3 Reasons Why You Can’t Achieve Your Goals
Most of us have lofty goals at the beginning of the year, but sometimes we give up by June. There are a few reasons why accomplishing goals can be especially tough.
1. You have too many. Whittle your goals down to three. From the three, choose the one that will have the greatest impact on your life, and focus on accomplishing that goal.
2. You haven’t made your goal a priority. What gets scheduled gets done. If your goal is to exercise five days a week, get your calendar out and schedule your workouts. If your goal is to drink seven glasses of water a day, set a timer on your phone for every two hours. When the timer goes off, go chug that glass of water. Execution is easier and more likely to occur if you schedule the tasks in advance.
3. Your goal is not SMART. Making a goal SMART will greatly increase your chances of achieving it.
S-Specific-Telling yourself that you’re going to “eat better” is too general. Setting a goal of eating five veggies a day is specific.
M-Measurable-Anyone should be able to easily measure your progress. Deciding to “save some money” is not measurable. Stating that you will save $100 every payday is something that is easily measured. Either you did or you didn’t.
A-Attainable-Your goals should require you to work and stretch, but they should also be attainable. I’m under 5’tall, so a goal to play in the NBA would not be attainable for me. However, joining a baby boomers’ sports league would be an attainable goal.
R-Relevant-Your goals should be relevant to your life. If the women in your office are all training to run a half marathon, but you’re content to exercise in your family room with DVDs, the half marathon training goals are not relevant to you at this point. Choose another wellness goal that interests you. The thought of completing your goal should make you feel accomplished and happy.
T-Time Bound-You must give yourself a realistic deadline. If you want to earn a degree or a certificate, assess what needs to be done and set a deadline. It should be an aggressive deadline, but something that you can do if you push yourself. It’s a thrill to finish a goal before your deadline, but it’s okay to adjust the deadline to give yourself more time. Life happens.
Consider your goals in light of what you just read. Which one is the most important? What can you schedule right now to get you closer to achieving your life altering goal? Make the goal SMART! Implement these changes, and you will see progress.
