Goal Setting & Success

Life ... it has a habit of throwing distractions at you - usually when you can do without it. In fact, life has a habit of completely distracting you, particularly when you are working towards achieving your goals.

You have wonderful ambitions in your life, great things to achieve and then life distracts you. Your kids get ill, your job gets busy, you need to do housework, shopping, going out with your friends, and many more.

You know what I mean by this, don't you?

You get distractions thrown at you to check if you are serious about achieving your goals. Life will always distract you. Often when you are close to achieving your goals, these distractions can be quite big. It's almost like a universal check to ensure you know what you want.

Doesn't sound very fair, does it? That life should distract you like this. If you are not serious about your goals then you will follow the distractions and miss your goals.

This testing process can be really frustrating, but if you push through them then you will achieve your goals. It's the archetypical journey of the hero. In every movie and book, the hero goes through trials and tribulations before they win through and achieve their goals. You are this hero and face these trials.

How can you avoid these distractions?

Well, you could have no goals, but then life would be very boring.

You must keep your goals and keep pushing towards them and one way to avoid the distractions is to keep your focus. Write your goals out and read them every day. Regularly review your goals and adjust them according to your changing priorities. Write out step by step action plans to help you achieve your goals.

These are all things you can do to avoid the distractions and keep yourself focused. You get distracted when you don't know where you are going, and these techniques help you keep an eye on your destination.

Over fifty percent of people get distracted when working towards their goals. In fact, most people get distracted when working towards almost anything!

Do you watch American Idol?

A lot of people audition for American Idol from a point of desperation, they can't sing, can't dance and have little, or no personality. The judges tell them no, they are not through to the next round, they get frustrated and angry. They have no talent and you would cringe if they sang for you but they have their heart set on becoming the next American Idol.

That is their goal in life and all they want.

These people don't want to work to achieve their goals. They don't want to struggle through the hardship of learning to sing, getting found and getting a recording contract. They want to be a rich singer and want to achieve it without doing any work.

Now take a look at the people who get through to the next round. In particular, look at the people who have been back year after year and been rejected in the past.

This last group of people are those who have focus on their goals. They are determined to succeed and achieve their goal of being a singer and do whatever it takes to get themselves there.

These people have the burning need to be the next American Idol and will do whatever is necessary to get themselves noticed as a singer. They listen to the feedback from the judges and work tirelessly to improve these points.

They will have taken singing lessons. Practised dancing, listened to more music. They will have done everything they can in order to be a top singer.

One of the biggest problems you are likely to face when setting, and achieving, your goals is that you get sidetracked and distracted because your goal appears to be hard work.

Honestly, most of us would rather avoid hard work as often as we can. If we can get something with no work, that's what we prefer.

If your goal is too big or too far out of your comfort zone, then you may well suffer from distractions.

To get around this, break your goals down into more manageable chunks.

For example, instead of trying to earn an extra $10,000 a month, break it into something smaller and more manageable, e.g. earn an extra $100 a month. Then when you are comfortable with that and have achieved it, in rease the figure.

By breaking your goals down into smaller chunks, you will find that you will have less distractions because you know what you want to achieve. It will be easier for you to focus because you are able to comprehend your goal and are comfortable with it.

Have you got a written set of goals?

No?

You should do, it's more important than you realise.

People who have written down a set of goals are, in the most case, far more successful than those people who don't. They tend to be happier, more fulfilled and enjoy life more.

If you haven't written out a set of goals, how do you where you are going in life? Sure, you may have a vague idea in your head of your goals. However, if they are not written down, then you may forget what your goals are, get distracted and find yourself not heading towards them.

A written set of goals are much more real than a set of goals in your head. Having an actual written set of goals helps to keep you focused and you can review them every day to make sure you are still heading in the right direction.

You must always write down your goals in as precise a manner as possible. Don't write down a goal like "I want more money" because if you find a penny on a street, you've achieved your goal. Write out an exact goal such as "I earn $300,000 a year".

When you are writing out your goals, write out as many goals as you want on as many different subject areas as you want. Don't just write down a few, plan out an amazing life that you'd love to live. Plan out your relationships, your finances, and so on.

Years ago, Anthony Robbins apparently spent days writing down his goals. He wrote hundreds of goals covered every single facet of his life. By now, he's achieved most of them and has probably exceeded his expectations in most of them too. Goal setting is a very powerful tool.

Most people set goals at New Years, though usually they just set a few vague goals for the next two or three weeks. Use New Years to review your goals and to plan out the coming year. Review your goals every week to make sure that you are heading in the right direction stil.

If you don't have a set of written goals, then take a few minutes now and write out some of your goals. In fact, write out a complete set of goals and decide what you want from life, I guarantee you won't regret it.

One of the most powerful tools you can use for achieving your goals is visualisation. This is where you imagine yourself achieving your goals and make it real for your sub-conscious mind.

A simple exercise for visualising your goals is

1) Pick one of your goals

2) Create an image of this goal in your mind

3) Visualise yourself acheiving this goal with all of your senses. Touch it, hear it, see it, smell it, taste it. Feel your success with every single part of your body and feel how good it is to have achieved it. Visualise it as if you were actually there and looking out of your own eyes, rather than seeing an image through someone elses eyes or from a different perspective. In fact, make this image bigger, brighter, heck, make it a movie! Really enjoy the great feelings about having achieved this goal.

4) Keep this fantastic image of your success in your mind for at least ten minutes. Keep your focus and keep feeling the good feelings of success. If you should find yourself getting distracted, just gently bring your focus back to your goal.

One thing that is very helpful is to just keep this image in your mind throughout your day. This will help you to achieve your goal even quicker.

Play with the image and change aspects of it to make it feel even better. Make the colors more vivid or make the sounds louder and more vibrant. Play with it and find what works and makes the image realistic and motivating.

Visualisation for goals is an excellent way for you to speed up your success in acheiving your goals. Use it as often as you can and you will be really surprised how much you can achieve.