not having a timeline
Some things in life are best left without a timeline. Goals are NOT one of those things. A timeline helps you set minor checkpoints to ensure you’re on the right track. These checkpoints are essential for self assessment, they provide an opportunity for you to analyze your progress and assess what’s working and what needs to be tweaked. Without a timeline, you’re running aimlessly into the void with no chance of ever achieving your goal.
3. Focusing on the progress of others
Any attention you remove from your goal slows down your progress. In addition, focusing on the progress of others often backfires by cultivating negative ideas that make us doubt our abilities. Your skill set, your experience and your motives are different from those around you even if it seems like you share the same goal. If you compare your ability to swim to that of a fish, you’ll live your whole life thinking you’re a failure. Remember that.
4. Having an all-or-nothing mindset
The hardest yet most important lesson for me to understand is this one. Our success CANNOT be determined by an all or nothing mentality. Sometimes, most times in fact, we'll have to set the same goal multiple times before we’re able to accomplish it, especially when it comes to larger goals or those that challenge our habits. This is why those checkpoints mentioned in point 2 are important. They force you to access your progress, and in doing so, you’ll find that you’ve been successful in certain areas but not others. This doesn’t mean you’ve failed! It means you’re on the right track but you’ve got a ways to go.
5. Setting a plan that doesn’t align with YOU
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, WHAT WORKS FOR SOMEONE ELSE MIGHT NOT WORK FOR YOU! I admire those that wake up at 4-5am to workout, however, when I set the goal to workout more, I knew that had I scheduled my workouts for 5am I would never workout. I would be setting myself up for failure, feeding into my insecurities and future providing “proof” to myself that I’m a failure. When the reality is that, I’m just not a morning person. Don’t think you’ll change everything you’ve grown comfortable with overnight. Be realistic.
6. Not having an intrinsic reason
Intrinsic motivation is that voice of reason, that drive that comes from within you. For example, “I want to workout because I want a healthier life for myself” is an intrinsic motivation. However, “I want to workout because I don’t want ____ to think I’m fat” is an extrinsic motivator. Multiple studies have found that intrinsic motive and reasonings yield a much higher success rate when it comes to accomplishing tasks (Benabou & Tirole, 2003). Bottom line, if you have to get someone to convince you to do something, you’re most likely not going to do it.
7. Not having a clear vision of your goal
If you don’t have a destination, how do you expect to get there? Often we start embarking on this journey with no clear vision of what the final destination looks like. How will you know when this goal is accomplished? How will you know if you’re almost there? The answer? You can’t! Unless you take time to define these markers and what they will look like in YOUR own personal journey.
So I’ve thrown all this at you and now you’re wondering, “well sheesh! how the heck to I change all that?”
I got you covered! You can easily start with my Empowered Goals free downloadable sheet. It’s a designed to help you plan and think through your goal path.
Feel like you’re ready for something a little extra but not quite sure you want a full coach? Check out my 21 Day Goal planner designed to walk you through one goal and one goal only while enabling you to embark on a journey of self exploration. From daily exercises to guided reflections, this will present you with a simple plan to get you thinking about how to make your own plan!
Think you’re better off talking to someone who can create a personalized plan, hold you accountable and equip you with tools designed specifically for YOU? Schedule a free consultation call and let’s see if this is the right step for you!
As always,
Stay empowered,
S