Setting Goals and Achieving Dreams

How many of you make New Year’s resolutions? Or set performance goals at the start of each year at work? How many of you start off strong, only for the enthusiasm to wane after a couple of weeks?

Motivation is often temporary and without purpose, most of our goals drift into the ether.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting different results. So why then, do we make resolutions each year? False promises of a new diet, going to the gym, or quitting a bad habit like drinking or smoking.

Why? Because simply writing down a goal is not enough. Here are three things that can help you set goals and actually achieve them:

1.      Discover your ‘why’. Why is that the goal? Why is it important? And what would it mean to you or others if you were to achieve it?

2.      Create an action plan. Writing down you goal or goals is just one step in the process. You need a plan of action; specific things you can and will do to turn your goal into reality.

3.      Be Patient. We live in a right now society, where whenever we want something, we have to have it “right now”. This leads to giving up before even micro results can be seen.

Discovering Your Why

Most goals are set at the beginning of a year and why not, starting a new year is about renewal and fresh starts. Simply starting a goal or resolution just because the day or year changed, is not enough to last. When I decided to run a marathon after having a kidney transplant, I asked myself three questions:

1.      Why is that the goal? I wanted something beyond my perceived capabilities and considering I had never run a race of any distance, setting my sights on a marathon would test how strong my mindset was.

2.      Why is it important? This wasn’t just a goal that you go out and do one day. It would require months of dedication, discipline, and resilience. It would require me to train even when I did not feel like it. Setting such a challenging goal, would require me to test myself in nearly every aspect of my life, and that seemed like a worthy cause.

3.      What would it mean if I were to achieve it? For me, it would prove to myself that I can do hard things. That I can set a goal, stick to the plan, and persevere even when things got super hard. To others, it would be a living example of what is possible when you have purpose and use it to drive you to achieve your goals. It would demonstrate to others that our limitations are self-imposed and we have the power to write a new narrative for ourselves.

Creating an Action Plan

Cool. You have written down your goal. Now what? Wish or hope it magically comes true? That’s not how goals work. They require effort, attention, and discipline. But they also need a plan; a set of actions that when completed result in accomplishing a task or goal.

Here are three things to consider when creating your plan”

1.      Break your goal into consumable chunks. Don’t try to do everything at once. Decompose your goal into smaller pieces.

2.      Create a reasonable timeline. If you are going to run a marathon for the first time, don’t make your deadline in two weeks, it’s not reasonable. Set a target that is right on the edge of achievable and challenging enough to push you to show up. Too much time can be as bad as too little time.

3.      Celebrate the small wins. By breaking your goal into smaller pieces with a timeline, you now have inchstones and milestones along the way to your main objective. Each time you can check another item off the list or you stayed consistent for another week, take time to acknowledge and reward yourself – No this does not mean with a bucket of cake and ice cream.

Being Patient

The old cliché is “Rome wasn’t built in a day” is still used because it’s true. Reaching your goal will take time. If it doesn’t, then was it a challenging enough of a goal?

As you work towards your goal, you will need to trust the process. Know that what you are doing is making a difference, even if they are only micro shifts. Make that 1% daily change and over time it will begin to add up.

There will be road bumps along the way, you will need to be resilient and believe in yourself. This can be challenging, difficult, and often disheartening. But believe me, it will only make your victory that much sweeter in the end.

So, are you ready to achieve your goals? This week’s challenge is to pick a goal, come up with a plan, and take action. You can do this.